National Leadership Program Focused on Accelerating Diversity in the Boardroom
Global law firm Goodwin announced today the launch of GOOD Directors, a first-of-its-kind national program designed to create opportunities for next-generation, BIPOC, LGBTQ+ and women leaders to join Boards of Directors of public companies. GOOD Directors brings together a partnership of leading investment firms and innovative industry players (referred to as ALLIES) and champions of diversity and inclusion already sitting in the Boardroom (referred to as CHAMPIONS), along with Goodwin experts in corporate governance and best practices. Unlike other leadership programs that focus solely on education, GOOD Directors has a board placement component — with the ALLIES committing to use their best efforts to provide participants with concrete opportunities for Board service following completion of the program.
The 20+ participants in the program (referred to as DIRECTOR CANDIDATES) were selected from a curated list of over 150 executives nominated by ALLIES, CHAMPIONS and Goodwin’s partners. This first cohort of DIRECTOR CANDIDATES includes CEOs, COOs, CFOs, and chief business development, strategy, scientific, marketing and product officers from technology, life sciences and other innovative, high growth industries. The DIRECTOR CANDIDATES will include a substantial majority of BIPOC individuals, a majority of women, and approximately one-third Black professionals.
The inaugural edition of the annual program will launch virtually this summer. It is founded and chaired by the co-leaders of Goodwin’s Annual Directors Forum, Stuart Cable and Lisa Haddad.
“As studies and data have consistently shown, diversity in the Boardroom brings critical new perspectives and enhances Board and company performance,” said Lisa Haddad, Co-Chair of Goodwin’s Public M&A/Corporate Governance Practice. “Stuart and I are excited to launch this novel program as an adjunct to our Directors Forum as a way to more directly address Board diversity gaps and work towards Board representation that is representative of our society at large.”“Advocating for diversity both inside and outside of the Boardroom is not new for Goodwin – the firm’s flagship Directors Forum has set this goal as a recurring theme and a key imperative since its inception in 2007,” said CHAMPION Tony Coles, Chief Executive Officer and Chairperson of the Board of Directors of Cerevel Therapeutics. “I have had the distinct pleasure of attending the Directors Forum where Stuart and Lisa skillfully bring participants into the Boardroom through engaging case studies and by facilitating directors learning from one another. DIRECTOR CANDIDATES will greatly benefit from this pedagogy.”
Stuart Cable, Vice Chairman of Goodwin, said, “We are immensely gratified by the way in which the Goodwin client community has embraced this opportunity. We believe that, through the GOOD Directors program, we have created an ecosystem of ALLIES, CHAMPIONS and DIRECTOR CANDIDATES that will make a real difference in the composition and quality of public company Boards.”
The ALLIES of the GOOD Directors program include the following prominent venture capital, private equity and company creation firms:
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Learn more about our GOOD Directors program.