Microquest president and co-founder Lorraine Ross has been selected to attend the White House United State of Women summit in appreciation of the work she has done to further gender equality.
The summit brings leaders from the public and private sectors to discuss issues impacting women and girls, including educational opportunity, leadership and visibility, and entrepreneurship and innovation.
Lorraine has committed over 30 years to empowering women in business, fighting hard for diversity hiring practices long before it was a "hot" topic. Microquest is thrilled with this opportunity to further educate ourselves on the changing landscape of women in business, and ultimately to better serve women and minorities in the Fortune 1000 and globally!
Blatant Discrimination
Lorraine has been in the executive search space for 30 years. As a young recruiter she was often stunned to witness the blatant exclusion of women in the search process. As the co-founder of Microquest she was determined to promote women and minorities for inclusion in executive roles in technology and Fortune companies.
With Microquest, she has developed and promoted a unique database of the most qualified women and minority executives for inclusion in the search process, increasing exposure and hiring. Next, she developed Microquest's research capabilities to help client companies target and talent-map under-represented candidates, developing candidate pipelines targeted specifically to clients' specifications.
For many years the notion of diversity and inclusion was not as front-and-center as it is today, but thanks to the partnership of a number of progressive companies, the Microquest model was able to gain traction and result in the hiring of many of the first female executives into the ranks of technology companies in Silicon Valley and in the broader Fortune 500 sector.
"It is very fortunate for us today that there is momentum for diversity and inclusion in corporate culture," Lorraine said. "There is obviously a lot that remains to be done, but we are so pleased to have the opportunity to work with so many great companies that are committed to these values."
White House Summit: United State of Women
The White house Summit: United State of Women will be held on June 14, 2016 in Washington, DC. The summit will explore issues pertaining to gender equality including: Economic Empowerment; Health & Wellness; Educational Opportunity; Violence Against Women; Entrepreneurship & Innovation; and Leadership & Civic Engagement.
For more information visit: unitedstateofwomen.org
Microquest is a research and consulting firm specializing in diversity talent pipelining.