HBS alumni have been actively engaged in responding to the racial and social injustice in their communities and around the world. Read their various efforts below:
OCTOBER 20
In their new book A Blessing: Women of Color Teaming Up to Lead, Empower and Thrive, Jacqueline Adams (MBA 1978) and Bonita Stewart (MBA 1983) address Black female leadership. Noting that a group of unicorns is called “a blessing,” the authors present “an unapologetic look at our often-overlooked role in America’s social, political, psychological, and economic history” and describe their new publication as a playbook “to help Black unicorns ‘team up’ and find innovative ways to support one another as they climb, what research shows, are lonely, stressful, jagged yet ultimately rewarding ladders of opportunity.”
“Teaming up is a mindset,” Stewart observes in a recent Bloomberg article. “We have a lot of experts in our community, but we need to share information.” Adams, an Emmy Award–winning CBS News correspondent and former White House correspondent, and Stewart, VP of Global Partnerships at Google, surveyed 4,000 cross-generational women across four races for the book. Among the contributors to the book are Modupe Akinola (MBA 2001, PhD OB 2009), Beverly Anderson (MBA 1997), Janelle Faulk (PLDA 27, 2019), Kimberly Foster (MBA 2020), Amanda E. Johnson (MBA 2014), Depelsha McGruder (MBA 1998), Zuhairah Scott Washington (JD/MBA 2004), and Michelle Morris Weston (MBA 1983).
OCTOBER 13
“In this radically changing world, if your business is built on the assumption that diversity and inclusion is a ‘nice to have,’ it’s an unstable territory,” Ric Lewis (PMD 69, 1995), executive chairman and CIO of London-based Tristan Capital Partners, recently told the Financial Times. In founding his real estate investment firm, he and his partners paid particular attention to defining their corporate culture by considering, “How are we going to behave with each other, how we’re going to be with clients, how do we practice our authenticity?” he said. “I have been an outsider every single day. I’m a 6’10 Black [American] guy working in England.” Twenty years ago, Lewis founded the Black Heart Foundation, an organization dedicated to improving educational access, quality, and outcomes for children from underprivileged backgrounds. In response to the Black Lives Matter movement, the foundation launched a crowdfunding campaign that has raised £1.5 million and awarded 97 scholarships. “We are a growing network,” says Lewis. “Our eldest scholars are already out working. Doctors, lawyers, teachers, and young professors. Educating people is the most potent and productive way to bring change.” His advice on how to change intrenched culture: “Baby steps.”
SEPTEMBER 23
In a recent episode of Skydeck, the HBS Alumni podcast, ICV Partners cofounder Willie Woods (MBA 1993) discusses what companies can do to improve Black representation in their ranks. “The approach I'm talking about is a team,” Woods tells Skydeck contributing host Chitra Nawbatt (GMP 6, 2009). “A really capable team who's got real authority and stature inside the company, who's putting together a real plan with real goals that are going to be held accountable based on compensation, just like you would be doing anything else in business. And then would be responsible for executing, meeting and reporting out.”
SEPTEMBER 11
Steve Pagliuca (MBA 1982), a managing partner of the Boston Celtics, recently helped create Boston Celtics United for Social Change, a $25 million commitment to support initiatives that address racial injustice and social inequities in the greater Boston area. “We feel both the urgency of the moment and the weight of the centuries of injustices as we undertake this critically important work,” Pagliuca told WBZ Channel 4, the Boston-area CBS affiliate. “The Boston Celtics have a proud legacy of being on the right side of racial and social justice, and we are more resolved than ever to take that commitment to another level. Our goal is to do everything we can to achieve progress on each of the targeted pillars, and we will work tirelessly to make real change.” The 10-year initiative, comprised of $20 million in cash and $5 million in media assets, will focus on six areas identified with the help of community leaders and Celtics players: equity in education, economic opportunity and empowerment, equity in health care, criminal and law enforcement, breaking down barriers and building bridges between communities, and voting and civic engagement.
AUGUST 28
After participating in and leading numerous conversations about race, social justice, and racism, CEO and Chief Rioter of Rioting.co Sarah Endline (MBA 2001) was eager to broaden the discussion, share the resources she’d been gathering, and promote action. “Words and statements matter, but actions are key,” writes Endline on her AllyRioting website, which includes links to resources divided into three categories: how to be a better human, how to be a better company, and voting with your voice and your dollars. Endline, an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the Harvard Innovation Lab, hosts a regular Zoom call with women from her MBA class, is partnering with classmates Molly Simmons (MBA 2001) and Shaka Rasheed (MBA 2001) to expand Ally Rioting, and recently signed on as a Senior Innovation Fellow to work with Professor Lynda Applegate to develop a social justice course at HBS. Endline’s goals are simple: "I want to be one of the positive rioters who makes a difference in the world.”
