This article profiles key data benchmarks, highlights companies leading the way and provides a snapshot of the overall landscape. We’ll also explore how these findings drive leadership development among underrepresented populations. 

Tracking Progress in Developmental Programs

According to the Top 50 survey, a significant disparity exists in how companies measure the success of high potentials. High potentials are identified as having the necessary skills to move into a leadership or management role. The data reveals that 83% of Hall of Fame companies, 90% of Top 10 companies and 92% of Top 50 companies track progress in developmental programs.  

In contrast, only 68% of all surveyed companies implement such tracking mechanisms. This disparity underscores the importance placed on development programs by top-ranking companies. 

KPIs for Success in Formal Programs

The survey also sheds light on the key performance indicators (KPIs) used to measure the success of formal talent development programs.  

Notably, 58% of Hall of Fame companies consider employee retention a crucial metric, while 92% focus on overall participation. Similarly, 70% of the Top 10 companies prioritize employee retention and 100% emphasize overall participation.  

Among the Top 50 companies, 60% look at employee retention, while 98% consider overall participation. In comparison, 40% of all companies prioritize employee retention and 83% consider overall participation. 

Leadership Development Practices

On the 2023 Top 50 survey, 85 companies, which include Hall of Fame, Top 50 and Top 10 companies, described how they changed internal practices and policies around talent development. Here are some common words companies used to exemplify talent development best practices:

For instance, Accenture (a Fair360 Hall of Fame company) uses a data-driven approach for nominations to its leadership programs, aligning participation with gender and diversity goals.  

The Hershey Company (No. 3 on the Fair360 2023 Top 50 Companies for Diversity list) emphasizes unconscious bias training, accelerated development programs, mentorship and talent reviews to enhance gender and people of color representation.  

Toyota North America (No. 4 on the 2023 Top 50 list) focuses on sponsorship, reverse mentoring and tailored development programs for underrepresented talent.  

Target (No. 34 on the 2023 Top 50 list) incorporates skills-based interviewing, skills inventories, advancement programs for front-line teams and bias reduction in performance assessment.  

Aramark (No. 40 on the 2023 Top 50 list) enhances talent development through scorecards, manager assessments and development planning within its myWorkLife platform. 

In addition to the Top 50 Companies for Diversity list, Fair360 recognizes companies in various leadership categories, such as: 

• Top Companies for Asian American Executives  
• Top Companies for Black Executives  
• Top Companies for Board of Directors  
• Top Companies for Latino Executives  
• Top Companies for Native American/Pacific Islander (NAPI) Executives 

Methodology and Considerations

Fair360 employs a comprehensive model that assesses an organization’s assets (leadership, programs, practices and policies) and resulting outcomes (human capital, supplier diversity and philanthropy). The model recognizes the interrelation among these categories and aims to provide a snapshot of overall organizational effectiveness and performance.  

Valuable insights emerge by analyzing Fair360’s data on leadership representation and development in top-ranking companies for diversity. The benchmarking data, exemplary practices and the overall landscape highlight the importance of measuring progress, implementing KPIs and fostering inclusive leadership development.  

As companies continue to prioritize workplace fairness, these findings offer valuable guidance and inspiration for creating more equitable workplaces and empowering underrepresented populations to thrive in leadership roles. 

Compared to male leaders at their level, women CEOs are more likely to foster inclusion, exhibit empathy and support employee career development and well-being, according to LeanIn.org and McKinsey & Company’s Women in the Workplace 2022 report. 

“Many employees, including women and men leaders, have experienced a major shift in priorities over the last couple of years,” says Gina Cardazone, Ph.D., Research Principal and co-author of the report. “For women, DEI is both a matter of principle and opportunity. When companies aren’t committed to diversity, equity and inclusion, they risk letting pervasive biases keep women from having an equal opportunity to advance. Women leaders don’t want to experience that for themselves and they don’t want to see that for their employees.”

Today’s employees demand that their companies and leaders do more to make them feel included. Inclusive leadership not only fosters innovation and growth but also enables individuals to be free to bring their authentic selves to work. How can companies better support female leaders and their goals to create a more inclusive workplace?

Celebrate Leadership Differences

When analyzing the top eight companies where women held the most senior management positions on DiversityInc’s Top 50 Companies for Diversity list, they scored highest on human capital, workplace practices and leadership accountability.  

“If you start with the basic presumption that talent is uniformly distributed across the population, then it is a mistake not to take advantage of all that talent and ability,” says Marcus Noland, Executive Vice President and Director of Studies at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. “If you take better advantage of that talent and ability, you can increase the economy’s productivity and the profitability of individual firms without really investing anything.”

Studies show women are typically transformational leaders emphasizing collaboration and motivation, traits often associated with more inclusive practices. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, workers have demanded more compassionate leadership and for companies to prioritize their well-being. A research report from December 2020 indicated that female leaders managed the crisis better than their male counterparts because of better communication and faster response times, leading to improved engagement. 

Karen S. Lynch was one leader who started her role during the pandemic. The President and CEO of CVS Health (No. 28 on DiversityInc’s 2022 Top 50 Companies for Diversity list) is passionate about fostering a culture where differences and similarities are celebrated. In 2022, she was named by Fortune as “The Most Inspirational CEO” and has been focused on transforming the company’s pharmacies into all-in-one primary care clinics.  

Drive Inclusion Initiatives

Women bring different perspectives and experiences to leadership roles, which can help to create a more diverse and inclusive workplace culture. 

Thasunda Brown Duckett joined TIAA (No. 8 on DiversityInc’s 2022 Top 50 Companies for Diversity list) in May 2021 as President and CEO. Since becoming CEO, she has prioritized several programs centered around inclusivity, like the TIAA Sponsorship Program and the #RetireInequality campaign. Duckett focuses on enhancing TIAA’s talent pipeline by promoting equitable hiring practices and expanding the company’s campus recruitment strategy to identify top female talent. 

“Thasunda is a leading advocate in her own right, working to close historical achievement gaps for women and underrepresented communities, and she has prioritized addressing these issues from within TIAA, inspiring our associates to join her in being the change,” says Claire Borelli, TIAA’s Senior Executive Vice President and Chief People Officer. “She recognizes that now more than ever, companies need to create cultures where employees can bring their true selves to work because it’s the right thing to do – for the team and the business.”

Duckett and Walgreens’ (No. 40 on DiversityInc’s 2022 Top 50 Companies for Diversity list) CEO Rosalind Brewer are the only two Black women heading Fortune 500 companies. Brewer is number 7 on Fortune’s 50 Most Powerful Women in Business. She developed the company’s mission statement: to help people live more joyful lives through better health. One year into her role, Brewer said her proudest accomplishment was bringing equity to vaccine administration. One of the biggest lessons she learned was to continue to question the status quo.  

“I’ve always thought about that and considered that in my career, but this year has taught me never to settle and to question and consistently poke and prod so that we can get to the right outcomes,” Brewer said in a Walgreens video interview. 

With health equity front and center, 2022 was a transformative year for the company. Walgreens launched Be Well Connected, an expanded U.S. team member program for mental health and well-being, also available to family members. It also debuted the “I am, We are” campaign, celebrating its diverse employees by building connections through similarities and finding strength in differences. Through its goals, Walgreens has increased the representation of people of color and women in leadership positions, boosted spend with diverse suppliers and ensured diverse candidate slates and interview panels.

Focus on the Future

Nearly 1 in 5 women leaders who switched companies in 2022 said they were looking for a company that was more committed to DEI, according to LeanIn and McKinsey & Company’s research. Their research found that young women are more significant in building diverse and inclusive teams.  

“Forty-one percent of young women say working for a company that prioritizes DEI has become more important to them in the last couple of years,” says Cardazone. “This is even more true for young women of color including young Black, Latina, and Asian women. Young women are pushing for DEI in their workplaces and selecting to work at places that demonstrate true commitment to DEI.” 

In 2020, Mary Barra, CEO of General Motors (No. 36 on DiversityInc’s 2022 Top 50 Companies for Diversity list) committed to becoming the most inclusive company in the world. The automaker ranks on DiversityInc’s 2022 Top Companies for Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG), Top Companies for Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) and Top Companies for Board of Directors. 

Under Barra’s leadership, GM is progressing toward becoming carbon neutral in its global products and operations by 2040. Its 11 employee resource groups serve as a resource for employees by fostering a diverse, inclusive workplace. Almost half of GM’s board of directors is female.

Noland notes that women seeing other women in leadership positions can help them aspire to leadership roles, especially in the boardroom. 

