Declare Officially Launches to Support Next Generation of Female Leaders
May 29, 2019 – Declare, a community-driven leadership platform designed to transform how women learn, work and lead, has officially launched. The organization is composed of two core components, “Declare Lead” and “Declare Search.” Previously, the organization operated as Parity Partners.
Declare Lead offers an expanded array of immersive leadership training programs and resources aimed at empowering women to take control of their careers and help their companies close the gender gap. Declare Search is an executive recruitment firm focused exclusively on placing powerful, diverse talent into high-impact roles at top companies.
“Declare is committed to advancing female leaders and gender equality in the workforce,” said Beth Haggerty, co-founder and CEO of Declare. “Since inception, we’ve built an unparalleled community of successful women who, through networking and strong curriculum, will achieve greater career heights. Our firm envisions a society where diversity and inclusion are not agenda items for a corporation, but a part of the DNA of every organization.”
Since beginning to build a grassroots community in 2016, the company has focused on advocacy, awareness and recruitment to close the gender and minority leadership gap in a variety of industries, such as technology, asset management and other financial services.
Related: Empowering Female Leaders One Country at a Time
Today, Declare Lead has grown to nearly 1,000 highly ambitious and successful women in six markets and has secured 35 high-profile corporate partners, such as Goldman Sachs, Point72, KKR, General Atlantic, TPG, NEA and Comcast Ventures. Declare members represent more than 320 companies, spanning media, technology, consulting, healthcare and consumer brands.
Declare Search has guided its clients through landmark diversity initiatives. Over 85 percent of its completed searches have resulted in positioning women and diverse talent in senior leadership roles. Using its proprietary database of 15,000 diverse candidate profiles, Declare Search works to assist its clients develop and retain successful teams. It specializes in conducting searches at senior levels across a broad span of functional roles and industries.
Reaping the Benefits of Female Leadership
According to a report from Boyden, 63 percent of C-suite and executive participants in German-speaking Europe, 75 percent in the Nordic region and 86 percent in Southern Europe report that access to top management roles is more difficult for women than for men. No surprise there.
“Goldman Sachs Launch With GS umbrella, is delighted to align with Declare,” said Jemma Wolfe, head of Launch With GS. “Goldman Sachs has committed $500 million to support women founders and investment managers. Our sponsorship of Declare helps further that mission by connecting us to a vibrant network of investors while boosting the skills of women across our firm.”
Empowering Women Executives
Declare’s professional development offering includes:
- Broader leadership curriculum – Focused on helping women take charge of their leadership path, the curriculum covers topics such as personal branding, radical candor, negotiations strategy, and presentation and communications skills training.
Related: Professional Women Still Seek Equality Climbing the Corporate Ladder
- Robust digital platform – Enables members to access its digital content, find each other through a global directory, communicate directly and privately, post events and connect in a variety of other ways.
- Intimate group collaboration by way of “pods” – Curated groups of women based on seniority, industry and other factors create deep connections as Declare believes one woman’s success will ignite another’s. Declare Lead has established close to 100 pods with 130 seasoned pod leaders.
- Premium event programming – Includes a two-day Declare Summit, Nov. 6-8, with high-profile speakers and the Declare community to generate action to affect exponential change.
Declare members represent top technology, financial services, asset management, media, consulting, healthcare and consumer companies. Founded in 2016 in New York, the Declare Lead platform is composed of communities in San Francisco, London, Boston, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. The platform equips members with both in-person and online leadership training, mentorship, curated networking groups and unmatched community resources. Declare Search guarantees a diverse slate of candidates for every retained mandate it receives. It has developed a strong record of advancing diversity for its corporate clients.
Related: On International Women’s Day, Steep Hills Still to Climb
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor; and Andrew W. Mitchell, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
