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Black History Month is an opportunity to celebrate all of the incredible Black and African American leaders, executives, and board members already making a difference. This year, theBoardlist is proud to highlight a few of the many outstanding directors who are not only successful directors with proven track records, but continue to make a difference both in and outside of the boardroom.
In 2021, S&P 500 companies tripled the share of new Black directors to 33% — a large improvement over previous years— but there's still work to do. According to The New York Times, “In 2021, Black directors were named to fill 535 board seats, to raise their total to 1,919, a nearly 40 percent increase, according to the ISS Corporate Solutions analysis. They now account for 7.4 percent of directorships, up from 4.5 percent at the end of 2019”, although still far below true representation.
Join us in continuing this conversation, in partnership with The Board Challenge, a movement to improve the representation of Black directors in the boardrooms of U.S. public and private companies. Take the pledge or recommend board-ready executives today.
We’ve curated a list of 5 Black Board Directors Making a Difference
Click on the candidate below to learn more about their background and get connected.
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Paula Pretlow is an experienced board director and investment executive currently serving on the boards of Williams-Sonoma, Vroom, Bitwise Industries, and Ares Dynamic Credit Allocation Fund. Paula’s board impact mirrors her career as a former finance and investment executive. Her influence extends to Nominating and Governance, Investment, Finance, and Audit Committees where subjects span executive performance, compensation and succession planning; board candidate selection; strategic planning; policy and procedure development; diversity recruitment; as well as and compliance and reporting.
Paula’s board service has also included The Harry & Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, Northwestern University, and The Kresge Foundation, as well as the San Francisco Symphony and Congregation Emanu-El in San Francisco. As a speaker, Paula frequently presents on Leadership, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion. She has a passion for developing new generations of leaders which translates beyond the boardroom with her work in higher education and philanthropy, centering on inclusive environments.
“As a Black woman whose board portfolio spans public and private companies, as well as philanthropic foundations, I bring a unique perspective that includes my experiences across these sectors…combined with my financial background.”
Will Clarke’s board impact leverages a 25-year career in the U.S. Navy where he managed finance, supply chain and procurement globally. Rather than focus solely on the very current subject of supply chain, Will chooses to lean into the broader issue of enterprise risk management. Prior to starting his own firm, Clarke Growth and Sustainment Strategies, he led the Global Supply Chain business unit for Atlas Airlines (NASDAQ: AAWW) and directed store and facilities upgrade and sustainment initiatives across the Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) enterprise. Before launching his corporate career in 2015, Mr. Clarke served 25 years as a Naval Officer where he completed 10 deployments in support of war and peacetime operations on two Aircraft Carriers, one Submarine, one Warship and one on land. Additionally, he lived and served in impactful finance, supply chain, procurement and logistics assignments across Asia/Pacific, East Africa, and the United States and attained the rank of Captain (O6).
Born in Trinidad and educated in NYC Public Schools, Mr. Clarke earned a BSc in Mathematics from the U.S. Naval Academy, a MSc in Finance and Contracts Management from the Naval Postgraduate School and holds Business certificates from the Wharton School, Georgetown University, and Columbia Business School.
Aishetu Fatima Dozie is an experienced global finance and capital markets executive with a track record in strategic business development and deal execution Aisha has advised CEOs seeking to leverage public/private capital markets in their growth objectives across consumer products, non-Rx pharmaceuticals, banks and financial institutions, infrastructure, and oil and gas. She has built multi-jurisdictional businesses within large international corporations as well as scaled two businesses as a mission-driven entrepreneur. Currently serving on the board of Altimeter Capital.
Aishetu led an over 20-year career in finance, working as an investment banker and finance executive for Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Lehman Brothers all throughout the US, UK, Central, and South America, and Sub-Saharan Africa. Aishetu has worked on over $130 billion in M&A, private equity financings, IPOs, and public capital market transactions. With her main focus always on strategically changing the manner in which clients are serviced, Aishetu decided in 2019 it was time to dive into her deepest passion - the advancement of women in business. And now, Aishetu has redefined the way beauty companies address professional women as the Founder and CEO of Bossy Cosmetics, Inc. She has been featured in Refinery 29, Essence Magazine, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, BET Networks, Fashionista Magazine, W Magazine, and InStyle Magazine. On top of being a CEO, Aishetu is also a 3x board director well as a member of the Female Founder Collective and she sits on the Advisory Council for Fair Trade USA. She also founded a children's play and activity center called Paloo's Place and a media project which showcased successful African women called African HERstory.
“I believe I ask the rigorous questions that lead the management teams to probe their own thinking and explore new growth pathways. “
Claire Cormier Thielke currently serves on the Board of Directors of Zillow Group (NASDAQ: Z), the world’s largest online real estate marketplace. Claire serves as Senior Managing director — Hines Asia Pacific, where she brings an impressive range of international commercial real estate and asset-backed finance and operations experience from overseeing Hine’s 39 investment vehicles across 24 geographics, totaling $20B assets under management.
Claire has continued her advocacy for both conservation and healthcare. She currently serves on the Society of Fellows of the Aspen Institute and on the board of MD Anderson Cancer Center, the No. 1 in cancer care in the U.S. News & World Report. Previously, she’s served on Boards of Hermann Park Conservancy, Buffalo Bayou Partnership, Preservation Houson, and Astrodome Conservancy. She is a member of Stanford University's adjunct faculty, lecturing on the intersection of technology, institutional investment and real estate assets.
Claire Cormier Thielke was appointed to the board at Zillow in 2020 after the company took a public pledge with The Board Challenge to place at least one Black director within the year. Claire believes that her experience in urban planning and design as well as scaling real estate portfolios will be helpful to the company as it enters the “Zillow 2.0” era, expanding its offerings to principal acquisition and risk-taking.
Merline Saintil is a seasoned public company board director and customer-oriented technology leader with a track record of operationalizing strategy and developing global award-winning products. Prior to her current role as COO, R&D and IT at Change Healthcare, Merline held senior leadership roles at Fortune 500 and private companies including Intuit, Yahoo, PayPal, Joyent, and Adobe.
She is a highly experienced F500 board member who serves as Lead Independent Director and Compensation Committee Chair at Rocket Lab, and sits on the boards of GitLab, Evolv Technology, Lightspeed Commerce, TD Synnex, Banner Bank, and Alkami Technology. Merline joined forces with Robin Washington, herself a director at Alphabet, Salesforce, and Honeywell International, to launch the Black Women on Boards (BWOB) Program in 2020.
In February 2022, a cohort of 40+ BWOB members rang the NASDAQ opening bell in celebration of Patricia Roberts Harris, the first Black woman to serve on a Fortune 500 Board (IBM, 1971).
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