“There seems to be a pipeline effect, that if you can get women up at a certain level of importance within the firm and a certain level of visibility, then it tends to pull up other women as well.”

When Michele Buck was appointed President and CEO of The Hershey Company in 2017 (No. 6 on DiversityInc’s 2022 Top 50 Companies for Diversity list), she became the first female CEO in the company’s history. With an eye on inclusivity, equity and diversity, in 2022, she established the “Future CEO” program that offered hands-on education, mentorship and advice to 10 young women. 

“Carving a path for women to succeed in the workforce and our communities is not only a business imperative, it’s essential to building a better world,” says Alicia Petross, Chief Diversity Officer of Hershey. 

“At Hershey and under Michele, all leaders are encouraged from day one to put our people first and find opportunities for everyone to reach their limitless potential, regardless of gender, race or background. As a result, we have invested in the right programs and initiatives for The Hershey Company to build a more equitable and inclusive future to ensure everyone can succeed,” she adds.

AT&T (a DiversityInc Hall of Fame company) is among those that have taken significant strides in this direction. In a recent interview with DiversityInc as part of our CDO series, Michelle Jordan, AT&T’s Chief Diversity Officer, shared her experience and insights into what it takes to excel in this role and drive change.

DiversityInc: You’ve climbed the ranks at AT&T to take on the CDO role and have worn many different hats in your 17 years with the company. Can you talk a bit about that experience and your advice for people who want to move into diversity leadership but don’t have one of those natural starting points like HR?

MJ: “I’ve had a lot of ‘careers’ at AT&T. The ability to chart your own path is one of the things I love most about this company.

“I joined AT&T in 2006 as a product development manager. In a little under 20 years, I’ve experienced a number of pivots, with responsibilities in product, customer experience and leadership development, among other areas. My latest pivot was stepping into the C-suite as AT&T’s Chief Diversity Officer, which happened in the summer of 2022. I believe strongly that the variety of experiences across the business have given me the benefit of seeing the world from so many different vantage points.

“For those aspiring to be diversity leaders, a variety of skills are needed. I would advise them to think about those transferable skills: the ability to communicate, to think creatively, to be curious, and courage to challenge status quo and specific examples they can provide that showcase this, whether related to DE&I or not. Additionally, it takes passion and patience to do this work. While it may not be part of your job title yet, showcase your leadership outside of the office and the organizations you’re involved in that are moving the needle.”

DI: What are some of the initiatives you’ve been excited to work on since taking over as CDO and what are some of the areas where you’d like to see things evolve or change under your leadership?

MJ: “Taking on this role, I was excited to be more closely involved with our Dream in Black efforts. As a graduate of Florida A&M University, and having a son who attends Hampton University, I feel a personal connection to AT&T’s efforts to support Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).

“Our Dream in Black, Rising Future Makers program, which provides a spotlight for 25 HBCU students who are making a difference in their community and on campus, also gives them the connections, networks and opportunities necessary to achieve their dreams. For me, it’s about impact and doing more than giving vocal recognition of the culture; we are sharing resources that are critical for those students to go into the world and become a success.

“In my tenure, I look forward to expanding on the work AT&T is doing to connect communities to the critical resources and new opportunities that drive equity. For example, our work addressing the digital divide. When there are limits to digital access, people are cut off from their potential before they’ve even had the opportunity to fully explore it. It’s like planting a seed but not watering it fully. The odds of it growing and thriving are limited. Students, would-be entrepreneurs and business owners alike currently living in the digital divide or that gap between those who can fully participate in the modern online world and those who cannot, are all impacted by one or more issues around access, affordability and adoption.”

DI: How do you see DEI work evolving in the years to come and what excites you about the future?

MJ: “The last few years have brought a lot of change. Between the ongoing challenges of the pandemic, economic and market instability and global social issues, we as DE&I leaders have a number of concerns vying for our attention at any given moment.

“That said, this also presents opportunities for us to enact change.

“One of the areas that excites me is connecting people to greater possibilities. I am passionate about connecting customers and communities to greater possibility through not only our products and services but also the work we do for those we serve. Society and technology continue to speed forward, but we must ensure no one is left behind – hence, our commitment to addressing the digital divide.”

Subscribe to Fair360 Enterprise to read the full article. 

Prior to joining KPMG and working at Mars Inc., Hines has worked in supplier diversity roles at other companies, including PwC (a DiversityInc Hall of Fame company). He is also a public speaker  who is nationally recognized for his knowledge of supplier diversity and has served on several boards related to supplier diversity.

According to KPMG, Hines “will be focused on elevating KPMG’s presence in the market to continue striving toward our aspirational goals to expand the firm’s supplier diversity program. By the end of 2025, we strive to have 30% of our reportable spend with diverse suppliers.”

Hines is passionate about helping large organizations embrace diverse businesses that are innovative, competitive, qualified and service oriented. He said that leading this initiative will ensure that KPMG U.S.’s suppliers endorse inclusive supply chains and help the company build relationships that reflect the market, clients and communities it serves.

Hines has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from LeMoyne-Owen College and a master’s degree in global affairs from New York University.

This interview is the latest in a series dedicated to catching up with CDOs who have moved in recent years or ascended into a CDO role for the first time. We discuss their experience, what the move has done for them, the work they’re doing and the advice they have for other aspiring or current CDOs.

When Michelle Jordan joined AT&T (a DiversityInc Hall of Fame company) in 2006 as a Product Development Manager, a journey toward work in HR and eventually diversity, equity and inclusion was not something she could have imagined.

As she took the reins of the company’s Chief Diversity Officer role in July of 2022, it was the feather in a cap that had changed ten times in 16 years.

Interview with Michelle Jordan

DiversityInc: You’ve climbed the ranks at AT&T to take on the CDO role and have worn a lot of different hats in your 17 years with the company. Can you talk a bit about that experience and what advice you have for folks who want to move into diversity leadership but don’t have one of those natural starting points like HR?

MJ: “I’ve had a lot of ‘careers’ at AT&T. The ability to chart your own path is one of the things I love most about this company.

“I joined AT&T in 2006 as a product development manager. In a little under 20 years, I’ve experienced a number of pivots, with responsibilities in product, customer experience and leadership development, among other areas. My latest pivot was stepping into the C-suite as AT&T’s Chief Diversity Officer, which happened in the summer of 2022. I believe strongly that the variety of experiences across the business have given me the benefit of seeing the world from so many different vantage points.

“That also has given me a strong understanding of what is required to foster and lead an inclusive, supportive culture and ensure that we’re creating space, safety and opportunities for everybody to be heard and seen. It’s been exciting to step into a role at the intersection of my passions and purpose to be able to drive progress.

“For those aspiring to be diversity leaders, a variety of skills are needed. I would advise them to think about those transferable skills: the ability to communicate, to think creatively, to be curious, and courage to challenge status quo and specific examples they can provide that showcase this, whether related to DE&I or not. Additionally, it takes passion and patience to do this work. While it may not be part of your job title yet, showcase your leadership outside of the office and the organizations you’re involved in that are moving the needle.

“My own transition into the HR field back in 2014 as AT&T’s Executive Director of Global Leadership Development seemed like a natural fit. It provided me the opportunity to be a key driver of building trust and transparency among leadership and employees across the entire AT&T network.

“For me, DE&I – being human-centered, really getting to know, accept and advocate for the people we work with – has to be at the center of the work to facilitate this trust. I would encourage you to think about what draws you to DE&I and the natural ties between your current career and the position you are seeking.”

DI: What are some of the initiatives you’ve been excited to work on since taking over as CDO and what are some of the areas where you’d like to see things evolve or change under your leadership?

MJ: “Taking on this role, I was excited to be more closely involved with our Dream in Black efforts. As a graduate of Florida A&M University, and having a son who attends Hampton University, I feel a personal connection to AT&T’s efforts to support Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).

“Our Dream in Black, Rising Future Makers program, which provides a spotlight for 25 HBCU students who are making a difference in their community and on campus, also gives them the connections, networks and opportunities necessary to achieve their dreams. For me, it’s about impact and doing more than giving vocal recognition of the culture; we are sharing resources that are critical for those students to go into the world and become a success.

“Every day I see the innovation and creativity of this younger generation, as well as the influence they have in driving culture forward. We want to invest in this ingenuity and be a part of creating long-term pathways of economic growth for the next generation of Black leaders and entrepreneurs. Supporting a young person’s ambitions can change their trajectory and that of their families and their communities.

