What we do
Imagine a world turned upside down: a public company with an all-female board!
January 16, 2019
Dear Friends of Trewstar:
To some, this might seem like fantasy, to some an impossibility, but the Fintech team has done it with Fintech Acquisition Corp. III, their third SPAC. The Fintech III $275M offering was upsized to $300M and began trading on November 16, 2018. In other words, at this moment, there is a publicly-traded company on the Nasdaq with 6 female directors – and we are delighted to say that our Managing Director, Mei-Mei Tuan, is part of that extraordinary team. (They rang the Nasdaq closing bell yesterday.)
Let’s place this in context: According to the most recent research by 2020 Women on Boards, which has tracked the 25 largest IPOs over the course of the last few years:
- Of the 75 largest companies to IPO in 2014, 2015 and 2016
- 7 (or nearly half of those companies) went public with no women
- and another 25% (19 companies) had only one woman on their boards;
- Of the 25 largest IPOs in 2017
- 12 went public with no women
- and 80% went public with zero or only one woman on their boards.
Research by Shivaram Rajgopal and George Fleck presented in the October Issue of the Harvard Business Review suggests that 2018 numbers will be equally bleak for women.
Betsy Cohen, the tremendously successful entrepreneur at the helm of FinTech Acquisition Corporation has never let “can’t” stand in her way. Founder of her first bank, Jefferson Bank at 32 years old (subsequently sold for $375M), she has blazed a trail as a financial services visionary throughout her career.
The beauty of being a visionary is that where others see obstacles, you see opportunity. When asked about the notable makeup of her board team, Betsy said “there are times when being ahead of the curve can be a challenge, but in this instance I neither felt like a pioneer nor a risk-taker. This is a team of business people – who happen to be women – who are uniquely situated to help steer this company to the close of a successful deal.”
Beth Stewart
Founder and CEO
Trewstar Corporate Board Services
