PRESS RELEASES

Out for Undergrad Announces Dr. Cindi Love New Executive Director

NEW YORK, NY, November 16, 2017 – Out for Undergrad (O4U) is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Cindi Love as its new Executive Director effective January 2, 2018. McCormack+Kristal conducted the nationwide search for O4U, the nation’s leading organization dedicated to helping high-potential lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) undergraduates achieve success in their careers.

O4U currently offers four undergraduate leadership conferences that serve as a pathway into major US-based corporations: (1) finance/ consulting/ accounting, (2) technology, (3) marketing, and (4) engineering. In 2017, Goldman Sachs, Twitter, PepsiCo and Stanford Universitywere hosts of these four O4U conferences in cooperation with 130 other major corporate sponsors.

Michael Ruderman, Chair of the O4U Board, said “Our 14-year experience of helping promising LGBTQ undergraduates reach their full potential is the solid foundation upon which we want to take O4U to the next level of impact.  We know that Dr. Love will take us there and be a wonderful mentor to our students and volunteers, who are at the heart and soul of our organization’s work. Very few CEOs have senior leadership experience in for-profit and not-for-profit corporations, higher education, and global LGBTQ and human rights advocacy. Dr. Love is the rare find who has all of these.”

Love said, “I am very excited to join the O4U Board and other volunteers in the next chapter of ground-breaking work on behalf of LGBTQ students and corporations who employ them. We have an opportunity to expand access to O4U’s unique leadership development program, and further enhance the current conference experiences. I’m so fortunate to share with O4U’s students and volunteers what I have learned as a partner to some of the most passionate, deeply committed, socially responsible entrepreneurs, executives, educators, advocates and philanthropists around the world.”

Love founded an INC 500 company (#73 in 1990) and was recognized as one of 50 of North American top entrepreneurs by the MIT/INC/YEO Birthing of Giants program that same year. Love founded and sold Integration Control System & Services to The TORO Company in 1996 and served as a TORO executive until 2000.

Since July 2014, Love has served as the Executive Director of ACPA—College Student Educators International in Washington, DC, member of the Washington Higher Education Secretariat and Working Group Advising the U.S. Secretary of State on Religion & Foreign Policy. Love was a panelist for President Obama’s 2015 Challenge for Faith-Based Partnerships and Communities and honored at the White House twice for human rights leadership. Love serves as one of 95 Content Experts for the Global Diversity & Inclusion Benchmarks project and is former member of the United Nations Compass Coalition on LGBT Human Rights.

Love succeeds Brandon Fail as Executive Director.  Ruderman said, “The O4U Board thanks Brandon Fail for his three years of leadership, during which the organization launched two new conferences, doubled its student attendee population, and dramatically increased corporate sponsorship.”

About McCormack+Kristel

McCormack+Kristel brings 24 years of recruiting experience to this executive search. Founder and managing partner Joe McCormack says, “We were the first retained search firm to recruit leadership for the HIV/AIDS and LGBTQ communities, and we are the first retained search firm to embrace the transgender community as a valuable source of talent for our clients. Being a pioneer is a core value for us, not only as a business practice, but as a commitment to social justice. We are honored to support The San Diego LGBT Community Center during this important leadership transition.”

Since its founding in 1993, McCormack+Kristel has completed more than 400 searches for CEOs, board members and C-suite executives for large and small nonprofit organizations across the country. Clients have included the ACLU, the Los Angeles LGBT Center, Planned Parenthood, SAGE, the Tides Foundation, and many more.

Contact:
Michelle Kristel
Partner
Michelle@mccormackkristel.com