Time’s Up hires WNBA President Lisa Borders as its first president and CEO
WNBA President Lisa Borders is leaving the organization to lead a fight against sexual harassment and the mistreatment of women in society. Time’s Up, an offshoot of the larger #MeToo movement seeking to reestablish what justice can look like for survivors of sexual violence, has made Borders the organization’s first President/CEO.
Before becoming the president of the WNBA, Borders was the vice-president of Coca-Cola’s Global Affairs division and city council president in Atlanta. Borders’ work in Atlanta contributed to the city creating its Dream WNBA franchise, and she was later selected to become the president of the WNBA. At the time, Borders cited her passion for working for the benefit of women to ESPN‘s Michelle Voepel, saying, “I have spent the lion’s share of my career carrying the torch for women, because I think it’s the right thing to do. The WNBA is a business. And in any business I have run — and I’ve worked in all three sectors, public, private, and non-profit — every resource is deployed to be successful.”
Initially, Time’s Up began by raising $13 million to be placed in a legal defense fund for victims of sexual assault following waves of sexual assault scandals. The fund was administered by the National Women’s Law Center.
In a statement released to the LA Times, Time’s Up co-founder Shonda Rhimes explains the hiring: “With Lisa’s skills and leadership, Time’s Up is now in the best position to achieve what we all started — to create a more positive future for workplace culture and a more powerful network for working women of all kinds.
In the year since, the group has organized calls to Spotify to drop R.Kelly’s music from their curated playlists, called upon CBS to use any money in its severance package for Les Moonves to help victims of sexual harassment, and is pushing for Brett Kavanaugh to withdraw his nomination for the Supreme Court.
Borders, who will be overseeing the group’s entertainment branch as well as their future initiatives in other areas, also released a statement on Tuesday which clarifies her aims as president/CEO: “To disrupt and reinvent the ingrained status quo, we will need all hands on deck to create and sustain enduring change… I’m thrilled to lead TIME’S UP and I am convinced that together, we will shift the paradigm of workplace culture.”