Jessica N. Grounds
About Jessica N. Grounds
Jessica N. Grounds is an internationally recognized thought-leader in women’s leadership and diversity practices. She has founded multiple organizations, companies, and initiatives to address the barriers to diverse leadership in the board room and C-Suite, on management teams, and in elected political leadership. She has developed original research to better understand gender and diversity dynamics in the workplace, including a joint effort with FTI consulting where she co-authored, #MeToo At Work, Culture At Work, and The Enthusiasm Gap. Jessica led research and content for four reports, published by California Partners Project, about the impact of SB 826, the first-in-the-nation legislation to require women board directors on publicly held companies headquartered in the state of California. She also served as an expert witness in recent court cases. Jessica is the Co-Founder of Mine The Gap, a company that equips leaders, industries, and organizations with the strategy and tools to create inclusive work environments. Mine The Gap has advised Fortune 500 companies, organizations, and government agencies including: Amazon Web Services, National Geographic Society, Facebook, the Federal Aviation Administration, PG&E, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce, and Center for International Private Enterprise. Leading up to the 2016 presidential election, Jessica served as the Director of Women Ready for Hillary. Before Ready for Hillary, she was the Executive Director of Running Start, an organization she co-founded in 2007 has trained thousands of young women to run for elected office. She continues to be an active member of the Board of Directors. Jessica routinely lectures globally about the importance of advancing women and the barriers to women’s leadership. She has led leadership and candidate skills trainings for a wide variety of organizations and academic institutions. She has lectured and trained women leaders from every region of the globe, including extensive work with women in subsharan Africa, the Middle East, East Asia, and across Europe. Jessica completed a graduate program in Women, Policy and Political Leadership at the Women & Politics Institute at American University. She holds a Master of Science in Leadership from the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Pepperdine University. After 16 years in Washington, DC she now leads Mine The Gap from her hometown San Diego, California.