Inclusion & Opportunity

Last year the US hit a milestone with a record 27 female CEOs at the helm of S&P 500 companies. And while there has been progress since 1972, it has not been enough, especially when women are projected to account for 51 percent of the increase in total labor force growth between 2008 and 2018.

In the world of Sustainable and Impact Investing, few ideas have captured the imagination as quickly as Gender Lens Investing (“GLI”). In just the past few years, the number of Gender Lens solutions has grown rapidly. The premise of this approach is that every investment has a gender dimension and that understanding it uncovers both overlooked opportunities and hidden risks. GLI solutions are about investing for gender balance, inclusion and equity. GL investors are betting that all of society – both women and men alike – will reap social and economic dividends from women’s equality. Equally important is the passion this topic has generated among people interested in aligning their wealth with values. This also bodes well for the creation of new products and solutions.

Sodexo, world leader in Quality of Life services and a corporate sponsor of The World Affairs Council-Washington, DC (WAC-DC), congratulates the five distinguished honorees recognized at the Global Education Gala held Wednesday. The event recognizes organizations that demonstrate an outstanding commitment to global education, international affairs, and global communications.

A global photography contest is being sponsored by De Beers to celebrate the role women play in the mining industry and to raise their profile.

In an interview with Bonnie Marcus at Forbes.com, UN Global Compact CEO and Executive Director Lise Kingo explains how the new Women's Empowerment Principles Gender Gap Analysis Tool can help global business leaders identify strengths, gaps and opportunities to improve gender equality and women’s empowerment in the workplace and within the markets and communities they serve.

It's not in her job title, but PayPal's Jayashree Sundaresan is a technology leader as well as a people person. Personal success, she says, is to help others succeed – from guiding her engineers as Director of Global Operations Product Development, to mentoring women re-entering the tech world. It all starts with her relentless energy, which she applies to leading successful projects at work to exercising (she has a mean badminton game), to event planning in her community and even singing.

PayPal manager Heather Holcomb, a former U.S. Marine, knows how challenging re-entering civilian life can be while searching for the next career path. After spending four years in the military, Heather, 29, hoped her experience would be a straight shot to a job in communications technology. Unfortunately, she struggled to gain traction. Without a degree in applied technology or engineering, her hands-on experience didn’t seem to resonate with employers. To bridge the gap, she joined BreakLine, an immersive educational program designed to help veterans transition from military jobs to fulfilling private sector careers in finance and technology.

Every year during March Madness, fans unite to cheer on their favorite teams as they play in college basketball’s biggest tournament. Madness aside, fans look to one person to lead their team to the championship title — the coach. While March Madness takes place only once a year, coaching a winning team in the business world is a year-round job.