Vista Equity Partners achieved gender parity in 2022. Women now represent 50 percent of employees. The workforce is also made up of 35 percent people of color and 15 percent underrepresented minorities. The PE firm executes its DEI strategy across four pillars – firm, portfolio, industry and community engagement. Mergers & Acquisitions named Vista a M&A Leader in DEI in 2021.

What steps are you taking to improve DEI at your firm?

As a global technology investment firm with more than 80 portfolio companies with over 90,000 employees, Vista’s collective size, scale and focus on enterprise software means we are in a unique position to create opportunities in the digital economy. Paramount to Vista’s DEI efforts is building a diverse pipeline of talent both within the firm and our broader ecosystem.

Bessie Watts, Director of External Board Member Program, OneVista

Our internal efforts focus on our people and culture, specifically fostering an environment where all employees are welcome and each person is positioned to be their best self. Through our internship programs, including Vista Frontier Fellows and a partnership with Girls Who Invest, we hired over 20 full-time employees of which 85 percent are women or people of color in the past few years.

Within the Vista ecosystem, board diversity stewardship and executive leadership team engagement are among the main focuses.

What steps are you taking to improve DEI at your portfolio companies?

As a fiduciary, it is our responsibility to support our companies’ operations by providing sustainable solutions and frameworks that will exist even after our partnership ends. This includes helping our private equity and permanent capital portfolio companies establish and advance DEI processes and programs.

It is Vista’s view that systemic change requires a new approach to corporate boards. Board diversity stewardship and executive leadership team engagement are among the main focuses within the portfolio.

Established in 2017 and currently spearheaded by Bessie Watts, Vista’s external board program seeks to achieve greater diversity across our portfolio board members. Watts leverages Vista’s network and resources to source qualified board candidates for our portfolio companies with a focus on diversity. Vista has roughly 70 external board members across its majority-owned portfolio, including a record 33 appointments in 2021, expanding ethnic and gender diversity. As of January of 2022:
• 84 percent of our majority-owned boards have at least one woman.
• 85 percent of our majority-owned boards have at least one person of color.