I am incredibly proud of the impact EGAL continues to make. Even as the landscape shifts, we are finding innovative ways to grow and expand our reach. Our commitment to leadership and women is stronger than ever, and we’re dedicated to building new momentum for impact and growth.
— Kellie McElhaney, Founder & Executive Director, Center for Equity, Gender & Leadership (EGAL)
Academic Impact
This year, your support has enabled growth opportunities for our UC Berkeley Haas students and faculty by:
- Continuing our Leadership and Personal Brand course, initially designed for student-athletes who are planning to enter contracts with the intent to be compensated for their name, image, and likeness (NIL). The course weaves in leadership competencies linked to business value, purpose, and success. This year the course enrollment doubled to 55.
- Developing a new course for the MBA program focused on the business of women’s sports. This innovative course will empower students with the knowledge and skills to lead in a rapidly evolving industry.
- Engaging three student organizations, including: Berkeley Women in Business (BWIB), Sports Business Club, and Women in Leadership (WIL).
- Publishing a case study about Google’s Product Inclusion and Equity team, which covers how the group was founded, its broad impact across Google, and its continued work today.
Academic Highlight
A large-scale study published in Nature by researchers including UC Berkeley Haas Assistant Professor Solène Delecourt reveals that online platforms and AI models systematically portray women as younger and less experienced than men. By analyzing 1.4 million images and nine large language models, the research found that digital algorithms amplify existing cultural stereotypes, often depicting women in high-status occupations as significantly younger than their male counterparts. This EGAL-sponsored research highlights how these "statistical distortions of reality" create a problematic feedback loop, influencing real-world hiring biases and reinforcing the perception of women as less qualified for leadership roles.
You can learn more about the research here: Women portrayed as younger than men online, and AI amplifies the bias.
Industry Impact
We have been able to advance industry change with your support. This year we:
- Continued selling our Belonging Sparks conversation prompts, complementing our evidence-based playbook on Advancing Belonging in Organizations, which finds that starting meetings with personal prompts can make individuals feel seen and connected.
- We formed an advisory committee made up of experts in women’s sports to help us develop and launch the inaugural Leadership Academy for Women’s Sports.
- In partnership with Berkeley Executive Education, we custom-designed and led the Impact Leadership Academy with Regeneron designed to enhance participant leadership skills through modules such as Leading with Values, Leading with Influence, and more.
- In partnership with Berkeley Executive Education, we delivered the Leadership Edge program to NVIDIA employees, designed to elevate leaders, Director level and above, to the next level of their careers.
- Facilitated our third iteration of the Inclusive Leadership Academy (ILA), hosted by the Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging within People and Culture at UC Berkeley. This program focuses on equipping supervisors and managers across campus with the knowledge and skills to foster inclusive and equitable work environments.
- Continued partnering with five organizations to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion including Regeneron, BlackRock, and Dome Construction.
Industry Highlight
The Leadership Academy for Women’s Sports Advisory Committee was the cornerstone of our program’s inaugural debut. From the very beginning, this group provided the strategic vision and industry knowledge necessary to shape a curriculum that truly resonates with the next generation of leaders in women’s sports. Beyond planning, their influence was instrumental in our outreach efforts; by leveraging their extensive professional networks, they amplified our message and helped us identify a diverse and talented pool of participants.
We owe the academy’s success and its immediate impact to the dedication and expertise of these integral committee members:
- Brandi Chastain (Retired soccer player + Co-founder, Bay FC)
- Charmin Smith (Cal Women’s Basketball Head Coach)
- Danette Leighton (CEO, Women’s Sports Foundation)
- Fayne Cohen (President, Bay Area Women in Sports + Events)
- Karina Herold (Chief Operating Officer, Bay Area Host Committee)
- Kelly deMarrais (Head of Women’s Sports Investing, Earlystone)
- Jennifer Vescio (Principal & Operating Partner, Awestruck Ventures)
- Sean Campbell (Head of Community-Engaged Investing, Earlystone)
- Taj McWilliams-Franklin (VP of Basketball Operations, The Upshot League)
Community Impact
Your contribution has also allowed us to amplify Equity Fluent Leadership by:
- Co-hosting the AI Pilot Experiment Board Search Results & Talent Transformation Challenge Executive Roundtable sponsored by findem.ai and other partners including Stanford VMWare Women’s Leadership Innovation Lab, Harvard Business Publishing, Association of Executive Search & Leadership Consultants, Latino Corporate Directors Association, and Ascend Global Leadership.
- Jointly hosting our fourth annual Women’s History Month Ask Me Anything event, in partnership with the UC Berkeley Haas DEIJB Office. This event highlighted various UC Berkeley Haas staff who discussed their personal journeys.
- Continuing our partnerships with the Women in Leadership (WIL) & Berkeley Women in Business (BWIB) student organizations to host the annual Women in Leadership Conference and Women in the Workforce conference, respectively.
- Sponsoring the Leadership Case Competition, in partnership with Berkeley Women in Business (BWIB). This year’s competition focused on developing a reverse mentorship toolkit. 115 students across 42 teams participated in this year’s competition.
- Hosting a Leadership & Personal Brand workshop for WIL. Members defined their authentic brand, identified key attributes that set them apart, and crafted a powerful brand statement that resonated with their goals.
- Co-sponsoring Navigating the New Era, an event hosted by the Women’s Coaching Alliance discussing the future of collegiate athletics as teams navigate NIL and new management positions.
- Co-hosting and moderating a fireside chat centered around gender equity and leadership journeys in medicine with Berkeley Women in Business and Dr. Myriam Curet, Chief Medical Officer of Intuitive.
- Helping sponsor the inaugural Berkeley Haas Sports Business Conference, in collaboration with the Haas Sports Business Club. This conference honored the Bay Area’s legacy of female trailblazers by convening industry leaders and rising talent for a day of high-impact dialogue.
Community Highlight
This year we conducted a cross-campus survey at UC Berkeley to uncover opportunities for impactful student programming. While nearly half of students surveyed already feel supported in their leadership development journeys, we identified an opportunity to elevate the experience even further, particularly for our Evening Weekend MBA community. We are charging forward to meet student demand for high-impact programming in areas like influence, conflict resolution, and confidence. The future of EGAL is bright and we are working hard to transform these survey insights into action.
As I reflect on another remarkable year at Berkeley Haas, I'm inspired by the Center for Equity, Gender & Leadership's deep commitment to embedding equity and inclusion into business education. Our students and alumni are driving meaningful change in boardrooms, startups, and organizations worldwide. Your investment in EGAL has enabled us to support the next generation of Haas leaders. Thank you for being essential partners in our shared mission.
— Jennifer A. Chatman, Bank of America Dean, UC Berkeley Haas School of Business