Catalyst was established in the United States in 1962. Our founder, Felice N. Schwartz, was a passionate activist who believed that women were an untapped resource who could help meet the United States’ growing labor shortage. She launched Catalyst to assist women in combining their work and family responsibilities to realize their full potential.
Spanning the States
Given Catalyst’s commitment to maintaining a virtual workplace, Catalyst employees can be found all over the United States. In addition to our brand-new New York headquarters, which is Catalyst’s largest physical office, and an office in Sunnyvale, California, Catalyst employees also live and work in Philadelphia, Boston, Los Angeles, Dallas, Atlanta, Chicago, and Columbus, among other cities.
Today, we work with over 300 U.S. members to champion women’s professional advancement by sponsoring cutting-edge events and equipping women with the resources they need to succeed in today’s workplace.
Connecting Communities That Count
Catalyst is proud to offer events throughout the United States that connect and engage our members on a range of topics that inspire them to action. Our webinars and roundtable discussions cover issues such as:
- How to enlist the support of white men in the struggle for workplace equality.
- Avenues to success for women in nontraditional careers.
- Unwritten rules for professional advancement.
- How diversity champions can drive progress by helping eliminate barriers to success for diverse candidates.
- The dynamics of trust and support in teams and organizations.
- How businesses can adapt and thrive in today’s rapidly changing workplace.
Regionally Relevant Issues Concerning Women
In a country as vast and diverse as the United States, areas of particular focus for Catalyst include issues related to women of color, work-life effectiveness, sponsorship, and formal/informal networks.
Catalyst was one of the first organizations in the United States to track data on women of color in corporate leadership. Our trailblazing research on the power of sponsorship and access to formal/informal networks has also enhanced our reputation as a national leader on these issues.
At Catalyst, we have differentiated ourselves from other organizations by producing research not conducted elsewhere, such as:
- The Catalyst Census, which has tracked the progress of women in leadership in the Fortune 500 since 1995. This data enables us and others to verify the ongoing leadership gap and lost opportunities in the nation’s most powerful businesses.
- Catalyst has been a leader on issues related to women of color since 1998, and we continue our cutting edge work to understand the unique challenges women of color face in the workplace.