The IPO window has reopened, but diversity hasn’t followed suit. According to research performed by Free Float Analytics’ cofounder Damion Rallis, 88% of the 61 companies filing to go public in August 2025 had just one or zero women on their boards, while 93% had one or no women in their C-suites. This “bro IPO” phenomenon reveals a troubling regression in corporate leadership diversity, particularly jarring in 2025 when many assumed progress was inevitable.
Karen Walker, CFO of cybersecurity company Sysdig, sees this as both a strategic misstep and an opportunity for finance leaders to drive meaningful change. With experience at high-profile companies including Uber and Pandora, Walker brings a unique perspective on navigating male-dominated industries while building diverse, high-performing teams.
The Strategic Case for Diversity Goes Beyond Optics
While this article highlights gender diversity, Walker stresses that true diversity encompasses far more — including race, education, and other dimensions of a workforce. Walker emphasizes that diversity isn’t a “nice-to-have” or moral checkbox—it’s a competitive advantage backed by data. “There’s enormous research showing that heterogeneous groups of leaders and board members outperform homogeneous teams,” she explains. “This becomes especially evident during crises, when diverse perspectives prevent groupthink and enable better problem-solving.”
The challenge with the “one woman on the board” approach extends beyond tokenism. Walker speaks from experience about the difficulty of being the sole different voice in a room: “Even from my own experience as a CFO coming into an all-male board, that can be quite intimidating. If you have just a sliver of diversity, it may not actually accomplish what you’re looking for.”
Why Pre-IPO Companies Struggle with Diversity
The “bro IPO” trend isn’t accidental—it’s structural. Walker identifies several systemic issues that create homogeneous leadership in pre-IPO companies:
Network Effects: Boards operate through networks, and when existing members are predominantly male, they naturally gravitate toward similar connections. “If you’re not intentional about broadening beyond your comfortable networks, you’ll keep getting the same results,” Walker notes.
VC Composition: Venture capital itself remains heavily male-dominated, and VCs typically occupy board seats in pre-IPO companies. This creates a pipeline problem that extends into public company leadership.
Technical Leadership Bias: Many technology companies are led by CEOs from engineering or product backgrounds—fields that historically skew male. “When boards prioritize technical CEO experience, they’re inadvertently narrowing their diversity pipeline,” Walker explains.
She suggests expanding the aperture by considering other functional leaders for boards—for example, a CHRO in a software company where people are the largest expense. That perspective, she argues, could be just as strategically valuable as another technical CEO
The AI Era Makes Diversity More Critical, Not Less
As companies increasingly invest in artificial intelligence, Walker sees diversity becoming even more strategically essential. “We’re training models that will impact millions of users. How do we ensure these models are the best they can be? By having diverse teams that approach problems differently and challenge assumptions.”
She points to evolving usage patterns as evidence: while ChatGPT initially skewed 80% male users, it’s now 53% female. “We need diverse contributors to these models, not just diverse users,” Walker emphasizes.
Practical Steps for CFOs to Drive Change
Walker believes CFOs are uniquely positioned to influence diversity outcomes, given their role in capital allocation and strategic planning. Here’s her roadmap for finance leaders:
Leverage Data in Decision-Making: Walker cites research from sales platform Xactly showing that female salespeople consistently outperform quotas compared to their male counterparts. “As a CFO, you can have conversations with your CRO about hiring more women in sales based on performance metrics, not just fairness arguments.”
Use Capital Allocation as Values Expression: “CFOs help allocate capital, and that allocation reflects company values. We need to embed diversity considerations into our strategic planning and operational decisions.”
Provide Active Mentorship and Sponsorship: Walker distinguishes between mentorship (sharing wisdom and feedback) and sponsorship (actively creating opportunities). “I mentor women outside my domain expertise—in technical roles—because leadership skills transfer across functions.”
Address the Pipeline Early: Walker advocates for encouraging women to enter STEM fields and for broadening board candidate profiles beyond traditional CEO backgrounds. “A CHRO could bring incredible value to a software company’s board, given that people represent the majority of expenses and assets.”
Navigating Male-Dominated Industries: Personal Insights
Walker’s career trajectory through Silicon Valley offers practical wisdom for emerging female leaders:
Focus on Strengths, Not Gaps: “Women tend to focus on what they don’t have versus what they do have when considering next steps. Don’t screen yourself out—you might have skills they don’t realize they need.” This aligns with research showing that men typically apply for jobs when they meet only 60% of qualifications, while women often wait until they meet 100%.
Balance Team Credit with Individual Ownership: While collaboration is valuable, Walker learned the importance of articulating personal contributions. “Someone once asked me, ‘But what did you do?’ It was a wake-up call about finding the right balance between ‘we’ and ‘I’ when describing accomplishments.”
Embrace Discomfort: “Be comfortable being uncomfortable. When you’re the different voice in the room, lean into building rapport. Once you establish those relationships, you’ll have more influence to make the points that matter.”
She frames these lessons not just as survival strategies but as confidence-builders for women working in male-dominated industries.
The Path Forward Requires Intentionality
The regression in IPO diversity statistics suggests that progress isn’t inevitable—it requires sustained, intentional effort. As one industry observer notes, “DEI initiatives fail unless they’re driven from the top, not just supported. CFOs and CEOs need to be actively involved, not just giving their blessing to someone else to execute.”
Walker builds on this point, emphasizing that leadership involvement must be genuine: “If you’re in a leadership position, it’s going to come through in the way that you operate. It goes back to that mentorship as well as sponsorship.”
For companies preparing to go public, Walker sees this moment as critical: “When companies mature and VCs roll off boards, that’s the perfect opportunity to be intentional about diversity. The network opens up, and you need different skills for the next growth phase.”
The challenge extends beyond individual advice to systemic change. While the CFO role has the third-highest female representation among C-suite positions (after CHRO and CMO roles), one industry observer notes that “about 40% of CFO association members are women, though less than 5% represent public companies.” This suggests the pipeline exists but may not be flowing to the companies most visible in IPO markets.
“Generation Z values diversity more than prior generations—it’s crucial for recruiting top talent,” she observes. “When candidates look at our leadership team and see strong female representation, that becomes a huge advantage in our talent acquisition strategy.”
As IPO activity continues to accelerate, the companies that treat diversity as a strategic imperative rather than an afterthought will likely emerge as tomorrow’s market leaders. The question isn’t whether to prioritize diverse leadership, but whether companies can afford not to.