Beth Brooke-Marciniak is Elected Chair and Geraldine Laybourne and Cindy Whitehead are Elected New Members to Nonprofit Board of Directors
WASHINGTON D.C. (JANUARY 5, 2017) – Alyse Nelson, President and CEO of Vital Voices Global Partnership, today announced that Beth Brooke-Marciniak, Global Vice-Chair for Public Policy at EY, has been elected Chair of the Board of Directors of Vital Voices and that Founder of Oxygen Media, Geraldine Laybourne, and CEO of The Pink Ceiling, Cindy Whitehead, have been elected as new members to the Board.
“I am delighted to welcome Gerry and Cindy to our Board, and I’m very proud to announce that Beth has been elected Chair of the Board. I have no doubt that the insight, experience and commitment that each of these women bring to Vital Voices will strengthen our ability to invest in women leaders who find creative solutions to the world’s toughest challenges,” said Nelson.
Beth Brooke-Marciniak has been a dedicated member of the Board of Directors of Vital Voices since 2009. As EY’s Global Vice-Chair for Public Policy, she leads the firm’s public policy work in 150 countries, and is the global sponsor of its efforts on diversity and inclusiveness. She has been named nine times to the list of Forbes “World’s 100 Most Powerful Women”, was named Woman of the Year by Concern Worldwide, and has been inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame. She also founded EY’s Women Athletes Business Network. Throughout her career, Brooke-Marciniak has been an outspoken advocate for women’s advancement. She is actively engaged in several civic and business organizations and serves on the boards of the Aspen Institute, The Conference Board, Out Leadership, and the Women’s Advisory Board of the World Economic Forum.
Geraldine Laybourne is a long-time champion of Vital Voices and its mission, serving as a Global Ambassador and traveling and working with the organization to train and mentor women in India, Argentina and East Africa. Known fondly as the “godmother of mentoring”, her efforts to pay it forward inspired members of the Vital Voices Global Leadership Network to organize annual Mentoring Walks that connect established and emerging women leaders. Laybourne founded Oxygen Media and served as its chairman and CEO until 2007. Under her leadership at Nickelodeon, the network became the top-rated 24-hour cable service and won Emmy, Parent’s Choice and Peabody Awards. Laybourne serves on the Board of Directors of Symantec, Betaworks, and 9 Story – as well as the Board of Trustees of Vassar College.
Cindy Whitehead joins the Board of Vital Voices as a leading advocate for women’s health and active mentor to young entrepreneurs. Whitehead is a serial entrepreneur who has built and sold pharmaceutical businesses that deliver record-setting returns in the healthcare industry. She has been called a “tireless force of nature” by Fortune Magazine and was featured on the cover of Entrepreneur Magazine’s Women to Watch. She co-founded and last served as CEO of Sprout Pharmaceuticals. Currently Whitehead is CEO of The Pink Ceiling, an organization she launched with a mission to advise, invest in and expand startups that provide breakthrough innovations on issues affecting women. She also serves as Chairman of the Board of Undercover Colors and as an advisor to the Poole College of Management at NC State University.