Rich Talent Group Forms Alliance With Chief to Increase C-Suite Diversity
October 22, 2020 – Improving diversity is something that most well-run companies and mission-driven businesses are now implementing. Progress is slow and many times it feels as if we are all taking one step forward, two steps back. But no organization is more important to the success or failure of these initiatives than executive search firms. They hold powerful sway over who moves into the boardroom and into C-suite positions, where all of the most important corporate decisions are made.
Just recently, San Francisco-based executive search firm Rich Talent Group partnered with New York City-headquartered Chief, the private network for women executives. Together, they are looking to help build transformative leadership teams by providing women with the resources and opportunities to navigate career transitions and pursue board opportunities.
2020 Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Recruiting Report:
Building a Balanced and Diverse Workforce
Hunt Scanlon Media’s latest market intelligence recruiting report – this time focused on Diversity, Equity & Inclusion – will be available later this fall! The nation’s top executive recruiters are resetting expectations and looking for new ways forward to build balanced and diverse workforce teams for their clients.
According to executive recruiters, DE&I should not just be a priority, but an integrated part of every company’s leadership goals. Some companies have even tied DE&I metrics to executive compensation. But it’s more than that.
Part of building strong, diverse hiring teams means asking yourself: “Who is my company culture going to attract – and how will it engage people who are here?” This question can be very difficult to answer if you assume everyone feels welcome already just because you do. Fostering diversity, equity and inclusion within organizations is more than just the right ethical decision. “It is one of the best business decisions a company can make,” said Keri Gavin, a partner with Hanold Associates and leader of the search firm’s Global Diversity, Equity & Inclusion practice. Hanold Associates is a proud sponsor of this year’s report. This report will help organizations prioritize DE&I as a business imperative that drives greater competitiveness, innovation and business results. Get it now!
Chief’s membership pool has some of the most successful and capable women leaders in business, the search firm said. Chief is uniquely positioned to accelerate better representation, not only for this generation, but generations to come,” said Jana Rich, founder of Rich Talent Group. “We look forward to partnering with Chief as they continue to pave the way for a growing, influential community of women.”
“Companies are rightfully looking for ways to diversify their senior management, and Chief’s network of outstanding women has the power to level the playing field from the top-down,” said Carolyn Childers, co-founder and CEO of Chief. “Through this partnership with Rich Talent Group, a company we’ve long admired for building diverse leadership and placing more women and women of color into positions of power, we intend to make equity and inclusion the new normal in executive leadership and board meetings.”
Connecting Women
Chief’s community of leadership talent positions it to connect women with companies that are genuinely invested in increasing the diversity and inclusion of their executive teams. While many chief members are already serving on boards, the vast majority are interested in joining another (or their first) board. Co-founders Lindsay Kaplan and Ms. Childers launched Chief in 2019, and have grown to over 3,000 senior leaders in the U.S., representing over 1,000 companies and a waitlist of more than 8,000.
Related: Recruiters Up Their Game in Diversity
Through the new partnership, Rich Talent Group will be able to tap into qualified candidates within the Chief network for executive and board opportunities. Additionally, Chief and Rich Talent Group will launch a board readiness intensive workshop series to provide actionable information, resources and exposure to board opportunities.
AboveBoard Launched to Provide Recruiting Professionals With More Inclusive Pool of Candidates
Haddonfield, NJ-based executive recruitment firm True Search has launched a new executive hiring platform, AboveBoard. True co-founded AboveBoard with the goal of making executive search more accessible, efficient and equitable for its members and the companies who seek them. The diversity-focused start-up says it will bring an innovative, transparent solution to the need to bring more women and executives of color to leadership roles.
Rich Talent Group has a track record of elevating diversity across executive teams and boards. Last year, 86 percent of people that the search firm recruited to operating roles — VP level and above — were women, people of color and/or LGBTQ. And 100 percent of those recruited to board roles were women and/or people of color.
Rich Talent Group partners with wide array of companies—from high-growth to Fortune 500—to diversify and build transformative leadership teams and board of directors. For nearly 25 years, Ms. Rich has built well-established relationships with many leading venture capital firms that include Andreessen Horowitz, Benchmark Capital, Comcast Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Forerunner Ventures. She serves as an advisory board member for MAKERS, a media company that accelerates the women’s movement through real-life stories that ignite passion; and World 50, a private community for senior-most executives from globally respected organizations. Ms. Rich has served on the Forbes Executive Women’s Board and was a director of the Stanford Business School Women’s Initiative Network. She was also a mentor in the Women’s eCommerce Network sponsored by Liberty Media.
Related: To Improve Diversity, Recruiting Sector Must Set a New Course
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; and Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
