After we announced the 50/50 Pledge, Draper Venture Network (DVN)’s Managing Director, Gabe Turner, immediately reached out. In fact, he was one of the first to ask to partner with us as an event organizer. After chatting with Gabe, I learned how important it was for them have a gender-balanced speaker roster at their main annual event, which brings together the world’s best innovators and investors.
Gabe recognized that they needed assistance to look outside their network for potential speakers, and they were excited to work with 50/50 Pledge to find some amazing women speakers to share knowledge and insights with their audience. We’re thrilled to announce that this year’s CEO Summit has taken the 50/50 Pledge to assure that there will be an even ratio of men to women on stage.
It’s an important audience. It’s a significant move from a significant organization. The annual CEO Summit brings together CEOs from across the member venture firms’ portfolios, the General Partners and Limited Partners of those firms, as well as corporate representatives and investment bankers.
That means the people who build companies, the people who invest money into those companies, and the people who give the investors money to put into those companies will all be there. The conversations that happen at the CEO Summit shape the future.
These are the people building and shaping the future of the technology and startup industry. Women’s voices need to be part of this conversation, and we’re proud to say that we’re now assuring that they will be a significant part. We are ensuring that women’s voices are driving the industry’s evolution.
The following accomplished tech professionals will be on stage this coming week at the CEO Summit, sharing their knowledge with DFN’s visiting and local GPs, fund LPs, and the CEOs of companies like Thumbtack, Yik Yak, eShares, Meetup, Redfin, and Coinbase, among others:
Connie Loizos
Connie is the Founder of StrictlyVC, and is also the Silicon Valley Editor of TechCrunch. Connie has deep experience in the tech industry (specifically Venture Capital), having previously written on the topic of VC for PE Wire, Fortune, and Thomson Reuters.
Mina Radhakrishnan
Mina is currently an EIR at Redpoint Ventures and a special advisor at Cowboy Ventures. She was previously the first Head of Product at Uber, joining the company in 2011. She was also a Senior PM at ModCloth, and got her start in the Bay Area at Google’s APM Program.
Jennifer Billock
Jennifer has been at Couchsurfing for three years, in the role of CEO for the past two years. She’s led the company and marketplace with 9M members across 120,000 cities, bringing a compelling new experience for those users on mobile. She is also a PhD candidate in Psychology at the University of New Hampshire, where she researched gender-based leadership differences in corporate settings.
Leura Fine
After deciding it was time to democratize Interior Design, Leura founded Laurel & Wolf. With a recent $20M Series B, Leura and her team are creating a better way for clients and designers to get connected and work together. She was also previously named in the Architectural Digest Top 100, and International Interior Designer of the Year.
We’re excited to work with Draper Venture Network, and we look forward to sharing insights and commentary from the event later this week.
If you’re a woman that works in the tech industry, make sure to add your name to the directory to add your voice to the on-going tech industry dialogue.
If you help run a tech event, please reach out to 50/50 Pledge about working together on your future event.
See highlights from last year’s Draper Venture Network CEO Summit:
Draper Venture Network CEO Summit 2014 from Gabriel Turner on Vimeo.