“Additionally, I’ve been honored to work alongside our employee groups (EGs). Our EGs are the heart of our company. They provide like-minded employees with a way to connect over a shared background and experience and are not only critical to the success and vitality of our business strategy, but they truly are the vanguards of AT&T – influencing our culture and impacting our customers. The work they do is in addition to their full-time job, and it is my responsibility – and pleasure – to collaborate with and facilitate the success of AT&T ERGs.

“In my tenure, I look forward to expanding on the work AT&T is doing to connect communities to the critical resources and new opportunities that drive equity. For example, our work addressing the digital divide. When there are limits to digital access, people are cut off from their potential before they’ve even had the opportunity to fully explore it. It’s like planting a seed but not watering it fully, the odds of it growing and thriving are limited. Students, would-be entrepreneurs and business owners alike currently living in the digital divide or that gap between those who can fully participate in the modern online world and those who cannot, are all impacted by one or more issues around access, affordability and adoption.

“AT&T is uniquely positioned with the resources that we have and our core competency to play a leading role in helping to bridge the divide and in 2021, we announced a three-year $2 billion commitment to address the issue. That commitment has only strengthened over the last year. We have opened 21 AT&T Connected Learning Centers—centers that provide students and families with free access to high-speed internet, Wi-Fi, computers and technical resources—and we have committed to opening more than 50 nationwide. The most recent connected learning center being the first on tribal lands in the U.S. which is something we’re really proud of.”

DI: How do you see DEI work evolving in the years to come and what excites you about the future?

MJ: “The last few years have brought a lot of change. Between the ongoing challenges of the pandemic, economic and market instability and global social issues, we as DE&I leaders have a number of concerns vying for our attention at any given moment.

“That said, this also presents opportunities for us to enact change.

“One of the areas that excites me is connecting people to greater possibilities. I am passionate about connecting customers and communities to greater possibility through not only our products and services but also the work we do for those we serve. Society and technology continue to speed forward, but we must ensure no one is left behind – hence, our commitment to addressing the digital divide.

“And there is progress to be made to guarantee that everyone has equal and equitable access to job opportunities, so they have the economic means to achieve greater possibilities. For me, this is done by recruiting diverse talent and ensuring that everyone has access to the resources and opportunities they need to achieve career success and longevity with AT&T.

“I believe an equitable workforce has the knowledge, tools and resources to do their best work and be their best selves at the workplace. This looks like closing racial and gender pay gaps and ensuring we’re building inclusive leadership practices that lead to a greater sense of belonging for all employees.”

DI: What advice do you have for aspiring or current Chief Diversity Officers who are just starting out? What are the big issues they need to be ready to speak to in the future?

MJ: “Simply put – focus, clarity and dedication. Several years ago, I was on a panel with Ava DuVernay. She shared a message that really resonated with me: ‘Focus on the work.’ That’s when real progress happens no matter the distractions or challenges you may encounter along the way. But when you are faced with challenges, you must learn from your approach and continue to lead with intention and purpose.

“For me, focusing on the work is grounded in an understanding of AT&T’s mission, as well as my purpose as a DE&I leader. In this career, there are a multitude of outside opinions that you will need to take into consideration and navigate but having a clear vision will ground you and allow you to keep steady focus.

“Once you have this understanding, ask the right questions to ensure you achieve the goals that you and your company have established. Asking questions such as what are the main priorities to achieve this goal? How will you measure progress? Do you have the right resources, including talent, to achieve the vision? These are the type of questions that will help you to achieve success.

“Lastly, be ready for the long haul. There are no quick solutions to issues of inequality and discrimination, and I trust that if you stay dedicated, change will happen.”

We’ve been catching up with CDOs who have moved into their current positions in recent years to discuss their experience, what the move has done for them, the work they’re doing and the advice they have for other aspiring or current CDOs, DiversityInc spoke with Alveda Williams, Chief Inclusion Officer at Dow (No. 15 on DiversityInc’s 2022 Top 50 Companies for Diversity list).

DiversityInc: You’ve climbed the ranks with Dow to take on your first C-suite diversity and inclusion role. What has that experience been like and what advice would you have for folks who want to ascend that ladder but don’t want to move companies to do it?

Alveda Williams: “I always knew I had a passion for science, which is why I pursued a Ph.D. in Chemistry and joined Dow as a Senior Research Chemist over 20 years ago. I was enjoying a great career as a researcher, but from the very beginning, I noticed that I was bolting on work that played to a secondary passion of mine – a passion for people.

“Because I was open to change and willing to try new things, it was a single step into Human Resources nearly 11 years ago that paved the way for the role that I now have as Dow’s Chief Inclusion Officer.

“I had the benefit of serving as the Corporate Director of Inclusion for the past five years, so I was at the table when our first strategy was developed, in the background when some of the most critical decisions were made and in the forefront on the development of key programs. So, there’s a lot about the new role that is not new. The vision that we have at Dow to be leaders in inclusion, diversity and equity is still clear. The strategy did not change with the change in guard and I’m grateful for the opportunity.

“My advice to those who want to ascend the ladder is simple – bloom where you are planted. Delivering visible results and meaningful impact builds credibility and credibility opens the door to new opportunities. Know where your passion, purpose and skills intersect and pursue relentlessly and without regret.”

DI: What advice do you have for aspiring or current Chief Diversity Officers who are just starting out? What are the big issues they need to be ready to speak to in the future?

AV: “I would offer a few pieces of advice to CDOs who may just be starting out:

“There is always a lot that can be done in this space. It is important do the initial work up front to understand the current state of your workforce diversity and the sentiment around I&D. Evaluate the data, assess gaps and identify low-hanging fruit to make an impact.

“Learn from what leading organizations are doing. So much of this work is industry agnostic and you don’t have to go at it alone. Other CDOs are often willing to share their experiences and ideas. At Dow, we have been able to accelerate our progress over the last 5 years because we had other companies and CDOs that were willing to spend time with us, share their stories and exchange best practices.

“Invest in your employee resource groups. Our own internal data validates that ERG participants are the most engaged employees and experience higher overall satisfaction with the company. ERGs can be true catalysts for change. We have been hard at work to make sure our ERGs continue to provide space for community and connection, while also strategically shifting to ensure alignment of our ERGs to company priorities such as well-being, talent needs, supplier diversity and our decarbonization and growth strategy.

“Finally, be ready to think beyond the traditional elements of DEI work (e.g. compliance, diversity metrics, employee sentiment). Again, the boundaries have expanded. Understand what issues are important to the full ecosystem – employees, Board of Directors, community members, investors, etc. Be attuned to how external events may directly or indirectly impact the people and present opportunities for your organization to provide support and take action.”

Subscribe to Fair360 Enterprise to read the full article. 

This interview is the latest in a series dedicated to catching up with CDOs who have moved in recent years or ascended into a CDO role for the first time. We discuss their experience, what the move has done for them, the work they’re doing and the advice they have for other aspiring or current CDOs.

Alveda Williams isn’t new to diversity work, but her ascension into Dow’s Chief Inclusion Officer role in 2022 sees her tasked with filling the shoes of Karen S. Carter, the first Chief Inclusion Officer in the company’s history. Williams has a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois, allowing her to bring a unique blend of scientific thinking, project management, talent acquisition and strategic development experience to the role.

Interview with Alveda Williams Ph.D.

DiversityInc: You’ve climbed the ranks with Dow to take on your first C-suite diversity and inclusion role. What has that experience been like and what advice would you have for folks who want to ascend that ladder but don’t want to move companies to do it?

Alveda Williams: “I always knew I had a passion for science, which is why I pursued a Ph.D. in Chemistry and joined Dow as a Senior Research Chemist over 20 years ago. I was enjoying a great career as a researcher, but from the very beginning, I noticed that I was bolting on work that played to a secondary passion of mine – a passion for people.

“Because I was open to change and willing to try new things, it was a single step into Human Resources nearly 11 years ago that paved the way for the role that I now have as Dow’s Chief Inclusion Officer.

“I had the benefit of serving as the Corporate Director of Inclusion for the past five years, so I was at the table when our first strategy was developed, in the background when some of the most critical decisions were made and in the forefront on the development of key programs. So, there’s a lot about the new role that is not new. The vision that we have at Dow to be leaders in inclusion, diversity and equity is still clear. The strategy did not change with the change in guard and I’m grateful for the opportunity.

“My advice to those who want to ascend the ladder is simple – bloom where you are planted. Delivering visible results and meaningful impact builds credibility and credibility opens the door to new opportunities. Know where your passion, purpose and skills intersect and pursue relentlessly and without regret.”

DI: What are some of the initiatives you’ve been excited to work on since taking over the role and what are some areas where you’d like to see things evolve or change under your leadership?

