7 Women to Watch for Board Director Roles
It’s time we see real equity and action—hire, promote and pay women equally. And let’s get more women on boards.
In 2015, women held 19% of board seats at S&P 500 companies. Today, we celebrate that 30% of board seats at S&P 500 companies are held by women and theBoardlist is proud to have been one of the many organizations that have worked to achieve this.
According to Spencer Stuart, every S&P 500 board now has at least one woman, marking the first time this has happened since they started tracking this data in 1998.
However, we still do not have gender parity in the boardroom. And only 6.2% of CEO positions in S&P 500 companies are held by women. It’s time we see real equity and action—hire, promote and pay women equally. And let’s get more women on boards.
That’s why, for Women’s History Month,
we are excited to present 7 women leaders who are taking their seats at the table.
Click on the candidate below to learn more about their background and get connected.
Who’s on YOUR list of the top women directors we should know?
Let us know by recommending more exceptional and diverse candidates to theBoardlist today!
Expertise: Growth, Marketing, and Customer Engagement
L. Jasmine Kim is an innovative builder of ideas and concepts into scalable businesses that engage and deliver value to people around the world. Jasmine has extensive and eclectic customer engagement experience, in digital media and commerce, from health care, hospitality, to commerce, from marketing, product design, analytics, strategic alliances, and all things in-between. She has made her mark, being the translator and the integrator of emerging and disruptive ideas, platforms, and most importantly, people, to coalesce, scale, and build renowned businesses worldwide.
Jasmine has led many intrapreneurial and innovation initiatives in Fortune 100 companies, as well as accelerating venture-backed start-ups to scale. Along with serving in leadership positions at Sutter Health, Johnson & Johnson, LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton, Jasmine has been recruited into the venture and non-profit board of directors positions for my expertise in new marketing, customer experience, and growth strategy. Jasmine has served on Boards of San Francisco Park Alliance, Cairn, Inc, Planned Parenthood Northern California
Expertise: Finance and IPO
Alexis R. DeSieno has led an over 15-year career in finance and is currently the SVP of Finance at CLEAR (NYSE: YOU), which she helped to IPO in 2021. CLEAR is a biometric security platform with both a B2C subscription model and B2B SaaS business and a $3.5B market capitalization. At CLEAR, Alexis oversees Finance, Data Analytics, Supply Chain & Procurement and Investor Relations. In addition to providing strategic analysis around pricing, M&A, labor optimization and subscription metrics (among other things), Alexis supports all Board and investor communications.
Prior to CLEAR, Alexis ran strategic finance and data analytics at SoulCycle, where she helped the company expand into international markets and scale to 100+ locations globally, as well as to raise capital to fund the digital transformation into a subscription and streaming business. Prior to SoulCycle, Alexis worked for the CFO of the Estee Lauder Companies (NYSE: EL) on special projects, as well as in Investment Banking for over a decade at BofA Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley. Alexis has an MBA from Columbia Business School and a BS from MIT in Brain and Cognitive Science and is a certified sommelier.
Expertise: Technology and Digital Transformation
Minerva Tantoco is an innovator, investor, startup founder, advisor, and speaker on AI, cybersecurity, and mobile technology. Tantoco served as New York City’s first-ever Chief Technology Officer (CTO). Based on her efforts, New York City was named "2016 Best Smart City" by Smart City World Congress. Tantoco helped launch innovative government initiatives including LinkNYC, CSforAll, and Internet of Things Guidelines, focused on promoting an inclusive, equitable tech ecosystem.
After leaving City Hall, Ms. Tantoco co-founded digital bank, Grasshopper. Ms. Tantoco also served as Senior Product Manager at Palm, Chief Technology Officer at Merrill Lynch and UBS, and holds four US patents on intelligent workflow. Tantoco serves on the Board of the New York Hall of Science (nysci.org), Board of Directors, Vyv, Board Advisor to Socure, and is Adjunct Faculty at Columbia University Graduate School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA). Minerva serves on the boards of: One Creation Corporation, Vyv, New York Hall of Science, and committees of Grasshopper Bank National Association, BAC Florida Bank.
Expertise: Scaling and Finance
Saiba Sabherwal Saxena is an experienced strategic and commercial CFO. She has substantial fundraising and operating experience across data analytics, healthcare and B2B SaaS. Saiba started her career on Wall Street in equity research and has been working closely with founders and VC investors scaling companies through periods of hyper growth for the past decade. She is currently CFO of Nayya and prior she was CFO of Komodo Health (valued at $3B). Earlier in her career she was part of the pre-IPO teams at Pandora Music and Spotify, and she led the sale of Next Big Sound to Pandora Music. Saiba serves on the board of Hudson Guild—Governance Committee.
Expertise: Finance and Operations
In both corporate executive roles and as an active board and committee member for numerous organizations, Sharon Madison brings a strategic mindset, problem-solving skills, and strong business and financial acumen to identify solutions that will move the organization toward desired goals. Previously CFO and COO for United Building Maintenance Associates, a $25 million family-owned, unionized commercial cleaning business, Sharon was instrumental in executing a complex transition to new ownership while boosting operating profits, improving service to Fortune 500 clients, and strengthening financial reporting, human resources, and technology.
Most recently, Sharon brought her passion and skills to the nonprofit sector, where she has held leadership roles with several organizations. Currently she is Chief Operating Officer of Prep for Prep, a leadership development organization that prepares students of color for success in private schools, college, and careers. An officer and fiduciary of the organization, Sharon is responsible for Finance, Operations, Facilities, Marketing & Communications, Technology, and Risk/Crisis Management. She has been the driving force behind strategic initiatives that have strengthened financial controls and practices, as well as improved endowment oversight and retirement plan compliance.
Sharon currently serves on the boards of Hamilton College and Beginning with Children Educational Network. Previously Sharon was a Trustee for the Children’s Aid Society (CAS) and a Board Member of the Millbank Housing Development Fund Corporation.
Expertise: Risk and Finance
Tracy Chou is the Founder and CEO of Block Party, an anti-harassment startup that aims to help folks feel safer on social media founded. Currently only available for Twitter, Block Party helps people filter out the content they don’t want to see and into what Block Party calls the Lockout Folder. That’s where all of the filtered-out content lives in the event you want to review it later.
Expertise: Finance and Multinational Operations
CFO at Cradlepoint, a wireless networking company, Debbie Tuck is a seasoned senior executive that specializes in combining strategic and tactical finance experience with multinational operating experience. She has represented companies at Audit Committee meetings and has a track record of leading technical accounting matters, IPO and M&A transactions throughout her career. She was formerly CFO at Helix, Dtex Systems and Vice President of Corporate Finance and Operations at BlackBerry Corporation after serving as the company’s Head of Investor Relations upon the acquisition of Good Technology by BlackBerry, where she was the CAO.
Debbie is also a Co Chair at 50/50 Women on Boards and a Founding Member of CHIEF. She currently serves on the board of Helix OpCo, LLC and previously served on Dtex Systems, Inc. and Good Technologies.
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