GLAAD announced that Ali Rosenthal, the founder of Leadout Capital, will receive the Ric Weiland Award at the 2019 GLAAD Gala San Francisco on September 28. The Ric Weiland Award honors an innovator in tech and new media who is advancing equality and recognition of the LGBTQ community. 

Ali Rosenthal is an out LGBTQ entrepreneur and business executive who is the Founder and Managing Partner of Leadout Capital Partners, an early stage venture capital firm based in Northern California. Leadout finds, vets and supports gritty and resilient founders who are building software driven solutions for overlooked and underserved markets and communities. Inspired by the effects of the #MeToo movement, Rosenthal has been dedicated to helping promote more female tech entrepreneurs and investors. As a result, the mandate of Leadout Capital is to invest in underrepresented founders. Leadout’s first five investments include four women-led businesses, three of which have Latinx founders. 

A former professional cyclist and technology investor, Rosenthal is also a proven operating executive responsible for scaling teams and businesses from their earliest days to platforms serving customers on a global basis. Rosenthal was one of the earliest business hires at Facebook (2006-2011) and a founding member of the Facebook Mobile team, where she was instrumental in driving the driving growth and adoption of the mobile product, globally. She joined Wealthfront when it was less than $1BN in AUM and helped scale the platform as well as introduce several new products, most notably the 529. Rosenthal’s professional investing experience includes roles at General Atlantic Partners (investment associate) and Greylock Partners (EIR).

Previous honorees of the Ric Weiland Award include former US Chief Technology Officer Megan Smith, Google, YouTube, and Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, and journalist Emil Wilbekin. 

GLAAD previously announced that Schitt’s Creek’s Dan Levy will be honored with the Davidson/Valentini Award at the 2019 GLAAD Gala San Francisco, hosted by RuPaul’s Drag Race and Broadway star Peppermint. 

The GLAAD Gala San Francisco celebrates and features storytellers and tech innovators who accelerate LGBTQ acceptance and helps fund GLAAD’s digital advocacy work to grow LGBTQ inclusion in digital and social media. The 2019 GLAAD Gala San Francisco is presented by Gilead, Ketel One Family-Made Vodka & Wells Fargo, with official partner Google. 

For more information on the event, including how to purchase tickets, visit www.glaad.org/events/2019-san-francisco-gala.