AV: “It’s about making meaningful and sustainable progress that we can look back on and be proud of. People who spend any time with me know that I always say, ‘At Dow, we do a lot of things that are fun, but we don’t do things just for fun.’ The outcomes matter. When I look back over the last 5 years that I have been connected to this work, we have a lot to be proud of at Dow. We have:

• Quadrupled employee resource group (ERG) participation from 15% to 57% of our employees participating in at least one of our ten ERGs.
• Consistently increased representation of both women globally and U.S. ethnic minorities.
• Improved the diversity of our Board of Directors with 57% identifying as women or U.S. ethnic minorities.
• Built a supplier diversity program that provides equal opportunity for diverse suppliers to do business with Dow.
• Achieved our highest ever overall employee satisfaction as a company.

“That’s real and tangible progress.

“I am also excited about some of our specific people and culture priorities this year. We are aiming to define and implement a new skills framework, enhance our self-identification capabilities, promote a culture of psychological safety, increase our spend and support of diverse suppliers and establish an inclusive benefits framework.

“So, there is no course correction with me moving into the role. We are staying on course, and five years from now, when we look back, I expect to be able to be equally proud of the work we have done.”

DI: How do you see DEI work evolving in the years to come and what excites you about the future?

AV: “There are a few specific areas that I would point out that are challenges, but exciting opportunities.

“First, one of the greatest challenges facing companies and DEI practitioners today is that the world is in a constant state of change, uncertainty and some would say crisis. As a result, the lines are blurring, and the boundaries are expanding in terms of what is now considered the work of inclusion, diversity and equity. So, we must evolve with those changes – remain resilient, adapt, and act.

“Second, the pendulum of transparency and accountability in this work is swinging. The expectation of progress around I&D now reaches beyond our own company and how we are holding ourselves accountable. It’s about what our investors, value chain partners, job candidates and community members are expecting from us as well.

“Third, research suggests by 2025, more than 75% of workforce will be millennial and Gen Z – the most diverse generations to date. This combined with the dramatic shift in employee expectations over the last few years means that companies absolutely have to be thinking about the new dynamic workforce and what it means to create a workplace of the future – one that respects and values their unique needs, perspectives and potential.

“These challenges present unique opportunities for us to do our best and most impactful work. As the world and the work changes, it’s really about looking for new and innovative ways to ensure that we are caring for our people and our communities as their needs shift, creating spaces to listen and learn from our employees, community stakeholders, fence line neighbors, nonprofit and government partners, and leveraging our ERGs as both resources for employees and the company.”

DI: What advice do you have for aspiring or current Chief Diversity Officers who are just starting out? What are the big issues they need to be ready to speak to in the future?

AV: “I would offer a few pieces of advice to CDOs who may just be starting out:

“There is always a lot that can be done in this space. It is important do the initial work up front to understand the current state of your workforce diversity and the sentiment around I&D. Evaluate the data, assess gaps and identify low hanging fruit to make an impact.

“Learn from what leading organizations are doing. So much of this work is industry agnostic and you don’t have to go at it alone. Other CDOs are often willing to share their experiences and ideas. At Dow, we have been able to accelerate our progress over the last 5 years because we had other companies and CDOs that were willing to spend time with us, share their stories and exchange best practices.

“Invest in your employee resource groups. Our own internal data validates that ERG participants are the most engaged employees and experience higher overall satisfaction with the company. ERGs can be true catalysts for change. We have been hard at work to make sure our ERGs continue to provide space for community and connection, while also strategically shifting to ensure alignment of our ERGs to company priorities such as well-being, talent needs, supplier diversity and our decarbonization and growth strategy.

“Finally, be ready to think beyond the traditional elements of DEI work (e.g. compliance, diversity metrics, employee sentiment). Again, the boundaries have expanded. Understand what issues are important to the full ecosystem – employees, Board of Directors, community members, investors, etc. Be attuned to how external events may directly or indirectly impact the people and present opportunities for your organization to provide support and take action.”

“There’s been a shift in EDCs and that shift has aligned with how the conversation has changed around ESG (environmental, social and governance) itself,” says Anita Ricketts, Head of Strategic Partnerships at DiversityInc. “EDCs are not just, oh they keep track of our diversity programs. They’re an arm of good governance and risk reduction, as well as protecting the shareholders and other interested parties in the company.”

How can companies be nimble and manage EDCs in this evolving environment? We spoke with five companies on the DiversityInc 2022 Top Companies for Executive Diversity Councils who shared best practices for operating EDCs.

CEO Involvement 

A CEO at the helm of an EDC sends a message both inside and outside the company that diversity and inclusion are critical to its business goals. Eighty-seven percent of companies on the 2022 DiversityInc Top Companies for Executive Diversity Councils list have CEOs heading their EDCs and 53% of those CEOs set the agenda.

Dow’s (No. 1 on DiversityInc’s 2022 Top Companies for Executive Diversity Councils list) EDC is chaired by Jim Fitterling, Chairman and CEO, and facilitated by Alveda Williams, Chief Inclusion Officer.

“Top executive involvement is critical to the success of the EDC to drive decision making, budget decisions and accountability for I&D progress,” says Williams. “Dow’s EDC was designed with this in mind.”

State Street’s (No. 13 on DiversityInc’s 2022 Top Companies for Executive Diversity Councils list) EDC is led by Chairman and CEO Ronald O’Hanley. 

“It’s not just chaired and then they’re not showing up. That’s just crazy,” says Sharhea Wade, Vice President, Global Inclusion & Diversity at State Street. “It’s chaired, it’s started, it’s run by him. A month in advance, I have to send him my agenda items. He will come back to me and say, “No, I want to hear this.”

O’Hanley sets the tone by opening the meeting, highlighting the three to four topics to discuss and then setting aside 45 minutes for open discussion. 

“There’s this good back and forth with him,” says Wade. “He’s not picking arguments or anything. It’s more like, let’s talk about this in a frank setting. Let’s bottom this out. What can I cut through? That’s the visible leadership.”

Accountability Through Metrics and Goals

A clearly defined mission with measurable goals is essential to EDCs tracking DEI progress. 

In 2020, State Street unveiled a 10-point action plan to address issues of racism and inequality by focusing on talent management, learning and hiring. Its goals include doubling State Street’s percentage of Black and Latinx representation and increasing spend with diverse suppliers over the next three years, anti-racism education for all employees and increasing civic engagement. 

“Executive committee members all have quarterly business reviews with Ron and what they call an EVP scorecard,” says Wade. “On those EVP scorecards are the goals. They are responsible for making sure the work moves forward and Ron holds them accordingly in those business reviews.”

Wade says State Street executives are held accountable with scorecards and ratings, which affects their compensation. Eighty percent of DiversityInc’s 2022 Top Companies for Executive Diversity Councils list ties the compensation of EDC members to enterprise diversity goals. 

Northrop Grumman’s Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors reviews the company’s progress in workforce diversity at least semi-annually and connects leadership accountability of diversity to executive compensation.

“We are focused on representation in all levels of management as well as our technical talent,” says Nikki Alphonse, Director, EEO and Diversity, Northrop Grumman (No. 10 on DiversityInc’s 2022 Top Companies for Executive Diversity Councils list). “Additional focus areas for 2023 include belonging and allyship, building the best culture and DEI training and competency for front-line leaders.”

Established over 20 years ago, Marriott International’s Inclusion and Social Impact Committee sets the hotel company’s annual DEI goals and monitors progress.

“Our President and CEO, Anthony Capuano, is dedicated to ensuring DEI is infused into our DNA and that leaders at all levels of the company take accountability for our DEI strategy,” says Ty Breland, Executive Vice President & Chief Human Resources Officer, Marriott International (No. 5 on DiversityInc’s 2022 Top Companies for Executive Diversity Councils list). “Our Global Inclusion Council, led by our CEO and myself, is responsible for meeting our yearly goals, ensuring our DEI approach includes our associates, customers, owners and suppliers, and keeping track of our plans, actions and results.” 

Adding another level of accountability to EDCs are external and regional councils. 

“Regional councils work to localize our DEI strategies, ensuring they are at the forefront of our local business priorities,” Breland adds.  

Diverse Representation

One key to the effectiveness of an EDC is having the right people in the room, focusing on all aspects of diversity. 

“We have voting members, which are the executive sponsors,” says Wade. “We also invite the workstream lead of the 10 Actions to the meeting as well. We’ve evolved the council not only to focus on the 10 Actions but all the diversity lenses. We have presentations around disability and presentations around our veteran’s program. That’s all embedded in the meeting agendas and those are done quarterly.”

