At E.L.F. BEAUTY, we are committed to being a force of positive impact on society.
For us, that means democratizing access. It’s what we have done for premium quality products, it’s what we’ve done with equity for our team, and it’s what we’re doing in corporate boardrooms.
When we launched Change the Board Game this year, our largest purpose-led initiative to date, we embarked on a years-long mission to advance boardroom diversity. Our ambition is to double the rate of growth for women and diverse candidates added to corporate boards from 3% to 6% by 2027.
In my experience of serving on public, private, and nonprofit boards for the past 20 years, and being at the helm of e.l.f. Beauty for the past 10 years, I’ve learned that the more diversity you have on a board, the more unique strengths that board has with which to make the business stronger. Which is why board diversity isn’t just good for people -- it’s also profitable.
e.l.f. Beauty is the only publicly traded company out of more than 4,100 in the U.S. with a Board of Directors that is 78% women and 44% diverse. Through Change the Board Game, we are focusing our superpowers on changing the status quo.
Meaningful change, though, will come from partnership and support from others. I had the great privilege to speak at the NACD (National Association of Corporate Directors) Corporate Directors Summit, one of our partners in this effort. Peter Gleason and I spoke about increasing the rate of women and diverse candidates on America's corporate boards. I shared that as a father with a daughter, this is something deeply meaningful to me and after our conversation many fathers shared that this is the first time they were going to talk to their daughters about corporate boards.
From that stage, I also announced our "Not-So-White Paper," created in partnership with North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. This data-driven report underscores the impactful role that board diversity plays in the success of U.S. publicly traded companies.
When boards reflect the communities that they serve, they can better deliver to their consumers’ needs. In the U.S., women and people of color comprise 51% and 42% of the population, respectively. Yet in the American boardroom, the ratio of men to women and white people to people of color are both about 3:1.
Please read and share the facts of the “Not-So-White-Paper”:
https://lnkd.in/ggd-ewqe.
Thank you to the teams at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University and OBERLAND who helped us create this impactful report. When we come together and use our collective superpowers to fuel positive change, we help empower others to achieve their goals and foster a society of positivity, inclusivity and accessibility.
To learn more and find out how you can be part of this movement, go to:
changetheboardgame.com.