AUGUST 11
Executive Lisa Lewin (MBA 2003) spoke to the HBS alumni podcast Skydeck about how business can advance racial equity. Lewin is a coauthor of the Business for Racial Equity Pledge, which asks business leaders to promise that they will pursue anti-racist initiatives in the areas of policing reform; safe ballot access and civic participation; and economic inclusion. The initiative was spearheaded by six Black HBS alumni members of the Leadership Now Project, which was founded 2017 by HBS alumni to fix American democracy. “This is not asking businesses who are apolitical to suddenly become political,” Lewin says. “This is asking businesses that are already very effective political actors to use some of that influence, not just on behalf of their own interests and their shareholders' interests, but to use that influence on behalf of their employees, their communities, and society as a whole.”
AUGUST 10
MBA Student Association Co-Presidents Annie Plachta (MBA 2021) and Caleb Bradford (MBA/MPP 2021) recently asked HBS faculty to sign a “Juneteenth Case Pledge,” committing to writing a case with a Black protagonist by Juneteenth (June 19) of 2021 (or 2022 if met with serious challenges). “We are asking for your commitment on behalf of the student body, as future leaders who make a difference in the world, and as a woman and a Black man who rarely saw protagonists who looked like them in the classroom. These acts may seem small, but nearly 80 percent of business school cases taught around the world are developed at Harvard. If we change the way we write and teach cases, we can change business education,” wrote Plachta and Bradford, who also asked that faculty members ensure that the cases in their courses reflect the composition of the student body, as closely as teaching objectives permit, by the 2022-2023 academic year. Read a Q&A with the student leaders and MBA Faculty Chair Jan Rivkin and RC Chair Matt Weinzierl.
AUGUST 6
In response to the tragic deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd, Ron DeShay (OPM 53, 2019), CEO and founder of World of Dreams Entertainment (WODE) Group, launched “A Better World Project.” The recent incidents “heightened tensions around racism, police brutality, and the injustices Black people continue to experience in American,” says DeShay, and the new music initiative will feature songs that “echo the need for change but offer up the approach of love and unity as means to creating a better world.” DeShay also recently led a successful effort in his hometown of Bastrop, Texas, to remove confederate monuments from the downtown courthouse square. “We encountered some backlash for our efforts, but we also encountered a lot of support,” recalls DeShay, who was ultimately pleased with the town’s willingness to sit down and listen. “That hasn’t always been the case in this country,” he says.
JULY 31
As part of the HBS Social Enterprise Summer Fellows program, first- and second-year students participated in a diverse range of pursuits this summer, many of them focused on racial equity and justice. Among them: Developing a strategic growth plan for Hack.Diversity, which aims to improve Black and Latinx representation in Boston’s innovation economy; launching Little Black Library to promote education on racial justice and the Black experience by sharing books; and helping raise capital for Uptrust, a software firm that helps low-income populations navigate the criminal justice system. For Bukie Adebo (MBA 2021), a summer position at Rebel One Ventures “solidified my belief that technology has the power to dramatically change the lives of marginalized communities.” In founding The Aspen Fellowship, a 6-week program that pairs Black undergraduates with advisors, classmate Brian Hollins (MBA 2021) says his thinking shifted “from business career or social enterprise to business career and social enterprise.” Adebo and Hollins are two of 161 recipients of a Social Enterprise fellowship, and they shared their experiences as fellows on the Social Enterprise Initiative's blog.
JULY 29
In the fall of 2019, Brian Sykes (MBA 2020) and Paul Ampofo (MBA 2020) launched HBS's Black Investment Club to address underrepresentation of Black investors in VC, PE, and investment management in the hopes of creating a focused organization that empowers the Black community. “The idea came to me after I saw many of my Black classmates become discouraged by being left out of recruiting processes altogether or repeatedly rejected from the small pool of coveted roles in venture capital and private equity—despite having the necessary qualifications, technical skills, and networks required for the job,” explained Sykes in a recent blog post on the MBA website. Reflecting on recent events, Sykes expressed optimism: “Although the past few months have been difficult on myself and other members of the Black community, I am cautiously optimistic that the Black Lives Matter movement can create lasting and sustainable change.”