Hilton (No. 7 on DiversityInc’s 2022 Top Companies for Executive Diversity Councils list) has expanded its Executive Inclusion Council (EIC) to include members of its executive committee and its company-wide senior leadership group. 

“These senior leaders represent the diversity of our global workforce and have been vital in building trust, providing advocacy and establishing meaningful connections that enable us to proactively identify emerging needs across diverse communities,” says DeShaun Wise Porter, Global Head of Diversity Inclusion and Engagement, Hilton. “The addition of these advocates will help support our strategic DEI pillars of Culture, Talent and Marketplace.”

Northrop Grumman says representation from people throughout the company is critical. 

“Which is why we have council members from each of the four main businesses and key functional areas,” says Alphonse. “Our council’s business representatives also co-chair their business-level councils, which ensures alignment and a link between councils across the enterprise. We currently have 24 DEI councils across the enterprise, including some division and/or business unit DEI councils. These councils are closely aligned with the business-level council, and in turn, the business-level council has alignment with the EDEILC (Enterprise DE&I Leadership Council). We include the voices of our employee resource groups, which have a liaison on the EDEILC that briefs the council on a regular basis.”

A decade ago, Ricketts says rotational positions weren’t as prevalent. But now, 87% of companies on the 2022 DiversityInc Top Companies for Executive Diversity Councils have rotational positions. These roles allow an EDC to embody the diversity of thought by obtaining fresh ideas and perspectives. It also provides opportunities for growth within the leadership team.

Frequent Communication

The evolution of EDCs has included intentional oversight and more sophisticated conversations around data, says Ricketts.

“It used to be four times a year you would get your scorecard or dashboard – that was the thing,” she says. “What does the scorecard look like? What do the metrics look like? The conversations now are much more nuanced, strategic, and all-encompassing of the organization.”

Forty percent of DiversityInc’s 2022 Top Companies for Executive Diversity Councils list converge every quarter, 53% every month and 7% twice yearly. Northrop Grumman’s EDEILC meets quarterly and the sub-teams meet more regularly in between. 

“Business-level councils, which ensure alignment and a link between councils across the company, meet monthly or bi-monthly,” says Alphonse. “Business-level representatives brief EDEILC on progress at the business level and identify areas where the EDEILC can help.”

Hilton’s EIC meets at least twice a year and also has multiple touchpoints with various leadership groups throughout the year. 

“Our diversity agenda and progress towards our goals are discussed quarterly during executive committee meetings and also shared with our board on a regular, ongoing basis,” says Porter. 

Williams says Dow’s EDC meets regularly to align and drive inclusion, diversity and equity (ID&E) progress.

“Our Executive Diversity Council meets quarterly to ensure regular updates on ID&E progress and alignment and support for strategic actions and priorities,” she says. “At the same time, we have ongoing off-cycle communications with EDC members, which allows us to remain agile and make critical decisions in a timely manner.”

Once Womack takes over as President and CEO, Fanning will move on to become Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors.

Womack most recently served as Chairman, President and CEO of Georgia Power. He joined Southern Company in 1988 and has held various leadership positions with the company and its subsidiaries. He has also served as Senior Vice President of Human Resources and Chief People Officer at Southern Company and as Senior Vice President of Public Relations and Corporate Services at Alabama Power.

Womack has a bachelor’s degree from Western Michigan University and a master’s degree from The American University. In 2001, he completed the Stanford Executive Program.

Slate will oversee the diversity, equity and inclusion strategy for CVS Health as well as innovation and implementation to make sure the workforce of the company reflects the communities CVS Health serves.

“Shari is a respected business leader and a champion of innovative people-oriented practices related to diversity and inclusion,” Havanec said in a statement. “Her addition to our team will help us continue to build our diverse, inclusive and consumer-focused culture that’s at the heart of everything we do.”

Bringing more than a decade of experience, Slate will join the company from Cisco, where she was Chief Inclusion and Collaboration Officer and Senior Vice President, Inclusive Future and Strategy.

In a statement provided by CVS, Slate said that “CVS Health is redefining the consumer healthcare journey.”

“Our ability to be successful requires us to bring diverse and inclusive solutions to the marketplace – work that can only be done with the very best talent representing the communities where we live and work,” she said. “I look forward to building on CVS Health’s strong foundation to advance our purpose and the sense of community our colleagues and consumers deeply value.”

In this role, Lafon leads the company’s procurement efforts and is responsible for the “leadership, strategy, talent and execution of the end-to-end procurement process,” according to Humana. “Tar’s goals include driving compliant, competitive, and innovative acquisition of services and goods from leading suppliers and partners, while championing closer collaboration with the business, supply base and external partners.”

Lafon has 18 years of experience as a procurement professional and joined the company from Organon & Co., where he served as Associate Vice President of Commercial Services Procurement and Travel, Meetings, Card & Fleet Operations. He worked across various procurement categories for nine years at Merck prior to his role at Organon & Co.

Lafon has an MBA from NYU as well as a Master of Science and a Bachelor of Science in industrial engineering from the New Jersey Institute of Technology.

The divide between what we expect from our leaders and how they perform is called the leadership accountability gap. 

“Most often, it’s referring to the leadership components of their job versus executing technical priorities in their role,” says Jeramy Kaiman, Head of Professional at Lee Hecht Harrison (LHH) Recruitment Solutions. “That could be managing people, inspiring teams, addressing performance issues, culture building, talent and career development.”

While 72% of global human resource executives believe that leadership accountability is a critical issue in their organization, only 31% were satisfied with the degree of accountability demonstrated by their leaders, according to a 2017 LHH study. Kaiman stresses the data is still relevant in today’s workplace. 

“A lot of organizations tend to promote people into leadership — either for the first time or from more junior levels of leadership,” he says. “They promote individuals who are very strong at the technical components of a role and look past gaps of being a strong leader. Maybe it’s related to their personality, interpersonal skills, talent, attraction or whatever that may be.”

READ: How to Embed Accountability in Your DEI Efforts 

Acknowledging the Gap

From the challenges of remote work to a looming recession — the current workplace landscape requires leaders to think and act differently than in the past. 

“The unpredictable business challenges may require a different style of leadership that leaders are not used to,” says Teresa Adams, Senior HR advisor at the Society of Human Resources Management (SHRM). “We have outdated leadership styles that are not effective in today’s environment — that may be causing it (the gap) as well.”

Business and HR leaders are prioritizing leadership development as many believe their leaders will need different skills to thrive.

“We know that mental well-being is a hot topic right now,” says Kaiman. “Built-in is a leader’s ability not only to lead empathetically but to also lead with transparency. That has a lot to do with how people perceive that leader. It affects colleague retention, colleague attraction and ultimately, culture and performance.”

Before engaging in leadership development, an assessment needs to be completed on where the leadership gaps are. Periodic leadership audits and tailored scorecards are some of the best ways to discover the gaps. 

“It’s important to develop a leadership strategy for those roles, as opposed to an organizational strategy,” says Adams. “It’s more about the leader.”

READ: Scoring Your Scorecards: A Guide to Evolving and Presenting Diversity Metrics

Clearly Defining Goals

At all levels of management, the goal and strategies for individual development need to be clearly defined. 

“There needs to be systems in place that are recruiting for leaders with desired competencies, identifying and developing talent and incorporating all of those things to include performance management,” says Adams.

Nearly three years after the murder of George Floyd, the amount of money companies have pledged to support racial justice has grown to nearly $340 billion. But building an inclusive culture requires more than just lip service.

“Leaders should be accountable for helping create an inclusive environment,” says Andrés Tapia, Global Diversity and Inclusion and ESG strategist at Korn Ferry. “If leaders are low on the engagement of underrepresented talent or they score high on it, there should be consequences upside and downside.” 

All the companies on the 2022 DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity list have ESG as a core management issue shared by the company’s CEO and their direct reports and have systemic efforts to detect and correct pay equity and combat unconscious bias. Leaders need to show their companies are committed to supporting efforts in areas like D&I.

“Only then can you go to your individual leaders and managers and say here’s your part of it,” says Tapia. “Here’s how you’re going to contribute. Here’s how we’re going to hold you accountable to the larger effort. You can’t hold leaders accountable and say be more diverse and the organization is not creating a platform and something bigger.”

Tapia stresses that goals need to be realistic.

“It depends on how mature they are in D&I and what the starting point is on representation. I can’t say, hold people accountable to a 20% increase in people of color. That’s not fair. It should be grounded in their reality.” 

