One year ago our Founder and CEO, Lucinda Duncalfe, founded AboveBoard. She started with a small-but-mighty insight: in order for executive leadership to truly be inclusive and accessible to all qualified candidates, traditional executive search and hiring practices need to change.
Today, we're opening up a closed system and exposing traditionally exclusive senior leadership opportunities to all executives, leveling the playing field for those from underrepresented groups. Before AboveBoard, there were only two ways of hiring executive talent: you either tap into your personal networks or hire a search firm that leverages their professional networks. Both methods routinely result in active senior leaders that all look the same and the exclusion of candidates from underrepresented groups. Breaking this system means opening up the process—disrupting how executives discover opportunities and how recruiters find candidates.
One year later, we’re proud of our accomplishments and are looking forward to our future milestones.
A trusted source for executive hiring
Over the course of a year, we have grown our organization to over 13,000 members with 1100+ direct matches to executive opportunities. At the same time, 1400+ companies trust us to list their executive opportunities—including hundreds of portfolio companies from venture capital and private equity organizations such as Audax Group, LLR, and Summit Partners.
We have partnerships with 12+ organizations to bring the power of access, agency, and transparency to communities of executives from underrepresented groups. Some of our partners include DevColor, Latino Corporate Directors Association, HBS African-American Alumni Association, Associate for Black Princeton Alumni, Strides.ai, and Women Tech Council.
AboveBoard’s transparency-driven solution has also been featured by Fast Company, Forbes Women, CheddarTV, Hunt Scanlon, Bloomberg, and BusinessWire.
Belief in AboveBoard’s solution
Startups led by women and people of color tend to secure less, if any, seed-funding. Yet, they outperform competing ventures. Data suggests that one of the reasons for this discrepancy is lack of diversity among investors.
While this data is daunting, the AboveBoard team stayed true to our values of diversity, equity, and inclusion. We are proud to say that since our inception in October 2020 we have received $3 million in seed funding, with 91% of those funds from outside investors of underrepresented groups.
Planning for the future
One year in, we have already celebrated milestones toward our goal of diversifying executive leadership. We’re extremely excited for our second year and the progress we will achieve with the support of our trusted partners, members, and larger community.
Up next, we have some exciting updates and changes being made to our platform (including a streamlined and optimized visual experience, new member features, and more). Connect with us below or follow us @joinaboveboard on LinkedIn and Twitter to stay updated on all of our upcoming developments.
Interested in joining our movement to open executive opportunities to all qualified executives and change the face of corporate leadership?
- Join today. Membership is free, confidential, and open to all executives VP-level and above.
- Start hiring with AboveBoard. Connect with over 13,000 executives from underrepresented groups to diversify your candidate pipeline.
- Partner with AboveBoard. Bring the power of AboveBoard’s access and transparency to your organization.