JULY 28
Camille Hackney (MBA 1994) and Michael Lynton (MBA 1987) were both recently named to the board of the Warner Music Group (WMG)/Blavatnik Family Foundation Social Justice Fund. The $100 million fund, a partnership between the family foundation of philanthropist Len Blavatnik (MBA 1989) and WMG, was launched in June to support charitable causes related to the music industry, social justice, education, and campaigns against violence and racism. Hackney is Chief Partnerships Officer at Atlantic/Head of the Global Brand Partnerships Council at WMG. She has been part of Warner Music for 26 years, including posts at WMG, Elektra, and Atlantic. Lynton, Chairman of Snap Inc., is serving as Chair of the Warner Music Group/Blavatnik Family Foundation Social Justice Fund. He was previously CEO of Sony Entertainment and has held top posts at Time Warner, the Penguin Group, and the Walt Disney Company. As reported in Variety, “(t)he Fund will contribute on a sustained, long-term basis to organizations on the front lines of the fight for equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging.”
JULY 23
John Foley (MBA 2001), cofounder and CEO of fitness organization Peloton, committed to investing $100 million over the next four years “to fight racial injustice and inequity in our world and to promote health and wellbeing for all.” Peloton will focus on five areas: increasing hourly wages for its workforce; investing in learning and development programs for hourly workers; investing in nonprofit organizations dedicated to fighting systemic racism; making its products more accessible to underserved communities; and delivering on robust diversity and inclusion goals. In a message posted on the Peloton’s website, Foley said, “I believe we have an enormous responsibility to do our part to combat systemic racism, and I am committed to ensuring that we use our resources, platform, and influence to change our society for the better—into a place where everyone can and will thrive.”
JULY 21
Henry Whitlow (MBA 1979) was recently interviewed by his sectionmate Denise Silber (MBA 1979) on the Harvard Alumni Entrepreneurs (HAE) podcast, HAE Invites. Whitlow, who is CEO of Hudson Strategic Group, discussed his experiences as a Black MBA. “I learned a lot at Harvard,” he says, including how to speak up—a lesson that has served him well by providing a “willingness to take on the good old boys, a willingness to take on the status quo.” The podcast, which Silber hosts, was titled “How to Succeed in Business When You’re a Black Harvard MBA.” Whitlow talked about his time at IBM, where people often dismissed him. “They underestimated me and that didn’t work in their favor.” Whitlow advised Black entrepreneurs to get involved in their communities. “Long-term profitability is driven by bringing long-term value to many, many people,” he said.
JULY 20
Amira Polack (MBA 2018), founder and CEO of fitness app Struct Club, recently organized a conversation about systemic racism in the fitness industry with help from summer intern Alexandra Horvitz (HBS 2021). Titled “Reimagining Fitness: Designing an Anti-Racist Industry,” the online event was hosted by Aaron Mitchell (MBA 2011), a fitness enthusiast who is director of recruiting at Netflix and an advisor to Struct Club. “This is an opportunity to have a dialogue that is long overdue. We want to spend some time talking about what we can do in this profession,” said Mitchell. With panelists from Third Sector, Barry’s, and Savvier Fitness, the conversation addressed how to intentionally design and work toward a world in which the phrase Black Lives matter is more than words. “This was a powerful conversation in questioning the many layers within fitness that racism permeates that require reimagining, with recommendations on how to proceed that may help leaders in business beyond fitness,” said Polack.
JULY 15
Ian Rowe (MBA 1993), CEO of Public Prep, a nonprofit network of public charter schools in New York City, recently shared his thoughts on the importance of ensuring Black kids develop a sense of agency by focusing on Black excellence and succeeding despite structural barriers. “The narrative that white people ‘hold the power’ conveys a wrongheaded notion of white superiority and creates an illusion of Black dependency on white largess. This false assignment of responsibility, while coming from an authentic desire to produce change, can create a new kind of mental enslavement,” wrote Rowe in a Wall Street Journal op-ed. Rowe, who is a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, concluded that educators must help Black students “cultivate a sense of personal agency and convince them that their deliverance is determined more by their own actions than by the incantations of a newly enlightened majority.”
