TIME'S UP announced Tuesday that Lisa Borders will serve as the first-ever President and CEO of the organization. Launched by a group of women in the entertainment industry on January 1, 2018, TIME'S UP has since grown to other industries and geographies, representing women of all kinds across race, religion, and economic backgrounds. In recognizing the global opportunity to ensure that all women have safe, fair and dignified work, TIME'S UP 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. In the role of President and CEO of TIME'S UP, Borders will lead the organization's 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.
Borders brings nearly 30 years of experience in operations, marketing, government relations and public service to TIME'S UP, delivering results across the public, private and non-profit sectors. Most recently, she served as President of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) where she was responsible for developing the vision for the WNBA and overseeing the league's day-to-day business and basketball operations. Under Borders' leadership, the WNBA reached its highest in-person attendance numbers in six years in 2017 and experienced double-digit growth in television viewership in 2018. Prior to the WNBA, Borders was Vice President of Global Community Affairs at The Coca-Cola Company and Chair of The Coca-Cola Foundation. Borders also served as Vice Mayor of Atlanta and President of the Atlanta City Council. In that role, Borders was responsible for managing the legislative branch of government and maintaining the relationship with the Mayor's office during Mayor Shirley Franklin's administration. Borders is as a trustee of Duke University and is an advisory board member of Operation Hope. Additionally, she serves as a Director for the Six Circles Funds. She also serves on the Advisory Board for the Association of National Advertisers' #SeeHer initiative, which strives to ensure the positive portrayal of women and girls in media. Borders supports the #SheIS movement along with Commissioners of several women's professional sports leagues in the USA and Canada and chairs the Borders Commission for the United States Olympic Committee (USOC).
"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, TIME'S UP 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, CEO of Shondaland, seed funder of TIME'S UP and member of the TIME'S UP President and CEO Search Committee.
"TIME'S UP is committed to long-term, meaningful change - change that will fundamentally improve the working lives of all women and, as a result, drive better business outcomes in every industry. Lisa's leadership will guide us as we work with thoughtful men and women across all sectors to achieve shared and balanced power," said Katie McGrath, Co-CEO at Bad Robot Productions, seed funder of TIME'S UP and member of the TIME'S UP President and CEO Search Committee.
"TIME'S UP is both a natural extension and a bold advancement of the work I have been doing for the last four decades. I'm honored to have this opportunity to combine my experience working across all three 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 TIME'S UP and I am convinced that together, we will shift the paradigm of workplace culture," said Lisa Borders, incoming President and CEO of TIME'S UP.
"Having collaborated with Lisa for many years together around our work at Coca-Cola, I am so thrilled she will be taking on this new role as President and CEO of TIME'S UP. But I'm not just thrilled for her or for the women of TIME'S UP, I am also thrilled for my children and, indeed, for the world. While that might sound lofty, I couldn't feel more confident that Lisa's leadership will help guide us into a world where 'Time's Up' are words future generations will never have to say," said Wendy Clark, President and CEO of DDB Worldwide and founding member of TIME'S UP Advertising.
"Last November, we received a letter from 700,000 farmworker women, of Alianza Nacional De Campesinas, that helped put our own pain and anger into shared solidarity and context. While TIME'S UP was born in the entertainment industry, this work has always been about prioritizing the safety and equity of all women everywhere- regardless of race, religion or background - in the workplace and in their daily lives. Lisa will help us ensure that this isn't a moment that passes us by. We're so thrilled to have her leadership," said Kerry Washington, actress and founding member of TIME'S UP.
"Since launching the TIME'S UP Legal Defense Fund, we've heard from thousands of individuals across the country who have experienced sexual harassment on the job. The road has been long for so many of them, either not knowing where to turn or having been refused help. Thanks to this groundbreaking initiative, we are now able to provide the legal and public relations resources these survivors deserve and require. Lisa's work across the private, public, and non-profit sectors will help TIME'S UP continue to identify and establish solutions, like the TIME'S UP Legal Defense Fund, to create safe, fair and dignified workplaces for all," said Fatima Goss Graves, President and CEO at the National Women's Law Center and founding member of the TIME'S UP Legal Defense Fund.
As a first initiative to address safety in workplaces beyond the entertainment industry, TIME'S UP launched the TIME'S UP Legal Defense Fund, which is housed and administered by the National Women's Law Center. The TIME'S UP Legal Defense Fund connects those who experience sexual misconduct including assault, harassment, abuse and related retaliation in the workplace or in trying to advance their careers with legal and public relations assistance. The Fund helps defray legal and public relations costs in select cases based on criteria and availability of funds. 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.
TIME'S UP is actively working with coalitions of women in industries including advertising, entertainment, healthcare, press, tech, music, venture, and more, as well as with coalitions of women across cities and countries including New York, UK, Australia and more. Throughout its work impacting culture, companies and laws, TIME'S UP partners with advocacy groups representing farmworkers, restaurant workers, domestic workers, as well as other leaders who have been advocating for safe workplaces for decades.
Under Border's stewardship, TIME'S UP will continue its focus on creating solutions that increase safety and equity at work for women of all kinds.
For more details on TIME'S UP, please visit www.timesupnow.com.
TIME'S UP
TIME'S UP is an organization that insists on safe, fair and dignified work for women of all kinds. We want women from the factory floor to the floor of the Stock Exchange, from child care centers to C suites, from farm fields to the tech field, to be united by a shared sense of safety, fairness and dignity as they work and as we all shift the paradigm of workplace culture.
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