#TimesUp has locked in its first-ever President and CEO. Former WNBA President Lisa Borders will take on the position effective November 1.
A press release announcing the news emphasized that the org’s new leader will advance its mission to “create safe, fair, and dignified workplaces for women of all kinds.” She’ll work to “ensure equal opportunity and protection for all working women, seizing this unprecedented moment and transforming it into meaningful and institutionalized change across culture, companies, and laws.”
#TimesUp was officially launched on January 1 of this year by women in the entertainment industry. It has since grown to include other industries and locations far away from Hollywood, “representing women of all kinds across race, religion, and economic backgrounds,” the release explains. #TimesUp has created “an umbrella organization to reach all women, everywhere, linked to a series of affiliates and partners working to advocate for and create change in their respective industries.”
With nearly 30 years of experience in operations, marketing, government relations, and public service, Borders’ previous titles include Vice President of Global Community Affairs at The Coca-Cola Company and Chair of The Coca-Cola Foundation. She served as Vice Mayor of Atlanta and President of the Atlanta City Council. Most recently, Borders was President of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA). During her reign, “the WNBA reached its highest in-person attendance numbers in six years in 2017 and experienced double-digit growth in television viewership in 2018,” the press release notes.
“The pursuit of safe, dignified, and equal treatment in the workplace as a solution to the abuse of power is a mission that can be fulfilled. With Lisa’s skills and leadership, [#TimesUp] is now in the best position to achieve what we all started — to create a more positive future for workplace culture and a more powerful network for working women of all kinds,” said Shonda Rhimes. The “Grey’s Anatomy” creator and CEO of Shondaland is a seed funder of #TimesUp and served as a member of the #TimesUp President and CEO Search Committee.
Borders commented that #TimesUp “is both a natural extension and a bold advancement of the work [she has] been doing for the last four decades.” She continued, “I’m honored to have this opportunity to combine my experience working across [the private, public, and non-profit sectors] as real, systemic change will require collaboration from each of these arenas. To disrupt and reinvent the ingrained status quo, we will need all hands-on deck to create and sustain enduring change. I’m thrilled to lead [#TimesUp] and I am convinced that together, we will shift the paradigm of workplace culture.”
Housed and administered by the National Women’s Law Center, the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund is the org’s first initiative to address safety in the workplace outside of the entertainment industry. “Since launching in January 2018, more than 3,500 women and men from all 50 states have been connected to legal resources through the TIME’S UP Legal Defense Fund, and two-thirds of those who contact the fund identify as low-wage workers,” the release notes.
The org is working with coalitions of women working in industries including advertising, healthcare, and tech.