Measuring and Rewarding Performance 

To create a culture of accountability, it must be embedded in the company from the top down.

“It starts at the top with the leaders,” says Adams. “They set an example and help establish the culture. It will trickle down to other levels of management and to the frontline workers.” 

Over 50% of the companies on the 2022 DiversityInc Top Companies for Executive Diversity Councils (EDC) list have a specific percentage of EDC member bonuses linked to diversity results. Kaiman says companies need a balanced approach when setting and measuring goals. 

“If things flow into some type of compensation incentives that the leaders are attached to, then you create organizational alignment around making sure that not only are they selecting the right leaders, but those leaders and the organization are invested in ensuring that they’re being developed on executing on the leadership parts of their job,” he says.

While experts agree that tying leadership performance to metrics like bonuses is essential, Adams says that companies should be cautious.  

“Simply throwing money at people won’t necessarily improve the situation,” she says. “They need to have the skills and tools and competencies to close that gap in order to be successful.”

Defining Leadership Traits 

Self-awareness, communication, integrity and empathy are among the traits all good leaders should possess.

“It could be their ability to lead with transparency,” says Kaiman. “It could be their ability to provide coaching and development for individuals. It could be how they collaborate with people. Ultimately, it comes down to making sure there are clear cultural objectives and the leadership traits they’re betting future leaders on is directly tied to those cultural objectives.”

Leadership traits and skills are not one-size-fits-all, as it’s an organization’s job to identify what it wants in a leader.  

“Making sure they are working with their talent acquisition group, talent development if they have one and HR team to ensure that they’ve defined what those traits are and mapping them into the interview process or assessment process,” says Kaiman. “Potentially utilizing personality or psychological assessments to help uncover and define those traits when they’re looking at potential candidates internally or externally.”

Just as the requirements of a role may change, so may the traits and skills companies look for in their leaders.  

“Continually evaluate and measure how efforts are paying off and adjust as necessary,” says Adams. “Things change and they need to be re-evaluated on a regular basis.”

What is the fate of diversity and inclusion at companies that don’t address a leadership accountability gap?

“If there’s no accountability, there will be no progress plain and simple,” says Tapia. “There’s going to be a lot of happy talk and performative actions, but nothing’s going to change.”

In this role, Dr. Chen is responsible for improving the health of the company’s members through its strategies, programs and policies. 

Before joining Centene, Dr. Chen worked at Covered California as its Chief Medical Officer. Covered California is the state’s health insurance marketplace. Before that, she was the Deputy Secretary for Policy and Planning and Chief of Clinical Affairs for the California Health and Human Services Agency. In that role, she led initiatives on affordability and access and helped with the state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Dr. Chen holds a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Biology from Yale University and a Doctor of Medicine from the Stanford University School of Medicine. In addition, she has a Master of Public Health in Health Care Management and Policy from Harvard School of Public Health.

Shortly after Hourican became CEO, Adrienne Trimble was hired as the company’s first Chief Diversity Officer in 2021, and Sysco has seen an increased focus on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) since then.

April Love, Senior Director of DEI Business Strategy at Sysco, said she’s been with the company since 2018 and has seen the progress the company has made on the DEI front since Hourican took over as CEO and Trimble was appointed as VP and CDO.

“It’s a totally different company,” she said in an interview with DiversityInc. “Don’t get me wrong, we still have a lot to do and a lot to accomplish, but so many of the things that we’re doing now would never have even been a thought when I got here.”

One big milestone the company reached under its new leadership was the creation of its first DEI report. Historically, Sysco has put out an annual Corporate Social Responsibility report with people as a component of that report. Love said DEI was “kind of a footnote in the CSR report” in the past. Before Trimble, the company wasn’t taking a strategic approach to its DEI efforts. A DEI roadmap was developed under Trimble, which led to having the strategy and structure to create a standalone DEI report.

“We are doing enough things now with intentionality that it would make sense for us to have our own report rather than being a side note in somebody else’s report,” Love said.

Read through our Q&A with Love and Sysco’s Adria Terry, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Analyst and Associate Resource Group (ARG) manager, to learn more about the company’s FY2022 DEI Report.

DiversityInc: Looking at the name of the report, “Fueled by Our Differences,” it’s clear that Sysco is prioritizing DEI. Can you share specific examples you can think of or specific examples from the report that showcase how the company is evolving DEI?

Love: “We had a new CEO [Kevin Hourican] that came in February of 2020 shortly before COVID hit, and that whole summer of civil unrest, we came out of that, and he had this idea of this ‘Be Better’ platform that as a company, we need to be better. That sparked a series of events that we never would have had when I first started. 

“We have ‘Be Better’ town halls that we have twice a year that are focused on a DEI topic that are for all of our colleagues. We just had one in December on disability inclusion. We also introduced the concept of what we call ‘Real Talk Dialogues,’ which are small group, leader-led and facilitated group discussions on a number of DEI-related topics like unconscious bias or allyship or they might be in response to something going on in the world in the wake of Roe v. Wade being overturned or anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, having leaders facilitate those conversations let people have their voices be heard.”

Terry: “With the ARGs, I think that when we think about our differences fueling this fire, we have 11 different ARGs that are all slated toward different [topics], whether it be sexuality, gender, race, ethnicity, but even allies. I was speaking to one of the leaders of our LGBTQ group and one of their poll surveys found out that 40% of their group are allies. They just want to be a part of the group to support, and I think we see that is common among a lot of our ARGs. 

“So when we talk about our differences and being better together and just overall coming together to better understand different pieces of cultural background, I think it’s been humongous at Sysco. And I would say our senior leadership and Kevin, our CEO, talk about ARG involvement and wants to see ARG involvement and pushes it really shows some top-down dedication when it comes to wanting to be involved and even their own participation. A lot of them are executive sponsors to our ARG group.”

DI: A large section of the DEI report talks about recruiting top talent and diversifying the workforce. How exactly is Sysco doing that? Where are you looking for diverse talent and what are you doing to retain those employees?

Love: “There are a couple of different layers to that. We have a new diversity reporting team that did not exist this time last year. There’s a diversity recruiting senior manager, she has a campus program manager reporting to her, they are in the process of adding another peer role to her team, and so the campus program manager is exclusively focused on college recruiting. There’s been a tremendous shift in where we are recruiting for our internships, which is intended to be a feeder pipeline for future talent. And so adding HBCUs to that list, adding Hispanic-serving institutions, institutions that have a healthy Asian American/Pacific Islander population that we weren’t necessarily tapping before.

“Also, a big thing for us last summer was starting an internship program for our sales program because, historically, we have said if you want to come work in sales here, you need to have existing food sales experience. I think people have started to broaden their view and say, hey, we have a trainee program, why don’t we go to some of these college campuses and find students who have an aptitude for sales and teach them how to sell so that we have a more diverse pipeline of talent rather than just swapping the same people from competitors who are not very diverse. With college recruiting, we’ve definitely changed where we’re recruiting.

“Beyond college recruiting, I wouldn’t say we’ve shifted where we recruit. It’s still driven at the center of our talent acquisition team and they post to a variety of job boards and places that are designed to cater to diverse demographic groups. 

“What has made the difference is helping people to understand the value of diverse candidate slates and then diverse interview panels so that even if we’re recruiting from those same places, we are considering candidates we might not have otherwise and trying to find ways to defeat those biases that we know can be inherent in the talent acquisition process.”

DI: The report also mentions Sysco is building a culture of belonging. What does belonging mean to Sysco and why is it important to the company’s DEI strategy?

Love: “On our team, we talk a lot about wanting Sysco to be a place where even if you’re not a person who necessarily works here but you’re part of our ecosystem, you’re a colleague, you’re a customer, you’re a supplier, you know that Sysco is a place you can come and interact as your real, true authentic self and that’s going to be celebrated and not just tolerated, whatever identities or differences or uniqueness you’re bringing to the table. 

“One of the things we talk about all the time, you’ll hear, a seat at the table. We talk a lot on our team about everybody having not only a seat but a voice at the table, that you belong here. We care about how you feel, we care about your opinions, we care about your ideas, and it doesn’t matter where you are in the hierarchy. We want to hear from you. 

“For our team, that extends even to people who are detractors of this work. There are people who are supportive, there are also people who will reach out and say, ‘I don’t really understand what you’re trying to do.’ I had a call right before the holidays with someone who said, ‘as a young Christian, white male with this company, I don’t feel like my voice matters anymore.’ My response was let’s have a call, it matters to me. So trying to create that culture where no matter how you feel, you do feel like it’s an environment where you can always speak up and you can be heard and have your opinion be valued.”

