January 11th 2021 New York, US
Out Leadership, the oldest and largest coalition of global companies working to improve LGBTQ+ equality in the world is delighted to announce the formation of an Out Leadership Research Council comprising some of the world’s foremost experts and academics on LGBTQ+ inclusion, economics and workplace equity.
Out Leadership has been publishing approximately 4-6 proprietary research reports annually for several years including a number of studies exploring topics for the first time. These have included the first-ever report on Self-ID (2019), the first-ever global research study on LGBTQ+ millennials, Out to Succeed (2018) and the LGBTQ+ Business Equality Index (2019),
Out Leadership CEO and Founder, Todd Sears said “This is big news for us and something we’ve been working on for several months. Our research advisory board will convene twice annually to discuss the current landscape of issues facing the LGBTQ+ community, explore the gaps in existing research that should be addressed and provide feedback and guidance to our proprietary research we publish each year. “I’m honored and humbled that everyone we asked to join this council said yes.”.
The Out Leadership Research Council:
- Lee Badgett
M. V. Lee Badgett is a professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and former director of the School of Public Policy at UMass Amherst She is also a Williams Distinguished Scholar at UCLA’s Williams Institute, where she was a co-founder and the first research director. Her research focuses on the global cost of homophobia and transphobia andon LGBTI economic inequality, including wage gaps, employment discrimination, and poverty.Her latest book is The Economic Case for LGBT Equality: Why Fair and Equal Treatment Benefits Us All. Prof. Badgett has been a consultant, advisor, or speaker on LGBTI issues to the World Bank, Open For Business, UNDP, USAID, IDB, ADB, U.S. State Department, OECD, global businesses, and LGBTI organizations. - Lynette Chua
Dr. Lynette Chua is a law and society scholar with research interests in legal mobilization, legal consciousness, and rights, power, and resistance. She is Associate Professor of Law at the National University of Singapore, with a joint appointment at Yale-NUS College as Rector of Elm College and Head of Studies for the Law and Liberal Arts Double-Degree Program. She is the author of The Politics of Love in Myanmar: LGBT Mobilization and Human Rights as A Way of Life (Stanford University Press, 2019) and Mobilizing Gay Singapore: Rights and Resistance in an Authoritarian State (Temple University Press, 2014). - Timothy Hildebrandt
Timothy Hildebrandt is an associate professor of social policy and development at The London School of Economics and Political Science. While widely recognized as a leading expert on LGBTQ+ policy and activism in China, Tim’s research broadly examines how government, civil society, and the private sector can both exacerbate and mitigate social inequalities. His work is published in policy, development, sexology, and medical journals and covered by The Guardian, BBC, Washington Post, and NBC, among many others. Outside academia, Tim serves as expert witness in LGBTQ+ asylum cases in the UK and US. Originally from Minneapolis, Tim is an American and British citizen. - Kyle Knight
Kyle Knight is a senior researcher in the LGBT rights program at Human Rights Watch. Prior to joining the LGBT rights program, he was a fellow at the Williams Institute of the University of California at Los Angeles School of Law, and a Fulbright scholar in Nepal. As a journalist he worked for Agence France-Presse in Nepal and for the UN’s humanitarian news service, reporting from Burma, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste, Bangladesh, Malaysia, and Indonesia. He has previously worked for UNAIDS, the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice, and in the children’s rights and health and human rights divisions at Human Rights Watch. He sits on the editorial board of the Annals of LGBTQ Public and Population Health Journal, and the advisory group of the Women’s Refugee Commission’s sexual violence project. He studied cultural anthropology at Duke University. - Amy Lind
Amy Lind is Mary Ellen Heintz Professor of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at the University of Cincinnati, where she has served as Director and Faculty Chair for the Taft Research Center since January 2019. Prior to this, she served as Head of the Department of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies from August 2015 through December 2018 and as Graduate Director for four previous years. In 2017-2018, she also served as Provost Fellow, in which capacity she oversaw assessment and accreditation in the College of Arts & Sciences. She holds faculty affiliations in Sociology, Romance & Arabic Languages & Literatures, the Latin American, Latinx and Caribbean Studies Program, and the School of Planning/DAAP. Dr. Lind’s areas of scholarship and teaching include urban studies, global political economy, development and postcolonial studies, Global South/transnational social movements, feminist and queer theory, and studies of neoliberal governance. A qualitative researcher with great interest in people’s stories of survival and resistance, she has lived, worked and conducted research in Latin America for over four years, including in Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Venezuela. - Andrew Reynolds
Andrew Reynolds received his B.A.(Hons) from the University of East Anglia, a M.A. (Dist.) from the University of Cape Town and his Ph.D. from the University of California, San Diego. His research and teaching focus on democratization, constitutional design and electoral politics. He is particularly interested in the presence and impact of minorities and marginalized communities. He has worked for the United Nations, the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA), the UK Department for International Development, the US State Department, the National Democratic Institute, the International Republican Institute, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the International Foundation for Election Systems. He has also served as a consultant on issues of electoral and constitutional design for Afghanistan, Angola, Burma, Egypt, Fiji, Guyana, Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Netherlands, Netherlands Antilles, Nepal, Northern Ireland, Pakistan, Philippines, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, Ukraine, Yemen, and Zimbabwe. He has received research awards from the U.S. Institute of Peace, the National Science Foundation, the US Agency for International Development, and the Ford Foundation. - Christopher Pepin-Neff
Christopher Pepin-Neff is a Senior Lecturer in Public Policy in the Department of Government and International Relations. His research interests include theories of the policy process, policy analysis, the role of policy entrepreneurs, and comparative public policy. More specifically, his research looks at policymaking regarding emotional issues such as LGBTQI politics, mass shootings, and the “politics of shark attacks.” He has published articles in the Australian Journal of Political Science, Environmental Studies and Sciences, the Journal of Homosexuality, Marine Policy, and Coastal Management. His research has been noted in The New York Times, Washington Post, Time magazine, The Economist, USA Today and New Scientist magazine. In May 2012, Christopher gave a ‘TED Talk’ on his research for TED’s Global Talent Search.
Jane Barry-Moran, Manager of Research, Programs & Partnerships at Out Leadership said “Creating this Research Advisory Council was a natural next step for us as we continue to evolve and expand our research capabilities as an organization”.
In 2021, Out Leadership will publish a landmark research report on Intersectional Allyship in partnership with Color of Change. Additionally, Out Leadership will continue to expand their AllyUp series to include Latin America and will publish a series of white papers on Equality at the Olympics, LGBTQ+ Women in the Workplace and more. The support of the research advisory group will be invaluable to these efforts.
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About Out Leadership:
Out Leadership is the oldest and largest global LGBTQ+ business advisory that partners with the world’s most influential companies to build business opportunities, cultivate talent, and drive LGBTQ+ equality forward. We believe that LGBTQ+ inclusion positively impacts business results, and that including LGBTQ+ people at the most senior level of executive leadership builds business. We call this idea Return on Equality™.
Comprised of approximately 85 global member firms and dedicated to cross-industry collaboration, Out Leadership is a certified B Corporation. Out Leadership convenes CEOs, business leaders and allies at exclusive invitation only events across 4 continents. Out Leadership also operates three talent initiatives: Quorum, which aims to increase LGBTQ+ representation on corporate boards; OutNEXT, the first global talent development program for emerging LGBTQ+ leaders; and OutWOMEN, connecting senior level LGBT+ women in business. To learn more, please visit http://outleadership.com/