Want to boost diversity? Boston exec sees win-win in dropping degree mandate

Paris Wallace says he’s been an entrepreneur his whole life, and he’s passionate about lowering the barriers that keep others from the success he’s enjoyed. As CEO and cofounder of Ovia Health, a Boston-based family health benefits platform, he’s eager to hire smart, creative, innovative, capable people. But he’s quick to say they don’t need to be college grads. In fact, he’s dropped degree requirements for positions at his company.

No stranger to advanced degrees himself

Wallace certainly doesn’t frown on a university education. In fact, he holds two advanced degrees from Harvard University: a master’s in business administration and a master’s in public administration. His undergrad degree is from the equally elite Amherst College. But he doesn’t fit the mold of an alumnus of such prestigious schools.

“I have a very humble background,” Wallace says, adding he was raised by a disabled, single mother. Despite the hurdles he had to clear, he says he was “lucky enough to transcend my background.”

As a college student, Wallace noticed “I was the only person like me—not only in the color of my skin but also just my financial circumstances. And I actually think that the financial circumstances were a bigger deal than the lack of racial diversity.”