Derek Kaplan 
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July 5, 2018 
The strong and tireless leadership of women is more vital than ever in today’s business world. Women have made countless entrepreneurial strides in the twenty-first century, but many obstacles remain. According to a PEW Research analysis, female headship roles only constitute a mere 10 percent of top executive positions at U.S. companies in 2016-17. Thankfully, Ellevate Network is an organization of qualified women diligently working on solutions to vanquish those unacceptable numbers, and propel more women to create, inspire and lead.
“At Ellevate Network, we’re focused on building a high-quality community of professional women to lean on and learn from,” stated Tina Pettigrew, Director of Communications for Ellevate Network, to RewardExpert. “We’re an intentional, committed group that has pledged to invest in themselves and other women.”
Workplace equality is an undertaking that Ellevate embraces in the utmost, as it strives to reform the corporate system from the inside out. Their universal fidelity to creating a diverse occupational landscape—through empowerment, support and education—is a true catalyst for change.
Strength in Numbers
With over 40 chapters domestically and abroad, Ellevate offers a multitude of resources both online as well as in person. This entails hosting 1,000+ events annually on an range of issues, including monthly Mentorship Meetups, Leadership Lunches, and workshops geared for commercial achievement.
Through these various platforms, they’re able to firmly establish their cultural set of Values and Guiding Principles, used to assist in making decisions accordingly in business—standards that inherently foster and strengthen their ethos throughout.
“We live stream many of our events to connect our global community around topics and inspiration that are key to professional success,” explained Pettigrew. “Ellevate’s programming also includes weekly webinars on everything from negotiations to professional brand building to financial well-being—the recordings of which are available to members on demand.”
Equal Is Good for Business
One of Ellevate’s fundamental tenets is that overall gender fairness is not only ethical, but it has sound economic logic as well. The company has two decades of history of proving this very point in action.
Originally, Ellevate Network was founded in 1997 as 85 Broads by Janet Hanson, an expat of Goldman Sachs. She directly formed the group as a haven for women who’d left the investment banking firm. In 2013, Sallie Krawcheck (previously of Merrill Lynch) obtained the organization and rebranded to Ellevate a year later.
“Our Chair Sallie Krawcheck acquired 85 Broads because she saw that tackling gender diversity issues in the workplace isn’t just a nice-to-do—it also makes great business sense,” confirmed Pettigrew. “She rebranded it to Ellevate Network, reflecting both the change in the composition of the network, which had grown beyond its financial service roots, and the forward-moving action-oriented nature of the women who made up the community. Since then, we’ve grown significantly in number of members, level of diversity, location and membership benefits—and we keep growing!”
Future Power
This June 21, Ellevate is holding its second annual Mobilizing the Power of Women Summit in New York City. The event assembles a montage of select business leaders, scientists, activists, athletes and other passionate change-makers in their field. The summit is sold out due to its returning popularity, but it will be streamed live globally.
“This year we’re very intentionally focused on the diverse perspectives of people who are not typically brought into the gender equality discussion in events like this,” specified Pettigrew. “People who are doing things to change the world for the better—and inspire others to do the same.”
Additionally, in 2018, Ellevate is concentrated on continuing their new approach to online networking. In particular, this is uniquely done through their Squad Programs, wherein members can resourcefully network via weekly video conferencing.
“What differentiates us is how we help members network efficiently online, described Pettigrew. “We handpick small groups of likeminded women to meet over twelve weeks—it’s the best way we’ve found for women to get the support and insight you need to get to the next stage of your career.”
Ellevate Network invests in women all over the world to help them advance in the workplace, both for themselves and the greater good. Their imperative movement marches on and encourages women to ascend into their rightful positions in leadership. In the more well-put and moving words of Beyonce, “We need to reshape our own perception of how we view ourselves. We have to step up as women and take the lead.”
Find out more about how you can make a difference, and close the gender achievement gap once and for all, at ellevatenetwork.com.