Jocelyn Mangan founded Him For Her, a social impact venture aimed at accelerating diversity on corporate boards. She has over two decades of technology experience building iconic global mobile apps and market-leading software products at some of the world’s best local, consumer, and marketplace companies, including CitySearch, Ticketmaster, OpenTable, and Snagajob. Jocelyn currently serves on the boards of Papa John’s International, Inc. (NASDAQ: PZZA), ChowNow, and Wag!, and is an advisor to Homebase and CORE. She is a part-time moderator for the Netflix Leadership Program. Jocelyn was honored as a member of the 2016 class of Henry Crown Fellows at the Aspen Institute, was a global ambassador for the Vital Voices Global Partnership, and was one of Fast Company’s “100 Most Creative People in Business” in 2015.

01. Give us the elevator pitch for Him For Her.

Him For Her is a social impact venture aimed at accelerating diversity on corporate boards. To bridge the network gap responsible for the sparsity of women in the boardroom, Him For Her engages business luminaries to connect the world’s most talented “Hers” to board service. Since its founding in 2018, Him For Her has built a referral-only talent network of 4,000+ board-ready women, more than a third of whom are women of color, and provided free board referrals to 800+ companies ranging from start-ups to S&P 100. Him For Her creates warm introductions between board candidates and CEOs through more than 100 roundtable discussions guest-hosted by renowned leaders such as Scott Cook, Carmine Di Sibio, Robin Washington, Eric Yuan, and many more. A 501c3 corporation, Him For Her provides its services free of charge thanks to supporters like Brad Feld & Amy Batchelor, Reid Hoffman, Jeff Weiner, Nasdaq, and others.

02. How does Him For Her create a more diverse and inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystem?

Him For Her makes it easy to find a diverse slate of candidates for your board of directors. Through our free board-referral service, we work with companies of any size and stage -- from Series A to public -- to identify executives with the desired experience and competencies. Our ever-growing referral-only talent network of 4000+ board-ready women, of whom 35%+ are women of color, spans every conceivable industry and area of functional expertise. In addition, we offer CEOs opportunities to expand their networks through our series of roundtables.

03. How will support from the Techstars Foundation and the Techstars network further the mission of your organization?

Ongoing engagement with the Techstars network will help unlock board opportunities as your entrepreneurs and founders look to build their boards. Plus, we would love to welcome board-ready women, men of color, and all allies to our network. 

04. How did you come to do this work and why is it important to you personally?

As a Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute, I was tasked with starting a venture that could change the world. I have a passion for women at work and know that the boardroom is the most important room in business, so I decided to focus on the lack of diversity in corporate boardrooms. Through interviews with more than 90 CEOs and sitting board directors, I determined that board candidates are typically identified through personal networks.

Recognizing that women and especially women of color are underrepresented within the networks of those in the boardroom today, I created Him For Her to bridge the gap between board-ready women and board opportunities.

05. Share a success story.

When Seth Levine of Foundry Group, a Him For Her partner, asked us for help finding candidates for Looking Glass Factory, an innovator in holographic displays, we got to work. Through our network, we’ve been introduced to many outstanding women ready for the board room, including Brenda Freeman, a leader with 25 years of marketing and digital transformation experience. We were also thrilled when Matt Cook, Skillshare’s CEO, introduced us to Sabrina Kieffer, Skillshare’s COO. Our success story is that both Brenda and Sabrina joined the Looking Glass Factory board. “With Brenda’s experience bringing new technologies to a broader audience and Sabrina’s expertise in building creative communities, I think we now have one of the best boards in the world focused on next-generation interfaces.” - Shawn Frayne, CEO and Co-founder, Looking Glass Factory. In all, Him For Her has placed directors on the boards of six Foundry portfolio companies, including Crucible [NYSE: CRU], Drip, Integrate, Nix Hydra and Rover [NASDAQ: ROVR]. 

Him For Her is a participant in the Accelerate Equity program of the Techstars Foundation in 2022.

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