SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Daversa Partners, the technology industry’s premier executive search firm, is announcing Dreamscape, a business unit dedicated to ensuring there is Black representation on the boards and executive teams of the most important companies and investing firms in technology.
Modern technology is one of the greatest opportunities for wealth creation and societal impact — with most of the financial returns accruing to the founders, early employees, board directors and investors in the breakout startups from each generation. Moreover, diverse executive teams and boards of directors lead to better results — they drive higher returns, decrease risk, and increase key performance metrics. However, Black executives have largely not been afforded the same opportunities in tech startups and venture capital.
In 2020, Paul Daversa and the rest of the Daversa team considered ways the firm could uniquely and effectively make an impact on this urgent issue. The result was Dreamscape, which connects well-established members of startups and venture capital firms that are looking for executives or board directors with accomplished, proven, board-ready Black talent.
“In the thirty years since I have been working in executive search, this has been the most impactful initiative and largest standalone division that Daversa Partners has ever built. Dreamscape is intently focused on industry-wide equity and transformation. By working in partnership with CEOs, founders, and investors who are committed to making sure that there is Black representation at the leadership level, we believe that Dreamscape can serve as a catalyst for change within the most important tech companies of our generation,” said Paul Daversa, founder and CEO of Daversa Partners.
Clinton Browning Joins Daversa as Partner and Head of Dreamscape
To lead this business, Clinton Browning is joining as the firm's newest Partner and Head of Dreamscape. Browning’s 25+ year career in search started at Korn Ferry where he helped develop and scale their Diversity practice on a global scale. In addition, Browning is an entrepreneur, a builder, and an advocate - having founded two boutique search firms dedicated to placing diverse talent.
“Dreamscape was built on the premise that the tech community does not, in fact, have a pipeline or scarcity issue - but rather it suffers from an access problem to diverse leaders. Daversa Partners is the only company I have met that demonstrated access at scale, created by 18 months of disciplined and focused relationship building in the Black community,” said Clinton Browning, Partner at Daversa and Head of Dreamscape.
Dreamscape Launches With Strategic Partnerships in VC and Tech Companies
Dreamscape’s network consists of 3,000+ connections and its early partners include mission driven companies such as Brex, Robinhood, AppLovin, and venture capital firms such as Venrock and Greylock Partners, all who have hired board members or executives through Dreamscape.
“The mission of the team at Daversa and Dreamscape to connect extraordinary Black talent with growing companies resonated very clearly with Brex. Diverse perspectives are critical for all companies, and there is exceptional talent in the market that the team at Dreamscape is well equipped to network and place in impactful roles. The recent addition of Thasunda Brown Duckett to our board of directors is proof that with focus, time and attention, meaningful placements can be made that benefit the entire industry,” said Henriquie Dubugras, Co-CEO, Brex.
“Daversa should be applauded for their early investment and commitment in Dreamscape to build the knowledge base and network that will transform Silicon Valley. We are honored and incredibly excited by our partnership - we have made multiple board and executive level placements in the Venrock portfolio this year. At Venrock we believe that building diverse teams builds better companies. We’re dedicated to investing in not only increased access to diverse candidate pools and Black representation, but also to the path it takes to get there, said Sharah Marwah, Talent Partner at Venrock.
Holly Rose Faith, Executive Talent Partner at Greylock commented, “At Greylock we’re passionate about helping to close the network gap between diverse communities and the venture capital world, so working with Dreamscape was a natural partnership for us. The issue of the lack of Black leadership on boards and executive teams is not a pipeline problem -- it’s a network access problem. There is plenty of incredible Black talent out there ready to serve on boards and lead teams. Our shared goal with Dreamscape is to have more Black representation in venture firms and startups, and we are looking forward to continuing our partnership.”
About Daversa Partners
Daversa Partners is Technology’s premier executive search firm that builds the leadership teams for growth and venture-backed companies. Our global footprint spans 2 continents and eight offices, giving our high-performance teams visibility into the entirety of the market. We are dedicated to developing meaningful relationships with entrepreneurs, executives, and investors across Consumer and Enterprise businesses.
We believe that the most successful companies achieve major breakthroughs by acquiring extraordinary talent. These people are hard to find and even harder to recruit, they are Material Impact Executives; we only recruit these people. This is what sets us apart…and this is what makes Daversa the search partner of choice.
For more information on Daversa Partners please visit www.daversapartners.com
