Women drive 70%-80% of consumer purchasing, and companies with at least one woman on their board have a higher return on equity than those that do not, the Women on Boards Project states on its website — yet women occupy just 20% of board seats globally and aren't expected to reach gender parity for decades, according to a Deloitte report.

Cassie Burr, co-founder and executive director of the Women on Boards Project, is on a mission to change that. In February 2020, she and co-founders Sheryl O'Loughlin, Melissa Facchina and Kara Cissell-Roell launched the project to increase the number of women on the boards of private consumer companies.

Image Credit: Courtesy of the Women on Boards Project. Cassie Burr, co-founder and executive director.

A series of "interconnected" experiences helped set Burr on the path to co-founder and cultivate her commitment to uplifting women leaders.

A math major in college, Burr was recruited by Goldman Sachs and moved from Arizona to Utah to join the firm. "I was pulled into STEM-focused recruiting, women-focused recruiting," she recalls. "I eventually helped build a training initiative globally [and joined] the leadership team of their women's network. That helped me realize that capital markets are interesting, but what drove my passion was these human elements of an organization."

Related: Goldman Sachs Will Pay $215 Million in Gender Discrimination Suit

From there, Burr joined an executive search firm in San Francisco, then became vice president of talent at........

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