Press and boards
When the conversation is LGBTQ+ people and the economy
Fabrice Houdart is available to journalists covering LGBTQ+ economics, corporate Pride and DEI, and board diversity, and to boards looking for a director who brings both governance experience and a social-justice lens. Résumé, board bio and photo are all on this page.
For journalists
Topics he comments on
Corporate Pride and the DEI retreat
Which companies are pulling back from Pride and DEI, what it costs them, and what shareholders and employees should ask.
LGBTQ+ people on corporate boards
Board representation and disclosure in the US and abroad, drawing on PRISM’s database of LGBTQ+ directors and its Board Monitor.
The economic cost of exclusion
What anti-LGBTQ+ laws and discrimination cost economies and companies, from the World Bank’s first study on India onward.
Development banks and LGBTQ+ people
World Bank and Asian Development Bank policy, lending to countries that criminalize LGBTQ+ people, and what safeguards actually do.
LGBTQ+ economic power and capital markets
Stock exchanges, indices and inclusive finance, and how investors can measure LGBTQ+ inclusion. See Koppa’s work.
Business and human rights
How global companies should respond to anti-LGBTQ+ laws, based on the UN Standards of Conduct for Business Fabrice co-authored.
Quick facts
PRISM, the Association of LGBTQ+ Corporate Directors, and co-founder of Koppa, the LGBTI+ Economic Power Lab
Three-time NACD Directorship 100 honoree: 2021, 2024 and 2025
Fourteen years at the World Bank and four at the UN Human Rights Office, where he co-authored the UN Standards of Conduct for Business
In English and French, from New York
Quoted or published in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Fortune, Axios, USA Today, Reuters and The Economist. See recent coverage.
For boards
Governance with a social conscience
Fabrice has spent two decades at the point where institutions and social justice meet: in country operations at the World Bank, writing human-rights standards at the United Nations, and, since 2022, building the community of LGBTQ+ corporate directors in the United States. He brings boards the judgment of someone who has chaired a board and kept the books of two others, and the perspective of someone who knows how decisions land on the people they affect.
Board leadership
Chair of the Institute of Current World Affairs; treasurer of the CUNY TV Foundation and the IDAHOBIT Committee.
Emerging markets and development finance
Fourteen years of World Bank country operations across the Maghreb, Central Asia, the Middle East and Africa.
Human capital and culture
Member of L’Oréal’s Global Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Advisory Board since 2021.
Stakeholder and human-rights risk
Co-author of the UN Standards of Conduct for Business, supported by more than 270 of the world’s largest companies.
Board composition and policy
Founder of PRISM; expert witness on board diversity for the California Department of Justice; advisory council, NACD Center for Inclusive Governance.
Recognized by his peers
NACD Directorship 100 in 2021, 2024 and 2025, and Diligent’s Modern Governance 100 in 2022.
Ready to use
Bios and photo
Copy either version for a program, a press release or a board proxy. Please credit the photo to fabricehoudart.com.
Short bio (about 70 words)
Fabrice Houdart is the founder of PRISM, the Association of LGBTQ+ Corporate Directors, co-founder of Koppa, the LGBTI+ Economic Power Lab, and chair of the Institute of Current World Affairs. A three-time NACD Directorship 100 honoree, he spent fourteen years at the World Bank and co-authored the UN Standards of Conduct for Business on LGBTI inclusion at the UN Human Rights Office. He sits on L’Oréal’s Global DE&I Advisory Board.
Long bio (about 250 words)
Fabrice Houdart is the founder and executive director of PRISM, the Association of LGBTQ+ Corporate Directors, the first organization of its kind in the United States, and a co-founder of Koppa, the LGBTI+ Economic Power Lab. He has been named to the NACD Directorship 100 three times (2021, 2024 and 2025) and serves on the advisory council of NACD’s Center for Inclusive Governance.
He spent fourteen years at the World Bank in country operations across the Maghreb, Central Asia, the Middle East and Africa, finishing as Senior Country Officer for the Maghreb, and led the Bank’s first work on the economic cost of LGBTI exclusion. At the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, he co-authored and led the UN Standards of Conduct for Business on tackling discrimination against LGBTI people, which more than 270 of the world’s largest companies publicly supported.
He chairs the board of the Institute of Current World Affairs, where he founded the David Mixner Fellowship, and serves as treasurer of the CUNY TV Foundation and on the board of Housing Works’ social enterprises, and formerly on the board of Outright International. He has sat on L’Oréal’s Global Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Advisory Board since 2021, served as an expert witness on board diversity for the California Department of Justice, and co-authored the Asian Development Bank’s roadmap on SOGIESC-inclusive development. He has taught at Georgetown and Columbia, holds an MBA from American University and a degree from Université Paris-Dauphine, and writes a weekly Substack read by more than 21,000 subscribers.
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