Supporting Women in Making History: The Necessity of Gender Equity in Business

I always encourage my daughters to authentically be themselves and carry the fullness of their personalities and abilities wherever they go. Like every parent, I believe that my children have the potential to accomplish whatever they set their minds to. As a business leader, I know they are likely to face resistance along the way simply because they are women.

I hope to set an example for them and corporations at large, and at Vista Equity Partners (Vista), we are putting resources into leveling the playing field.

Gender Parity in the Greater Interest

Last year, Vista achieved gender parity across the firm for the first time, as nearly 53% of our workforce is made up of women. Of those 53%, 37% hold investing roles, which is higher than the industry average by 15%. These are the results of firm-wide initiatives to ensure that our teams look like the communities we serve and consider a multitude of viewpoints in all evaluations.

As a firm, we understand that we can only achieve our highest potential when we fully unlock and enable individuals from every sector of our society. Diversity of thought leads to better business performance, and data supports this.

According to the NAIC, diverse-owned asset management firms, or those led by women and people of color, outperform the Burgiss Median Quartile over 75% of the time. Despite diverse teams being integral to a company maximizing its fiduciary duty, only 1.4% of U.S.-based assets under management are managed by diverse teams.

Vista was able to achieve gender parity by creating pipelines that will generate a deep bench of experienced talent with the ability to excel in any role they decide to take on. Our methods for achieving this milestone will, hopefully, inspire others to implement similar corporate equity strategies.

Solutions to Empower Women

One of the most important things businesses can do is create onramps that will allow women and girls to explore and learn about new opportunities.

We have accomplished this by launching our Vista Frontier Fellows program in 2019 to provide undergraduate students from backgrounds traditionally excluded in private equity, including women, with full-time, paid internships to help them launch successful careers in the industry. Fellows not only receive hands-on transaction experience and professional development, but they also have the opportunity to work with mentors with whom they can relate and who can offer more specialized guidance.

Vista is also a founding partner of Girls Who Invest, an organization committed to changing the industry's makeup by investing in pipelines to bring more brilliant and motivated women into the workforce. Through Girls Who Invest, we can provide intensive education on the fundamentals of investing and finance, creating a welcoming space where anyone interested can learn.

By ensuring that women have a seat at the tables that decide where vast portions of capital are invested, we can help ensure that women leaders and founders across tech receive a fair look and are provided with the resources to excel and take their businesses to the next level.

Leading for the Future

We were able to showcase what women leaders can accomplish when they are given the same space, resources and faith that men often receive. Last month, I had the pleasure to join Rachel Arnold, Christina Crawford Kowmowski and Lisa Utzschneider at the 6th annual Women’s Business Leadership in Tech Conference, where we were able to discuss Adopting a Diverse Workforce to Adapt to Uncertain Times and learn about their career journeys as distinguished leaders.

This Women’s History Month, we have a lot of storied history and accomplishments to celebrate. We must also use this as a moment of reflection on how we can use our platforms to uplift women at every level and prove our dedication to creating a more just nation.