Increase Ad Council Board diversity across both race and gender to be more aligned with the broader U.S. population and industry averages.

Given the important work the Ad Council has been doing to create a diverse and inclusive culture amongst our employees, it is equally important to have the same expectations of our Board partners.

To address this critical issue, in July 2018, the Ad Council’s Board Chair and Vice Chairs created a shared goal to increase Board diversity across both race and gender. In determining short- and long-term goals, we compared the Ad Council’s current Board make up to that of the broader U.S. population and the industry’s senior level executives and top CMOs. As a result, we set bold, measurable goals to guide us for the next three years: increase the percentage of women to 50% (from 36%) and increase the percentage of people of color to 20% (from 8%).

We also created a Diversity Task Force composed of eight members of the Board and Ad Council senior leadership. The Task Force will help to strategize and recruit new Board members from diverse backgrounds and will also help oversee a new board-sponsored pilot program that will provide input and direction on initiatives that support diversity at the Ad Council and throughout our industry.

In July 2019, we increased the number of women Board members to 47% exceeding our Year 1 Goal of 40% of women. We were also able to exceed our Year 1 Goals for increasing people of color from 8% to 14% (Year 1 Goal of 10%).

Danna Kulzer; VP, Talent