While June is the onset of summer break, internship opportunities and a break for most before a new semester/ work, it is also a month that revels and marks the struggles of and celebrates the LGBTQ community all over the world. While parades, marches, small businesses have always commemorated the pride month, there are some executives and business professionals who challenge the cis gendered and heterosexual status quo. Diversity and inclusion in this professional sphere persist. Here are the openly gay executives and CEOs of the business world who are breaking the glass ceiling everyday.
- Tim Cook – CEO, Apple : Tim Cook, CEO of Apple probably always tops the list. “I’m proud to be gay, and I consider being gay among the greatest gifts God has given me,” the Apple CEO wrote in an essay published in Businessweek Thursday. Tim Cook is a major example for most professionals, paving a way for more people of the LGBTQ community.
- Beth Ford – CEO, Land O’ Lakes : Land O’Lakes named Beth Ford its new CEO. She’ll be the first woman to lead the dairy company in its almost 100-year history. Ford also was one of the 33 women who are or have been CEOs of a Fortune 500 company. She is also the first female CEO openly a part of the LGBTQ community.
- Martine Rothblatt – CEO of United Therapeutics: In 2018, Martine Rothblatt became the highest paid CEO of the biopharmaceutical industry. She also came out as a trangendered woman in 1994 at the age of 40 and remains a fierce advocate for trans rights.
- Joel Simkhai – Founder and Former CEO of Grindr: Simkhai has always been open and vocal about his sexuailty, he founded the app in 2008, before its acquisition by Kunlun. Grindr is one of the most popular dating apps for gay men.
- Tim Gill, Founder of Quark: In 1981, Tim Gill founded Quark Inc., which produced an early and important software for the layout of graphics. Gill sold his stakes in Quark in 1999 in order to focus more on his interests in LGBTQ+ activism and philanthropy.
