Photo by Chris Taggart

In a snapshot of the PresenceLearning leadership taken this spring, CEO Kate Eberle Walker (MBA 2005) stands, smiling, just right of center. She’s flanked by three other women and four men—the gender-balanced executive team she had been determined to build when she took the reins of the online special-education company in early 2019. “You have to be very deliberate and proactive to achieve this,” says Eberle Walker, who set and accomplished the same goal in a previous CEO role. “But it is important. Business needs gender diversity.”

For Eberle Walker, who remembers the difficulty of finding women role models and mentors in business, being in charge came with the responsibility of fostering other women, starting with a gender-balanced executive team. The first step was sharing her plan with her employees and listening to their concerns. The second step was building a pipeline of talent within the company. And the third step was being explicit with the recruiting team: “It’s not about saying ‘I prioritize diversity but ultimately I’m going to hire the best person for the job.’ People say that a lot. You have to say, ‘We are going to go find the person who is qualified for this job and also has these other diverse attributes we want.’ That person is out there.”

But that’s not the last step, she says. “You can’t set one goal and call victory, which is something I did in the early rounds.” Eberle Walker admits that she started with a focus on gender diversity because she personally understood the difficulties women faced growing into leadership roles. Now she’s heard from employees that the company should also focus on racial diversity. “There’s always going to be another challenge,” she says. “But it is important for people to know that you are going to continue to try to do better.”

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