As we approach the final days of 2022, we wanted to look back on the conversations we had with leaders in different roles at companies. 

From Intern to CMO: Yolanda Smith’s INROADS Journey

Before she became the Chief Marketing Officer of INROADS, Yolanda Smith served as an Executive Marketing Consultant for the company. 

She said being appointed as CMO has brought her a “strong sense of pride and accomplishment.”

“It’s an outward-facing recognition of the contribution and value that I’ve brought to INROADS so far and a personal validation that I am still able to grow in my career.”

Smith started her journey with INROADS as a high school senior. She had a summer internship with the organization “before stepping foot on a college campus as a student,” and was introduced to business through that opportunity. 

“The INROADS opportunity allowed me to see for the first time and provide access to very successful people in business that looked like me,” she said. “I ended up working for my enrolled sponsoring company for all four summers and even over holiday breaks. They really taught me to practice my craft, you are not done just because you have your degree, and that mindset has really guided my trajectory.”

Read the full article. 

How Lisa Daniels’ New Role Aligns With KMPG’s One-Firm Strategy

With the Great Resignation and more people looking for jobs that align with their personal values, you don’t see too many employees who stay with the same company for years. But for Lisa Daniels, that wasn’t the case. She started working at KPMG (No. 11 on DiversityInc’s 2022 Top 50 Companies for Diversity list) nearly three decades ago and has stuck with it. She was recently appointed to Vice Chair of Growth and Strategy at the firm. 

So what’s kept Daniels with the same company for so long? The culture. 

“The ultimate reason is the culture and the inclusive nature of the organization,” she said. “I’ve had two kids while working here, and they both have grown and have jobs of their own and lives of their own. I really appreciate the experiences and the flexibility the firm has provided me in my time to balance both my personal and professional [life] throughout my career.”

Daniels described KPMG as a fair workplace that values different perspectives and skill sets and respects employees for who they are. 

Read the full article. 

AT&T’s Corey Anthony Highlights Value of Partnership with Essence Festival

During the 2022 Essence Festival in New Orleans in July, we spoke with Corey Anthony, Senior Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer and Development Officer at AT&T (a DiversityInc Hall of Fame company), to learn about the company’s partnership with Essence Festival, the process behind deciding what AT&T presents at the event and more. 

CDO Series: Sysco’s Adrienne Trimble

As part of an article series focused on Chief Diversity Officers who have moved in recent years, we caught up with Adrienne Trimble, Vice President, Chief Diversity and Culture Officer at Sysco to discuss what the move has done for her, the work she’s doing and her advice for aspiring CDOs. 

When she joined the company in 2021, she was Sysco’s first CDO, which allowed her to “come in and build a strategy that would move the company forward.”

“We were able to build a three-year DEI roadmap that we’re now operationalizing and in the process of implementing and executing,” she said. “The impact I’ve been able to have just coming in has been incredible because it allowed us to understand the parts of the business that we needed to leverage DEI to make us a better business, to make us more competitive and make sure that we were hiring the right people.”

Subscribe to Fair360 Enterprise to read the full interview. 

A Disability Inclusivity Conversation With Hershey’s Chris Scalia

During the National Organization on Disability’s annual forum in October, we caught up with Chris Scalia, SVP and Chief Human Resources Officer at The Hershey Company (No. 6 on DiversityInc’s 2022 Top 50 Companies for Diversity list), to discuss the company’s partnership with NOD, how it attracts and retains employees with disabilities and more. 

Check out these other headlines to hear more from company leaders:

• How Erica Miles’ Capitol Hill Experience Shaped Her Career
• KPMG Leader Says the Metaverse Could Have Big Implications in the DEI Space
• CDO Series: KPMG’s Elena Richards
• A Conversation about ERGs with Rachel Salinas, Senior Program Manager, Employee Giving, AT&T
• How Hilton CEO Chris Nassetta Has Led the Company To Be a Top Employer for Diversity

Creating a lasting DEI culture requires everyone from top to bottom in an organization to embrace the idea that representation is critical to success in the modern business world. An engaged workforce that feels their voices are heard can help companies resolve issues using a wide variety of perspectives.

A DEI culture leads to better-run companies with a stronger bottom line, as well as a more motivated workforce. But while the benefits are clear, the best way to achieve them is not always as apparent. Organizations can take an important first step by learning best practices for creating and sustaining DEI culture.

Defining a DEI-Oriented Culture

A DEI culture emphasizes every letter in the term – the “E” and “I” as well as the “D.” Diversity, while just as important as the other two, is sometimes where companies start and then stop. They change hiring practices to get more people onboard of different gender identifications, races, ethnic origins, religions, socio-economic backgrounds and more. That’s an excellent first step, but it helps little to bring in a diverse group if a strong DEI culture is not in place.

A DEI culture means inclusion and equity deserve equal emphasis. Inclusion involves asking every individual or group to contribute to projects, goal setting, strategy, etc. This creates a safe work environment where everyone feels “part of the team” and collaboration and respect are highly valued. It’s also a place that does not tolerate prejudice and intolerance or any of the ways they manifest, such as racism or bullying.

Equity refers to the idea that everyone receives fair treatment and opportunities, as well as the promotion of social equality and progress while focusing on the removal of barriers that keep some groups from participating fully. Equity differs from equality in that it does not assume the experiences of everyone are the same.

Why Is DEI Important?

Some companies may launch a DEI initiative to comply with government regulations or because of pressure from shareholders to change company culture. However, there’s also a strong business case for implementing DEI.

For example, the Project Management Institute (PMI) notes in a recent survey that 88% of professionals believe diversity increases project team value. PMI also said project leaders associate DEI organizations with higher performance. On a similar note, a report from McKinsey & Company associated DEI with better financial performance. The report found that companies ranked highly for gender, racial and ethnic diversity stood a better chance of producing financial returns greater than the national industry median.

In a DEI culture, organizations achieve increased perceptions of fairness and justice among employees, greater levels of innovation and creativity, and a better understanding of customer needs.

Methods for Creating DEI Culture

A DEI strategy starts with an understanding of the business value of DEI, as well as the best practices for creating and maintaining a DEI culture. However, everything starts at the top. Executive leadership buy-in is critical to successful DEI implementation. The level of buy-in ideally involves incorporating DEI as part of daily conversations and decisions.

Once leadership is committed, they can create new groups or empower existing groups and departments within the company.

Diversity Councils. These councils include leaders from across the organization who together develop strategies that an organization can implement, serving as an advisory council to organizational leadership.

Employee Resource Groups. These voluntary groups started in the Civil Rights area, bringing together women, older workers, new hires or those with the same racial or ethnic origin. They provide an excellent resource of information and talent and increasingly focus on delivering better employee engagement and business results.

Human Resources. To promote DEI, the hiring process often needs substantial change. Companies should explore new talent pools rather than going back to the same sources for new hires, as well as diverse hiring panels who support DEI efforts and attract talented workers who immediately see the company’s commitment to DEI.

Some of the biggest steps in DEI happen naturally once organizations make a commitment and empower groups such as the three listed above. For example, once more diverse employees are hired, they will open the door to even more diverse candidates through their network of past employers, peers and academic institutions.

Organizations can also leverage new talent pipelines by partnering with organizations that support DEI efforts and focus on recruiting diverse talent.

What Does Winning Look Like with DEI?

Another important step in creating a DEI culture is establishing goals and metrics that give leadership a way to measure success (or the need to alter their current approach). Some of the key considerations in this area include the following. Companies can do so by integrating DEI efforts into overall strategic goals, use statistics to keep those in charge of DEI accountable and establishing targets and goals by using measurable statistics.

Another great way to hold your company accountable for its DEI efforts is to take DiversityInc’s annual Top 50 survey, which we analyze to create our Top 50 Companies for Diversity list each year.

As part of the survey, we assess companies with 750 or more full-time employees on workplace fairness, equity and inclusion initiatives and outcomes focused on leadership accountability, organizational programs and practices as well as human capital metrics. Our extensive, data-driven analysis is based on empirical data obtained through organizations completing and submitting the online survey and allows companies to advance their equity and inclusion strategy to improve hiring and retention, leadership accountability, talent programs, workplace practices, supplier diversity and philanthropy.

• Learn more about the Top 50 survey and request an invitation to complete to 2023 assessment.

Smith started out as an intern at INROADS in her senior year of high school and was most recently working as an executive marketing consultant for the organization before her move to CMO. 

Read through the Q&A to hear more about Smith’s experience with INROADS, the goals she wants to accomplish in her first year as CMO and more. 

