In 2018, Satish founded Glider AI with a mission to make hiring fair and opportunity accessible for everyone, regardless of their background. The tech provides enterprises and staffing firms solutions to hire quality talent without bias through the screen-to-hire process.
But Kumar’s journey with DE&I began well before Glider AI. Growing up in a low-income family in India, Kumar dreamed of an education and a career — but when his mother unexpectedly passed away, he set those dreams aside.
His family bonded and struggled through the situation together, allowing Kumar to pursue his ambitions. “I didn’t have connections or the pedigree to rely on,” he says. “Rather, I was fortunate that my family wanted me to find success.” Throughout his educational journey, Kumar saw many talented yet underprivileged people forgo their dreams because they didn’t have the means to see them through.
As Kumar began his professional career, that notion remained with him. “My friends who came from the same poor background could not break through that barrier, even though a few were smarter than me. They couldn’t go to school, so there was no job opportunity.” Kumar became determined to answer the burning question: How could he help provide the opportunity he received to everyone? With that, he conceived the idea that became Glider AI.
Glider AI recently partnered with Omni Inclusive, a diversity- and inclusion-focused staffing and consulting company founded by fellow DE&I Influencer Wen Stenger, to create two different DE&I programs to support LGBTQ+ youth and military spouses. The programs will use Glider AI’s tech to support DE&I initiatives that hire people from these historically excluded groups, train them and deploy them into the workforce. Glider AI also plans to bridge an identified gap in DE&I data in the contingent market to find more diverse candidates.
Kumar provides perspective on the contingent program ecosystem as inherently complex due to a multiparty system. He is proud that Glider AI addresses contingent program complexity with transparency across the entire hiring process with data that offers enterprises and suppliers accountability to drive DE&I. “Diversity is like being invited to a tournament,” he says. “Inclusion is being asked to play. And equity is offering [those who need it] a ride to the game.”
2023 DE&I Influencers List