JULY 13
Greg Shell (MBA 2001), managing director at Bain Capital, and Corey Thomas (MBA 2002), chairman and CEO of Rapid7, are among the 19 Black and brown business leaders in Boston who created the New Commonwealth Racial Equity and Social Justice Fund. The fund will be used to issue grants to organizations working on racial equity and social justice matters. As reported in the Boston Globe, the group wants to support the “chronically underfunded Black and brown-led nonprofits” and “drive a sea change in how money is doled out,” making the work “less about charity and more about creating systemic change.” Having seeded their fund with $20 million in their first three weeks, they have a goal of raising at least $100 million. According to a fundraising page on the Boston Foundation website, “the mission of the Fund is to provide essential support, resources and thought leadership for uncovering and dismantling systemic racism and all of its various and insidious forms, within institutions in Boston and across the other 350 cities and towns in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.”
JULY 10
After the murder of George Floyd, Victor Swint (MBA 1992), CEO of precision manufacturing company Tecomet, sent a message to his organization sharing his reaction. “I was personally moved to tears, thinking it could easily have been me, or a member of my family, or one of my Tecomet colleagues. There but for the grace of God go I,” wrote Swint a week after the Minnesota incident. “This tragedy has brought out the best and worst in people all across the country,” he continued, noting the “great divide in our world right now,” he writes: “I believe that we are better than this. We must be better.” Swint asserts that companies are made stronger by their differences and concludes by stating: “When we join together to actively pursue a better way, watch out for each other, and fight for what is right, we can make a difference in our lives and all the lives we touch.”
JULY 9
Troy Amen (MD/MBA 2021) was recently inspired to share A Memoir on Race and Inclusion at Harvard Medical School: We Must Do Better, an essay he wrote three years ago but was reluctant to publish until now. “I really want them to talk about diversity and inclusion in medical schools not in respect to students, but faculty,” Amen said in an interview with the Boston Globe about the creation of the #BlackintheIvory hashtag. “I think this is a special moment in history. People are more willing to listen. I’m more hopeful this time and especially encouraged by how the administration has responded both at Harvard Business School and Harvard Medical School.”
JULY 7
Netflix recently announced it will move 2 percent of its cash holdings to financial institutions that directly support Black communities. Netflix CFO Spencer Neumann (MBA 1997) and the company’s director of recruiting, Aaron Mitchell (MBA 2011), were recently featured on CNBC. Mitchell explained that as he was putting together a proposal to move some of Netflix assets into Black banks, George Floyd was murdered. “That created an internal sense of urgency” that prompted the streaming giant to commit as much as $100 million to the effort. (In June, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings announced a $120 million personal gift to support scholarships at historically Black colleges and universities.) “Racism creates unequal economic opportunities,” Neumann said, noting that Netflix has $5 billion on its cash balance sheet and encouraging other companies to move even just 1 or 2 percent of their investments into Black-owned or Black-led financial institutions. Admitting that he didn’t initially understand the economic disparity, Neumann said, “As we understood it better, we wanted to turn that understanding into action.”
JULY 6
Caleb Bradford (MBA/MPP 2021), co-president of the Student Association, recently published “Unfinished Business: Reflections on Brotherhood” in the Wall Street Journal. “By the age of 18, my four older brothers were either high school dropouts, incarcerated, or dead,” writes Bradford, who grew up in Huntsville, Alabama, and graduated from Princeton with a degree in engineering. Discussing the different path he took from his brothers and attributing his success to his father’s presence in his life, Bradford says that his father gaining custody of him “was the best thing that ever happened to me.” His bond to his brothers remains strong and as he watched the video of George Floyd’s murder, he was aware that racism is part of that bond: “every male in my nuclear family — my dad, my four brothers, and me — has felt the cold steel of handcuffs tightened around our wrists.” The personal essay, part of the First Person series, concludes, “My brothers’ stories aren’t finished yet. And neither is mine.”
JULY 1
Brothers Kevin Chenault (HBS 2021) and Ken Chenault, Jr. (MBA 2019) recently founded a nonprofit, the Anti-Racism Fund, to provide capital to organizations that are working on justice system reform, education parity, health and wellness access, or community outreach and social justice advocacy. “Recent events continue to expose a long history of systemic racism that exists in the United States, a history where Black people have been marginalized, brutalized, and lynched because of a bias against the color of their skin,” write the brothers on their website. “We understand racism permeates our society and its institutions. Our goal is to eradicate these inequalities and build equity in our communities. The Anti-Racism Fund provides capital to organizations as a way to inject social change.” To date they have raised more than $300,000 in donations to support organizations fighting racism.
