David Stengle

Board++ breaks glass ceilings, diversifies boards, and prepares our next generation for board leadership.

Startup board diversity

Most startups have no women on their board. Startup board diversity lags the corporate world. Board++ is my initiative to increase the number of women and under-represented minorities taking board seats. This will diversify startup boards immediately and meaningfully diversify the global pool of qualified business board members at all levels over time. Reach out if you are interested.

Silicon Valley Bank reports 71% of startups have no female board members.

We can fix this now. Contact me if you want to participate in the pilot.

five generations

Women in my family have overcome obstacles for many generations.

•My great grandmother graduated from the University of Minnesota Medical School in 1921. In 1915, 2.9% of medical school graduates were women.

•My grandmother was valedictorian in her law Columbus University Law School class, won a bronze star in WWII, and then spent her next 30 years pressed against the glass ceiling as a corporate lawyer. 2.4% of lawyers were women in 1940.

•My mother was strongly discouraged from pursuing her career choices and ultimately started her own business.

•My wife is CEO of a tech company. When she joined, everyone on the board and senior executive team were white men.

•My sister is a mathematician; when she started in the profession women held 3% of tenured US mathematics positions (now it’s 15%).

•My daughter works in a blockchain fintech startup. The blockchain sector has a heavy male skew.

Business on board

I had the good fortune to receive terrific training and a thoughtful match for my first board seat through the Business on Board program. Structured training, a helpful cohort, thoughtful board-executive matching, and ongoing support is the exception today, not the rule.