Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Renee Montgomery makes history as a WNBA team owner, Taylor Simone Ledward brings the Golden Globes audience to tears, and all-male boards are alive and well for private companies. Have an awesome Monday.
– Board of it. Last week, Claire wrote about some good news: the all-male board is pretty much dead when it comes to top U.S. initial public offerings. Many companies today won’t dare go public with only men on their boards of directors—a practice that was relatively common as recently as 2019 (remember WeWork?).
But a new report covered exclusively in Fortune this morning finds that before companies reach the IPO stage, the all-male board is alive and well. Just under half—49%—of U.S. private companies that have raised more than $100 million in funding don’t have any women on their boards, according to Crunchbase and the organization Him for Her. These are the companies, with nine figures of capital behind them, that are well on their way to IPOs or other exits—but they have not achieved inclusive leadership at the board level in the years before facing the scrutiny of the public markets.
Private company boards are often smaller than public company boards, and the few seats available are often reserved for founders and investors. But women are underrepresented in all categories of board member, holding 9% of investor seats, 7% of executive director spots, and 20% of independent director roles.
The numbers for women of color are even more dismal. Eighty-one percent of these late-stage private company boards didn’t include a single woman of color. Only 3% of total board seats were held by women of color; 11% were held by women of any race or ethnicity. That’s because, while half of these boards have at least one woman, only 18% had more than one.
Despite how low these numbers are, they are an improvement from last year, when 60% of these private companies had zero women on their boards. “There’s good progress,” says cofounder of Him for Her Ann Shepherd, “but still so much work to be done.”
Read the full story here.
Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
@_emmahinchliffe
The Broadsheet, Fortune’s newsletter for and about the world’s most powerful women, is coauthored by Kristen Bellstrom, Emma Hinchliffe, and Claire Zillman.
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- Emotional awards. At last night's Golden Globe Awards, hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler kicked off the night by criticizing the Hollywood Foreign Press Association's lack of diversity, a theme that came up throughout the night. Chloe Zhao won best director for Nomadland, making her the first Asian woman to win the award. Jane Fonda accepted the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement and called for Hollywood to change "who gets hired and what gets made and who wins awards." And finally, in a moving speech, Taylor Simone Ledward accepted the best actor in a drama award on behalf of her late husband, Chadwick Boseman. "He would say something beautiful; he would say something inspiring," she told the audience. New York Times
- Slam dunk. Renee Montgomery is the first former WNBA player to become both an executive and an owner of a team in the women's basketball league. The former Atlanta Dream guard is now a co-owner of the team, through a deal that bought out former Sen. Kelly Loeffler, who has clashed with players over her politics. ESPN
- New York report. A second former aide, Charlotte Bennett, has accused New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo of sexual harassment. Bennett, who is 25 and was a health policy adviser, says Cuomo asked her if she "had ever been with an older man." Cuomo said in a statement that he never "intend[ed] to act in any way that was inappropriate." Cuomo also agreed to designate the choice of investigator on these sexual harassment claims to New York Attorney General Letitia James and the state's chief judge, Janet DiFiore.
- Hair's the thing. Madison Reed, the hair color company, was one of the businesses able to benefit from a stay-at-home lifestyle. The company, which pivoted its salon workers to support its at-home dye business under the leadership of CEO Amy Errett, reported revenue above $100 million in 2020 and just raised $50 million in venture funding. Forbes
MOVERS AND SHAKERS: Bronx superintendent Meisha Porter will be the next New York City schools chancellor, making her the first Black woman to lead the country's largest school system. Bobbi Brown Cosmetics general manager Stephanie Davis Michelman joins the board of M.M.LaFleur. Sara Anderson, former senior director of demand generation for Carrot Fertility, joins financial wellness benefits company Origin as head of marketing. SurveyMonkey promoted Jack Foster to VP of growth marketing; Katie Miserany to VP of comms and social; and Shayani Roy to VP of product management. The Atlantic promoted Denise Wills to editorial director; Sarah Yager to deputy executive editor; and Bhumika Tharoor to managing editor.
What’s keeping companies from doing better? Sixty-eight percent of leaders believe their business serves the greater good, but only 15% of the wider public agrees. We need to act to help close the gap. We recently surveyed US business leaders, employees and the public to understand what fosters and inhibits trust. These findings shaped actionable steps to help companies fight for social justice and take action, Now.
- Texas-sized crisis. The storms and power outages across Texas two weeks ago have caused a reproductive health care crisis, reports Marie Solis for Fortune. Clinics including Whole Woman's Health and Planned Parenthood had to cancel hundreds of appointments for STI treatment, birth control, and abortion that will "take weeks to recover from." Fortune
- Calling for action. AT&T Business CEO Anne Chow doesn't believe there's a "pipeline problem" in hiring. To leaders and companies who still don't think diverse talent is out there, she offers a few changes to make in this piece for Fortune. Fortune
- Buns, begone! The Army's new uniform and grooming requirements went into effect Friday, allowing women—and especially Black women—to wear more functional hairstyles (one Army captain, Jawana McFadden, described how the required bun pushed her helmet over her eyes) and even lipstick. "It wasn’t just that my self and my traditions weren’t reflected in what it means to be a soldier,” Capt. McFadden said of the old rules. "It also just didn’t work." New York Times
4 minutes with Jill Biden: Grieving with the First Family New York Magazine
When something breaks, moms pick up the pieces. What happens when moms break? Glamour
Speaking of Britney ... what about all those other women? New York Times
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