JUNE 30
Cedric Bobo (MBA 2004) recently led an effort to save summer internships for Black and Hispanic youth. Bobo is CEO of Project Destined, a nonprofit with a platform that teaches inner-city kids about real estate investment. COVID-19 forced him to move all aspects of the program online, and when he saw summer opportunities for disadvantaged youth vanishing, he decided to use Project Destined’s learning platform to help other organizations move their internships online. “So many of our cities are challenged right now with budget issues. Seventy-five thousand students in New York alone lost their jobs for the summer, many of them Black and Brown youth,” Bobo told CNBC. He sought donations from real estate corporations and as the Black Lives Matter movement picked up, other companies offered their support. “The protests are critical because they create awareness, and we need to sustain that awareness, but the next piece is how do you translate that into action. So what we’ve been doing is working with the corporates to create true training opportunities where they can hire those folks,” said Bobo, who hopes to have funded 1,000 internships by the fall.
JUNE 25
Piersten Gaines (MBA 2018), founder and CEO of Pressed Roots, a dry bar for women of color, was recently featured in a “Black in Business” series on the Dallas Innovates website. Asked what conversations leaders should be having regarding diversity, Gaines said: “This is the time that companies should really be pushing themselves to not only make their companies more representative of the diversity of the country, but this diversity should be reflected in the management and executive leadership level, on the board, and the way your company shows up to the world.” Gaines, who had to close Pressed Roots two days after opening its flagship location because of the pandemic, was able to reopen on May 16. She was one of six Black Dallas-Fort Worth entrepreneurs featured. “Go beyond your network to source talent,” she advised. “Make connections with historically Black organizations that have the talent.”
The bronze statue of President Theodore Roosevelt, on horseback and flanked by a Native American man and an African man, which has presided over the entrance of New York’s American Museum of Natural History since 1940, will be removed. “The world does not need statues, relics of another age, that reflect neither the values of the person they intend to honor nor the values of equality and justice,” Theodore Roosevelt IV (MBA 1972), a great-grandson of the 26th president and a museum trustee, told the New York Times. Citing the killing of George Floyd and a desire for racial justice, museum president Ellen V. Futter noted that statues can be “powerful and hurtful symbols of systemic racism.” Roosevelt and his family agreed: “The composition of the Equestrian Statue does not reflect Theodore Roosevelt’s legacy. It is time to move the statue and move forward.”
JUNE 23
Lisa Lewin (MBA 2003), cofounder and managing partner of consulting firm Ethical Ventures, recently spoke to CNBC’s “Squawk Box” about the Business of Racial Equity pledge developed to mobilize the business community to address inequality and injustice. Lewin was a coauthor of the pledge, which has now been signed by some 1,000 CEOs, executives, and supporters. Developed in collaboration with the Leadership Now Project—which is led by HBS alumni—the pledge asks people to commit to a series of actions to drive meaningful progress on three key issues related to racism in the United States: policing, voting, and economic inclusion. “People are really hungry for change,” said Lewin. “It is precisely because business does have a big voice that I think they have an opportunity and the influence to change that narrative.”
JUNE 22
Ken Simril (MBA 1996), a CEO in the food industry, and his son, Carson, were recently featured in a “Today” show segment on Black fatherhood in America. Led by Al Roker, the show discussed how the recent murders of Black people have put renewed emphasis on the fact that Black fathers often need to have frank conversations with their sons about being Black in America. “Those rules are different for you as a Black male, and Black fatherhood is to explain the rules,” Simril said. “And then to explain how those rules either apply or don’t apply to you.” Carson offered his perspective as well: “It’s tough for me because I don’t quite understand if there’s even a right path to take. It could potentially be the last day of my life if things go very wrong.”
JUNE 16
“While we cannot solve systemic racism, we can learn from the death of Mr. Floyd and countless others,” writes Walter Frye (MBA 2000) in a blog post for Conduent, where he serves as Regional Leader, North America. Titled “A Time for Unity and Reflection,” Frye shares a few concrete examples of his experiences with racism—growing up in Columbia, South Carolina “under the shadow of the Confederate flag,” at Harvard where he recalls “having the N-word hurled at me from a passing car,” and being stopped by police and treated terribly while driving to his grandmother’s funeral. “What I’ve learned in my own life of navigating these heavy, dark, suffocating conditions is that we must shine light into darkness, we must share our truth, we must bring our best and expect that we be supported in doing so in the places that we work, play, and pray.”
