I was so pleased to present my friend Marc Benioff — the founder, CEO and chairman of Salesforce — with Variety’s 2017 Empowerment Award for your efforts on Equal Pay.
Everyone now talks about purpose and values, and seeing the role of a business leader as being about more than just profit, but Marc was there when he founded Salesforce in 1999.
He has also used his voice to drive change, taking action on LGBTQ rights, education, children’s healthcare, and two years ago he was one of the first CEOs to speak out about equal pay.
Even more important, when Marc found out that there was a gender wage gap at Salesforce, he didn’t just issue a statement. He didn’t just appoint a committee to investigate and propose measures to remedy the situation. He actually committed the financial resources to begin to close the wage gap.
Watch the video below.