Fortune Most Powerful Women is going global with its first ever Middle East summit taking place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, May 20–21. Join speakers including former U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May; Jacqueline Novogratz, founder and CEO of Acumen; Rashida Jones, former MSNBC president; Julie Brill, Chief Privacy Officer and Corporate Vice President, Global Privacy, Safety, and Regulatory Affairs at Microsoft; and many more to discuss the key forces shaping the global business landscape. Find more information here. |
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Good morning! Andreessen deal gives Mira Murati more board control at her startup, Department of Defense pulls national security program for women, and Tory Burch makes a new pledge to support women entrepreneurs.
– Economic impact. Over the past 15 years, the Tory Burch Foundation has supported 387 women entrepreneurs whose revenue totals $340 million. Today, the foundation is announcing a commitment to supporting women entrepreneurs whose revenue, or economic impact, totals $1 billion by 2030, Fortune is the first to report.
Burch, the woman behind her eponymous foundation and fashion label with a reported $2 billion in annual sales, sees this commitment as the next phase of the foundation’s work. “Our core mission is to increase women’s economic power, and that’s by supporting the entrepreneurs and their businesses in a way that their businesses will last,” she told me yesterday. The foundation announced the pledge this morning at a breakfast, which honored Martha Stewart.
Women entrepreneurs need access to capital, Burch says, and guidance on how to make it through challenging environments—like the existential threat of tariffs for small businesses. “It’s very, very tough,” Burch says of the current environment for women business owners. “We have to take it one day at a time, and also keep cash on the balance sheet.” She’s drawing on her own experience—like closing 340 stores during the pandemic—to help the foundation’s founders build “resilience.”
Alumni of the foundation’s program for female entrepreneurs include Denise Woodard, the founder of Partake Foods (who went from $400,000 in revenue when she entered the fellowship to $17.5 million), and Christa Cotton, the CEO of the bitters and mixers company El Guapo (which went grew from $180,000 to $3 million). Burch says that participants in the foundation’s program reach the million-dollar mark at 10 times the average for small business-owners. Its yearlong program offers networking, educational resources, business-education grants, and zero-interest loans.
“Women are great investments,” Burch says. “It’s very important for people to know that diversity is what I find beautiful and also good for business.”
Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
The Most Powerful Women Daily newsletter is Fortune’s daily briefing for and about the women leading the business world. Today’s edition was curated by Nina Ajemian. Subscribe here.
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Join MPW as it goes global. Rt. Hon. Baroness Theresa May will discuss fractured trade ties, the race for a green economy, and the need for bold, creative leadership in a volatile world. Request an invite here |
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- In control. As part of Andreessen Horowitz’s investment deal in ex-OpenAI CTO Mira Murati’s startup, Murati has been given a board vote that is weighted more than other directors’, giving her significant control of decisions at Thinking Machines Lab—unusual for a startup. Murati’s spokesperson declined to comment. The Information
- Pulling the program. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth eliminated the Women, Peace, and Security program, even though it had received bipartisan support from Congress and was backed by President Donald Trump. The initiative, which Hegseth said was “distracting” from the Department of Defense's “war-fighting” mission, allowed more women to participate in conflict prevention and resolution. Washington Post
- Willing to fight. Amid ongoing tension between public media and the federal government, PBS CEO Paula Kerger is ready to defend her board if the Trump administration tries to fire any PBS directors—like it tried to do earlier this week with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which responded with a lawsuit. Axios
- The bans continue. Barclays is banning trans women from using its women’s bathrooms, following a decision earlier this month from the U.K. supreme court that trans women are not legally considered to be women. Also, the Scottish Football Association will ban transgender women from playing on women’s teams next season.
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Sarah Tavel is transitioning into a venture partner role at Benchmark, after serving as the venture capital firm’s first woman general partner.
Insulet, a company developing insulin pump technology, appointed Ashley McEvoy as president and CEO and to the company’s board of directors. Previously, she served as EVP and worldwide chairman of medtech at Johnson & Johnson.
The Medici Network, which connects crypto investors, named Maartje Bus president. Most recently, she was VP and head of research at Messari.
Empower Brands, a franchisor of home services brands, appointed Heather Todd as brand president of Conserva Irrigation. Previously, she was Conserva Irrigation’s director of franchise operations.
Balbec Capital named Christina Houghton, the alternative investment manager’s CFO, partner.
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NVCA’s Diem-Mi Lu breaks down her venture-capital lobbying focus Wall Street Journal
The CEO of Australia gas giant Woodside explains what’s driving its ‘single biggest investment’ in U.S. Fortune
Samara Joy is bringing jazz to a new generation Elle
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