Our Story - Out Leadership

Our Purpose

We help businesses create a better world.

A world in which all people can live authentically and openly without fear, love who they love, create the families they want, and achieve their full potential.

Our Mission

We harness the power of business to drive equality.

We convene, connect and develop LGBTQ+ and ally leaders across the globe. This allows us to advocate for inclusion for all people at every level, from employee to executive to CEO. Because equality drives business, and business drives equality.

Welcome to Out Leadership

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Our Origin

We started a conversation that’s grown into a global movement.

In 2010, we built Out Leadership on a simple premise: That business can leverage economic power to drive both societal change and bottom line impact. Out Leadership is not your typical business, because we’re the first company in history whose only product is equality. We’re also the world’s first LGBTQ+ B-Corporation, which means we understand purpose and business.

Our Purpose

We’re living in a defining moment.

Businesses have become powerful drivers of change and are increasingly required to have a purpose. Employers, employees, and consumers alike, all demand it. They actively choose the companies they do business with, buy from, and work for based on their values and how they act. And it’s this fundamental shift that has led the top companies in the world to realize that equality is essential for success. And that’s where we come in.

Our Milestones

2010

Out Leadership, formerly Out on the Street, is founded by Todd Sears in New York City.

March

2011

First ever Out on the Street LGBTQ+ leadership summit in New York City hosted by Seth Waugh and sponsored by Citi Bank, Bank of America, Barclays, Goldman, Deutsche Bank, and Morgan Stanley.

May

2012

Second Out on the Street Summit held in New York City hosted by James Gorman from Morgan Stanley. The first time ever that more than one CEO spoke out for LGBTQ+ rights at the same time.

November

2012

Out on the Street launches in Europe with its first summit hosted London with over 200 attendees including some of the most senior leaders and CEO's in Europe.

April

2013

Out Leadership held the first-ever LGBTQ+ business summit in Asia in 2013 hosted by Barclays and HSBC, featuring HSBC's largest press event ever, sparking a debate about LGBTQ+ equality in Hong Kong.

June

2013

Todd Sears spoke at TEDx Duke, his alma mater about his personal journey through his career, coming out, and the creation of Out on the Street.

November

2013

Out Leadership launches OutNEXT, the first and only global talent accelerator program for LGBTQ+ emerging leaders in business.

April

2014

First OutNEXT event in New York City with over 100 attendees.

March

2014

First Out in Law summit in New York City, with 200 attendees and 28 law firms participating. The summit featured a conversation with Lloyd Blankfein, Chairman of Goldman Sachs.

December

2014

Out Leadership launches in Asia with a summit held in Hong Kong with over 400 participants, and hosted by Barlcays and HSBC.

2015

Out Leadership, in partnership with OPEN Finance and Freedom to Marry, filed an amicus brief to the Supreme Court of the United States supporting marriage equality (Obergefell v. Hodges).

2015

Out Leadership launches its first summit in Sao Paulo, Brazil, hosting a talent landscape, two VIP dinners, panel discussions, and OutNEXT.

October

2015

OutQUORUM launches, a pioneering program that advocates for LGBTQ+ diversity on Corporate Boards.

January

2016

Out Leadership's Global Advisory Board facilitates first-of-its-kind discussions around LGBTQ+ issues in business at the World Economic Forum in Davos in partnership with Microsoft and EY.

February

2016

OutWOMEN is launched, which is dedicated to connecting out women in business, celebrating their accomplishments, and tapping their strength to help elevate progress for all women in the workplace.

April

2016

Out Leadership advised member companies with the help of Deustche Bank and Paypal, on advocacy actions in response to NC HB2 law. The law was overturned in 2017.

May

2016

Out Leadership launches in Australia with its first summit held in Sydney hosted by Tony Cripps from HSBC, with over 150 of the most senior leaders in the country.

2017

Out Leadership reaches 50 member firms.

June

2017

OL-iQ, the first global LGBTQ+ business diagnostic tool is launched.

April

2018

Release of Out to Succeed in partnership with member PwC, first ever global study on LGBTQ+ emerging business leaders.

May

2018

Release of Corporate Engagement Guidelines for LGBTQ+ Equality which was the first ever LGBTQ+ inclusive board guidelines.

November

2018

Out Leadership rings the opening bell at NASDAQ and announced the Business Statement for Transgender Equality.

November

2018

Out Leadership convenes 56 major companies and 14 LGBTQ+ organizations as signatories of the Business Statement for Transgender Equality, in response to efforts to erase U.S. transgender protections.

April

2019

Out Leadership and Out for Undergrad announce a strategic partnership to bridge the talent pipeline between LGBTQ+ students and business leaders.

May

2019

Out Leadership and Ropes & Gray co-authored Visibility Counts, a first-of-its-kind global report on LGBTQ+ self-identification which enables companies to invite LGBTQ+ employees to self-identify.

June

2019

Release of State LGBTQ+ Business Climate Index in partnership with the Gill Foundation, a revolutionary report that systematically evaluates and ranks every US state's performance on LGBTQ+ inclusion.

2020

Out Leadership convened a coalition of LGBTQ+ non-profits and filed an Amicus Brief to articulate the economic cost of LGBTQ+ discrimination.

June

2020

Out Leadership releases AllyUp, in partnership with FCB and EY. AllyUp uncovers the impact of allyship on the experience of LGBTQ+ individuals in the workplace.

November

2020

Out Leadership launches Visibility Counts: Board Demographics Reporting Guidelines. This "policy in a box" allows businesses to integrate LGBTQ+ inclusive board diversity language into their policies.

2021

Out Leadership launches OutNEXT Alumni, dedicated to LGBTQ+ leaders that have graduated from the OutNEXT program as it's own summit.

2021

Launches OutSPOKEN with Mila Jam, Out Leadership's senior advisor for transgender initiatives and transgender activist/musician, which is an initiative dedicated to transgender people in business.

March

2021

First OutQUORUM Report is released and identifies, for the first time, the lack of LGBTQ+ inclusion in corporate boardrooms and corporate board diversity policies among Fortune 500 companies.

June

2021

Trans Business Guide is released, a first of its kind resource for the business community to better understand transgender issues and how to support the transgender community as business leaders.

November

2021

Todd Sears testifies before the U.S. Congress on the importance of economically empowering the LGBTQ+ community.

March

2022

Second OutQUORUM Report is released, expanding Out Leadership's first-of-its-kind board diversity mapping to all Fortune 1000 and Nasdaq-listed companies.

June

2022

4th annual Out Leadership State LGBTQ+ Business Climate Index is published, ranking all 50 united states on LGBTQ+ Inclusion, along with the accompanying State CEO Briefs.

July

2022

Citi hosts the 10th annual OutNEXT, the largest ever gathering of young LGBTQ+ leaders in New York City, and the program expands to Toronto and Los Angeles.

January

2023

Out Leadership partners with NEXUS, which convenes LGBTQ+ ERGs in the UK, and publishes an original piece of research.

February

2023

Out Leadership’s WorldPride 45 CEOs dinner (in honor of the 45th Sydney Mardi Gras) was the world’s largest-ever gathering of CEOs in support of LGBTQ+ equality.

April

2023

Third OutQUORUM Board Diversity Report is published, showing a huge increase in companies with LGBTQ+ inclusive board diversity policies.

June

2023

5th annual Out Leadership State LGBTQ+ Business Climate Index is published. For the first time ever, the nation’s overall average score on LGBTQ+ equality fell.