André Blackman

It’s one thing to talk about inclusion and diversity in the workplace; it’s another thing entirely to make it happen. In 2007, André Blackman launched Pulse + Signal, a health care branding and innovation strategy consultancy that explored the possibilities created by the interactions of technology, startups, and health care innovation. While research was revealing the same failure in thousands of ways—disparities in access to health for communities of color—Blackman was connecting with the people fighting to make a difference. There was just one problem: Companies were tackling public health issues faced by communities of color without having one person of color on their team. That led Blackman to his biggest innovation of all: Onboard Health, a network of more than 6,500 BIPOC and LGBTQ+ professionals, working in everything from venture capital and design to data science and technology. From the American Medical Association to the Louisiana Public Health Institute, Onboard Health has helped companies recruit diverse powerhouse teams. While the pandemic forced many to reckon with the existence of systemic racism in health care for the first time, Blackman has dedicated his life to closing representation gaps in medicine. And by changing the face of medicine at the executive level, he’s making it possible for medical professionals to create a future with all people in mind.