Mentoring the next generation of leaders and investors is critical to the success of our parent companies, the expansion of investment opportunities, and the growth of the world economy.
Although most of the top 50 corporate venture investors have women in their senior investment ranks, there is still much work to do to bolster diversity throughout the corporate venture capital (CVC) community and beyond.
During the 2018 GCVI Summit, Wendell Brooks, President, Intel Capital, shared their initiative to mentor the best and the brightest women and under-represented minorities as part of its intern program. You can view an excerpt of his presentation here.
Imagine the impact we can have if we accept his challenge to the CVC community to hire at least one diverse intern this summer.
As members of the GCV Leadership Society, we have accepted Wendell’s Challenge and have committed to furthering diversity within our CVC teams, internship programs and investments.
In 2017 GCV Analytics tracked 2,320 investments by Corporate Venture firms, worth an estimated $109.23bn of total capital. Moreover, corporate venturing’s overall share of all venture capital activity increased from 11% in 2015 to 18%.
As CVC continues to increase its importance on the pathway to funding, we recognise the necessity and benefits of advancing diversity and inclusion in our organisations and investments. Later this year, we will share lessons learned from accepting this challenge.
Won’t you join us in this endeavour? We would be honored and will showcase various experiences in a special GCV diversity report.
If you will be taking on Wendell’s Challenge, let Janice Mawson know at leadership@globalcorporateventuring.com
Respectfully,
Grant Allen, Head of Ventures, ABB Technology Ventures
John Banta, Executive Director, Venture Team, BlueCross BlueShield Association
Brian D. Schettler, Managing Director, BoeingHorizonX Ventures
Scott Brown, Vice President Ventures & Outreach, CableLabs
Jaidev Shergill, Head, Capital One Growth Ventures
Amy Banse, Managing Director & Head of Funds, Comcast Ventures
Sue Siegel, Chief Innovation Officer and CEO of Business Innovations, GE
Wendell Brooks, Senior Vice President, Intel Corporation, President, Intel Capital
Bonny Simi, President, JetBlue Technology Ventures
Tom Heyman, Global Head of JJDC, Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC, Inc.
Ian R. Simmons, Vice President, Business Development Corporate Engineering and R&D, Magna International
William (Bill) Taranto, President, Merck Global Health Innovation Fund
Nagraj Kashyap, Corporate Vice President, Global Head, Microsoft Ventures
Warren Pennington, Principal Fintech Strategies, Vanguard Group
John Doherty, Senior Vice President, Corporate Development and President, Verizon Ventures