BUSINESS

LGBTQ leaders have played a major role in the world of business, influencing millions of jobs and untold economic activity.

Start the journey ↓

1994

David Bohnett started GeoCities, a pioneering web hosting service where users could create their own websites.

1996

Robyn Streisand founded the Mixx, a brand strategy company.

1999

Peter Thiel co-founded PayPal, where he also worked as the CEO until its sale to eBay in 2002.

2001

Anthony Romero became the first gay man and Latino to serve as Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union.

2003

Chris Hughes was a co-founder of Facebook.

2003

Nick Denton founded Gawker, an online media company.

2005

Media mogul Harvey Levin launched TMZ, a news company focused on celebrity culture.

2009

Peter Arvai co-founded Prezi, a presentation software company.

2009

Grindr, the online dating application for gay men, was founded by Joel Simkhai.

2011

Theoretical neuroscientist Vivienne Ming co-founded Socos Labs, a company that draws on machine learning and neuroscience to solve social problems.

2011

Claudia Brind-Woody, the Vice President and Managing Director for Global Intellectual Property Licensing at IBM, was given the Out & Equal Trailblazer Award.

2011

Todd Sears founded Out Leadership, an LGBTQ business advisory company.

2011

Thomas Sanchez and his husband Anthony Shop founded Social Driver, a digital creative agency.

2012

Jason Grenfell-Gardner became the CEO and President of Teligent, a pharmaceutical company.

2013

Philanthropist and investor Jennifer Pritzker came out as a trans woman, making her the first trans billionaire.

2014

Tim Burgess of C1 Financial became the first openly gay CEO of a bank on the New York Stock Exchange.

2014

Tim Cook, the chief executive officer of Apple Inc., came out as gay, making him the first chief executive of a Fortune 500 company to do so.

2014

President Barack Obama named Megan Smith the third Chief Technology Officer of the United States.

2014

Businesswoman and star of Pose Angelica Ross founded TransTech Social Enterprise.

2015

Cliff Hopkins was brought on as the chief marketing officer at Instagram.

2015

Joey Gonzalez was named CEO of Barry’s Boot Camp.

2016

Hayley Sudbury founded WERKIN, an analytics company that promotes diversity in hiring practices.

2016

Shamina Singh founded the Center for Inclusive Growth at Mastercard.

2017

One of the most powerful publicly gay men and Latinos on Wall Street, R. Martin Chavez became the chief financial officer of Goldman Sachs.

2018

Appointed as the CEO and President of the Land O’Lakes, Beth Ford became the first publicly gay woman to be the CEO of an American Fortune 500 company.