“Let this not be another stop by another grave marker,” Citigroup Vice Chair Ray McGuire (MBA 1983) recently told CNBC. After calling out George Floyd’s “cold-blooded murder,” McGuire wondered how to explain what happened to Floyd to his seven-year-old son, who had asked "why does the policeman have his knee on that man’s neck.” McGuire noted that COVID-19 “exposed the virus that has existed here for 400 years”—i.e., the systemic racism can be seen through the economic, education, health care, and criminal justice systems in the United States. “The corporate world needs to have the conviction to change the mindset,” he said, citing the grim representation of Black people in leadership positions at Fortune 500 companies. “We need to have the courage to recognize this as a defining moment in the course of American history.”
JUNE 12
In a recent opinion piece in the Harvard Crimson, Tommy Amaker urged young people to commit to “a vision in which 2020 is the year we make significant progress on the road to defeat racism and systemic inequality.” Amaker, an HBS Executive Fellow in Executive Education, is entering his 14th season as Harvard’s head basketball coach. “Every generation has moments that define it. I believe we are in one of those moments now. Whether you are Black and wealthy, white and poor, or anything in between, you have a role in this. I believe you don’t choose your destiny; destiny chooses you,” writes Amaker in “2020 Vision.” Calling on people to unite to make the country and the world a better place, he addresses students in particular: you have been taught. Now is the time to lead. And please know, we are here to serve you.”
Craig Robinson (MBA 2002), global head of enterprise services at WeWork, is one of several HBS alumni who founded the Leadership Now Project in 2017. The group is committed to “developing a meaningful response to racial injustice.” Stating “Our hearts are heavy with the events of the past week,” the project recently developed a Business for Racial Equity Pledge that asks people to commit to a list of concrete actions companies can take to begin to fight racism. Organized around the themes of biased policing, electoral disenfranchisement, and economic exclusion, the pledge calls on business leaders to agree to specific acts—from supporting data-informed police reform, to funding organizations that protect voter rights, to investing in Black entrepreneurs—that counteract racism. “These are just a few of the strands of a much broader and complex set of institutional challenges,” write the group’s membership team. While they believe that “a truly just and inclusive society will require innovative and equitable solutions to so much more: education, healthcare, and housing, to a few,” Robinson and his partners believe signing the pledge is an important first step.
JUNE 11
Citigroup CFO Mark Mason (MBA 1995) wrote a blog post about the killing of George Floyd and the dangers Black Americans still face in America. “Despite the progress the United States has made, Black Americans are too often denied basic privileges that others take for granted,” wrote Mason. “I am not talking about the privileges of wealth, education or job opportunities. I’m talking about fundamental human and civil rights and the dignity and respect that comes with them. I’m talking about something as mundane as going for a jog.”
In an interview with Fortune, Mason addressed his motivation for speaking out. “It became obvious through the week that people needed to hear from the company,” he told the magazine. “I wanted to speak out in a way that highlighted the atrocities of this incident, that explained what black Americans are feeling and that gave some way for people to help.”
Abby Falik (MBA 2008) founded Global Citizen Year to prepare a generation of leaders who represent society’s diversity and are prepared to lead with an equity lens. Stating that “injustice needs to be named and confronted in order to be changed,” Falik recently announced her organization’s re-doubling of its commitment to strengthen the anti-racist training and curriculum offered; create space to ensure that Black colleagues, alumni, and partners feel a sense of belonging and have a prominent role in shaping the organization’s work; increase racial diversity on its board of directors; amplify Black voices and share resources to help everyone engage effectively in this critical conversation; and continually examine policies and behaviors to ensure Global Citizen’s actions and impact align with its values and combat inequity and anti-blackness. “In the weeks and years ahead," wrote Falik, “we will be working hard to lead by example as we equip a new generation of leaders to advance equity and opportunity for all.”
In response to Facebook’s donation to support groups working on social Justice, Ralph Clark (MBA 1993), CEO of ShotSpotter, told CNBC, “Five million or $10 million is interesting, but give me three VPs.” Clark was referencing the lack of representation of Black people on the company’s senior leadership team. Clark also discusses his own experience with racial profiling and discrimination. “There are biases out there and you have to navigate them,” says Clark, who has four kids between the ages of 16 and 25. “We’re taught that you’ve got to be better. You’ve got to work twice as hard and be twice as good to get half as far." ShotSpotter has developed technology to help law enforcement detect and locate gunfire, and Clark believes that the officers who stood by as Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd should be prosecuted. “It’s really, really important that those other officers are charged as accessories,” he said. "That’s the thing that’s going to change the behavior going forward.”
This story originally appeared in Alumni Stories.