Madeline Haydon Contributes $100,000 to Women on Boards Project to Expand Board Opportunities for Women

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mar 31, 2026--

The Women on Boards Project, a nonprofit dedicated to increasing the representation of women on for-profit consumer brand boards, today announces that Madeline Haydon, entrepreneur, investor and founder of nutpods, the best-selling non-dairy creamer brand, made a $100,000 philanthropic contribution to the organization. The investment will support a new initiative designed to place women in board roles while strengthening the organization’s infrastructure to scale its impact.

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A central component of the gift will fund the Madeline Haydon Board Access Initiative and Research Study, a program that will partner with companies to place women as independent directors or advisors. Through a structured selection process, the initiative will support at least five board placements, while providing governance education, placement support and program management.

The initiative will also support the development of educational materials for consumer brand founders, helping demystify the board recruitment process and expand the pipeline of women ready to serve. The remaining funds will be directed toward expanding the organization’s operational capacity, including building systems to support growth, developing educational resources for founders and board candidates, and expanding outreach to companies seeking board leadership.

“Boards are where some of the most consequential decisions in business are made,” said Haydon. “I’m inspired by the work the Women on Boards Project is doing to ensure that talented women have access to those rooms. Supporting this initiative felt like a meaningful way to help create more opportunities for women to influence the companies shaping the consumer economy.”

Haydon knows the landscape firsthand. While she was pregnant with her second child, she built nutpods from a Kickstarter campaign into a category-leading brand sold in more than 15,000 retail stores nationwide and the #1 non-dairy creamer on Amazon. Named Amazon Small Business of the Year in 2020 and an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year, Haydon has been candid about the barriers female founders face in accessing capital and reaching an exit. After successfully selling a controlling stake in nutpods and transitioning leadership, she remains on the brand's board and is now channeling that experience into expanding access for other women. Her connection to the Women on Boards Project is personal as well as professional. Haydon's relationship with co-founder Kara Cissell-Roell, who passed in 2021, brought her into the organization's orbit and ultimately inspired her to invest in its mission in a meaningful way.

Founded in 2020, the Women on Boards Project works to connect experienced female operators, founders and investors with board opportunities at consumer companies. To date, the organization has placed 75 women on boards, the majority of whom were first-time directors. Following their initial placements, those women have gone on to secure more than 50 additional board seats, significantly expanding the network of female leadership across the consumer sector.

“This investment from Madeline will have a direct and lasting impact on our ability to place more women into board leadership roles,” said Kierstin Rielly, CEO of the Women on Boards Project. “Her support allows us to launch a focused initiative that will place women on the boards of consumer companies while also strengthening the infrastructure needed to scale this work. Every placement represents not only greater representation, but stronger governance and better outcomes for the companies we serve.”

For more information on the Women on Boards Project and their mission to increase women’s representation on for-profit consumer brand boards, visit www.wobproject.com.

About Women on Boards Project

The Women on Boards Project is a national nonprofit organization committed to accelerating the representation of women—including women of color—on corporate boards. Through strategic partnerships, public awareness campaigns and board placement support, the organization helps companies build more inclusive and effective leadership teams. They have successfully supported the placement of more than 70 women to the boards of prestigious companies such as Simple Mills, Ancient Harvest, Humm, Honeypot, King Arthur Baking and many more. For more information on the Women on Boards Project or to learn how your company can get involved, visit https://www.wobproject.com/.

Madeline Haydon

HAVANA (AP) — A Russian tanker docked Tuesday at the Cuban port of Matanzas laden with 730,000 barrels of oil, marking the first time in three months that an oil tanker reached the island.

The administration of President Donald Trump had allowed the Anatoly Kolodkin to proceed despite an ongoing U.S. energy blockade.

Cubans including Energy and Mines Minister Vicente de la O Levy cheered the ship’s arrival. A shortage of petroleum has exacerbated a deep economic crisis that has left the population mired in long blackouts and facing a severe shortage of food and medicine.

“Our gratitude to the Government and People of Russia for all the support we are receiving. A valuable shipment that arrives amidst the complex energy situation we are facing,” de la O Levy wrote on X.

Cuba produces barely 40% of its required fuel and relies on imports to sustain its energy grid. Experts say the anticipated shipment could produce about 180,000 barrels of diesel, enough to feed Cuba’s daily demand for nine or 10 days.

"The arrival of an oil tanker to a country has likely never generated so much news as the Russian one to Cuba,” wrote Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío on X. “It’s a sign of the brutal siege Cubans endure with heroism and stoicism. It’s a demonstration of the criminal cruelty of imperialism against a nation that refuses to be dominated.”

The vessel's arrival was watched by some fishermen as it docked under the early morning sun.

“We’ve been waiting for the ship to arrive because it’s been some time since any ship entered,” said 50-year-old Armando Ramirez. "And it is needed here for the people, for Cuba.”

Cuba used to receive most of its oil from Venezuela, but those shipments were halted ever since the U.S. attacked the South American country and arrested its leader in early January.

Since then, Mexico also has halted its oil shipments to Cuba as Trump threatened in late January to impose tariffs on any country that sells or provides oil to the island.

On Sunday night, Trump had said he had “no problem” with a Russian oil tanker off the coast of Cuba delivering relief to the island,

“We don’t mind having somebody get a boatload because they need … they have to survive,” Trump told reporters as he flew back to Washington.

“Cuba’s finished,” he added. "They have a bad regime. They have very bad and corrupt leadership and whether or not they get a boat of oil, it’s not going to matter.”

The vessel is sanctioned by the United States, the European Union and the United Kingdom following the war in Ukraine.

On Monday, when asked about Trump’s decision to allow the Russian oil tanker and not ones from other countries, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called it “a decision that will continue to be made on a case-by-case basis for humanitarian reasons or otherwise,” adding that “there’s been no firm change in our sanctions policy.”

Trump and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio have been pressuring for major changes in Cuba's policies and governance, all while both sides acknowledged talks as the island's economic and energetic crises deepen.

Russian-flagged oil tanker Anatoly Kolodkin, left, passes the Cuban vessel Vilma as it approaches Matanzas in Matanzas, Cuba, Tuesday, March 31, 2026.. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Russian-flagged oil tanker Anatoly Kolodki, right, approaches Matanzas, Cuba, Tuesday, March 31, 2026.. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)