DiversityInc: You started working at INROADS as an executive marketing consultant in Dec. 2021 and were recently promoted to chief marketing officer — what does this promotion mean to you?

Yolanda Smith: “This appointment brings me a strong sense of pride and accomplishment. It’s an outward-facing recognition of the contribution and value that I’ve brought to INROADS so far and a personal validation that I am still able to grow in my career. 

“In addition, I would say this appointment also means I have the awesome responsibility to be a part of continuing and shaping the legacy of INROADS and bringing the INROADS opportunity to a new generation of students and employers.” 

DI: You are also an INROADS alumna and bring 20 years of experience to your new role — can you talk about your previous experience with INROADS and how it helped prepare you for your career?

YS: “INROADS was truly my first introduction to business. My parents are educators, and for the most part, their friends and inner circle were mostly educators. I had very little knowledge of business and no role models in this area. 

“I started working with INROADS when I was a high school senior and had my first summer internship before stepping foot on a college campus as a student. INROADS and my sponsoring company’s supervisors were role models and really great teachers. They took the responsibility so seriously and they poured everything into me to build not only my skill set but also my confidence. 

“The INROADS opportunity allowed me to see for the first time and provide access to very successful people in business that looked like me. I ended up working for my enrolled sponsoring company for all four summers and even over holiday breaks. They really taught me to practice my craft, you are not done just because you have your degree, and that mindset has really guided my trajectory. 

“I continued my formal education past the undergraduate level to get my MBA, I switched from what I considered to be an exact science career into marketing, which is really anything but an exact science, and I’ve had all kinds of experiences since then. I’ve worked in traditional brand management, business-to-consumer, business-to-business, retail marketing, and I received what I jokingly refer to as my second MBA from being an entrepreneur for 15 years where you have to assume every role in the organization. All of these experiences collectively have positioned me to lead the marketing efforts and be a valuable part of the executive leadership team at INROADS.”

DI: In your first year as chief marketing officer, what are your goals for the organization?

YS: “In my first year, I want to continue to build on the work that I started as an executive marketing consultant. I’d like to build brand awareness. My goal, lofty or otherwise, is to make INROADS a household name. I will continue to focus on external-facing assets like our web presence and social media, but probably most importantly, INROADS has ambitious goals of wanting to impact 10,000 students a year and to expand our high school program, INROADS College Links, to 25 cities by the year 2025. So with that said, I will also play a broader strategic role in the organization in shaping how we reach these goals.”

DI: If you had one piece of advice you would give to interns, what would it be?

YS: “The advice I would give specifically to current or future INROADS interns is that it is a true privilege to be a part of this program. They may not see it today or right now, but I promise they will in the future. The training, mentorship and leadership development that you receive here is not taught in school, and likely not at home either. Embrace the process and understand that this is a journey. 

“In today’s age of fast turnaround where you can have groceries delivered to your home in an hour and shop online for just about anything and it’s at your doorstep faster than you could even go get it yourself, please understand that career building is not instantaneous. For most of us, this is a long game. You have to be willing to learn, study and perfect your craft.”

Miles, who is now Senior Consultant, SVP, Diverse Segments, Representation and Inclusion at Wells Fargo (No. 29 on DiversityInc’s 2022 Top 50 Companies for Diversity list), started her career in government as an auditor at the U.S. Government Accountability Office. She went on to serve as the Director of Diversity and Inclusion for the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services and led work for the first-ever subcommittee focused on diversity and inclusion in Congress.

Recently, Miles was honored with the Access to Capital award from the Minority Business Development Agency for her dedication to this work, which she said was an honor to be recognized for.

Miles added that the award provides a sense of pride for her firm, but more than that, she said “it’s an affirmation that Wells Fargo is really committed to bringing people in who are committed to the work.”

Miles’ Capitol Hill Career

During her time on Capitol Hill, Miles supported House Financial Services Chairwoman Maxine Waters. As one of her first assignments, she was responsible for requesting and compiling workforce diversity data from large banks. She later produced the first-ever, diversity and inclusion accountability report, and the findings of the report were discussed during a hearing.

“For Capitol Hill to put that emphasis there, I’m glad I was playing a role in building relationships with the industry so that we could make the real change,” she said. “You can’t just call it out and stop there. You’ve got to continue to go deeper and the only way to do that is to have conversations.”

Miles was introduced to Wells Fargo through these conversations. She said Waters “wagged her finger at Wells Fargo and still does,” which was one reason why Miles wanted to work there.

“When I made the decision to transition my career back out to the private sector, where else would I go? The place that people said needed the most help,” she said. “What I’ve found here at Wells Fargo is a group of people who really want to effect change. I found a group of people who want to do this work and I was called in to be a diversity and inclusion consultant.”

Miles’ Role at Wells Fargo

In her role at Wells Fargo, Miles has two major responsibilities. The first is managing strategic partnerships in the Black segment with the NAACP, the National Urban League and other organizations with broad reach into the Black community from an advocacy or social economic justice perspective.

She said she also consults on diversity and financial policy within the company on topics such as small business lending, the Community Reinvestment Act reform or talking with the mortgage team on increasing Black home ownership.

DEI Challenges in the Financial Sector

While Miles and others are doing their best to change the industry, she said there’s more work to be done, and the No. 1 challenge is the financial industry’s engagement with diverse-owned businesses.

“We need to be spending more dollars, investing more dollars, engaging more of our monetary as well as our resource investments with diverse-owned businesses, and I think that’s across the board,” she said. “The problem is we don’t have the relationships because relationships and resources are two things that are needed to advance diverse communities.”

Diverse-owned businesses often have resources, but they don’t have relationships, which is why diverse trade organizations are important “to be the voice of the industry” and to make recommendations. That’s also why legislation that was created and enacted during her time on Capitol Hill to increase access to capital, markets and technical assistance for minority enterprises is important.

Miles said she loves that she is “part of the solution” to building better relationships with diverse-owned businesses and in DEI at Wells Fargo.

“I love that I can introduce Wells Fargo to Black and other diverse talent. I love that I can introduce them to these diverse-owned firms who have already been in business and doing great work, it’s just that no one had given them an opportunity and a relationship with Wells,” she said. “That to me is the No. 1 challenge and it’s the No. 1 thing I work on, and they let me do that all day long.”

“I think that if we continue on this path, we’re going to be the firm we really want to be,” Miles added.

Miles’ Relationship with DiversityInc

Miles was first introduced to DiversityInc when Founder and Chairman Luke Visconti served as a witness at a full committee hearing on board diversity. She later met CEO Carolynn Johnson when she served as a witness at a hearing on diversity data and accountability.

“I have engaged DiversityInc in my prior role on Capitol Hill because of the expertise that the organization brings and the credibility of the data that you all create,” she said. “And then now inside Wells Fargo, I also get to engage the organization because Wells Fargo participates in the survey.”

In 2022, Wells Fargo ranked No. 1 on the list of Top Companies for LGBTQ Employees.

“We’re very excited about [being No. 1 on the list of Top Companies for LGBTQ Employees] and we continue to remain in the Top 50. The fact that we are one of the largest financial services firms to participate, I think that says a lot about our company,” she added.

In the latest installment of a series of articles dedicated to catching up with CDOs who have moved in recent years to discuss their experience, what the move has done for them, the work they’re doing and the advice they have for other aspiring or current CDOs, DiversityInc spoke with Adrienne Trimble, Vice President, Chief Diversity and Culture Officer at Sysco.

Interview with Trimble

DiversityInc: You worked at National Minority Supplier Diversity Council for a couple of years. Can you talk about that experience and what impact it had on your perspective on DEI work? What were some of the most important lessons you bring into working at a company like Sysco?

Adrienne Trimble: “That time at the National Minority Supplier Development Council was the highlight of my career. Being able to be a voice and advocate for minority businesses during a global pandemic when most of them were facing supply chain shortage disruption was a highlight. From a professional perspective, I learned just how important it is to really understand how you can help people [learn] where they are in terms of DEI, understanding where they are in their journey and how you can help bring them along. For example, at that time, I was working with a White House Administration that really didn’t distinguish between small businesses and minority owned businesses. Those of us who have been advocates and champions for disenfranchised or underutilized businesses understand that there are unique circumstances that impact them and how do you begin to level the playing field so that they can be able to perform at the same level as other companies. Understanding that and being able to articulate it in a way to get those who can influence policies and resources to be able to provide for them, that was probably the biggest learning point for me.”

DI: What sort of impact has the move to Sysco had on your career and how would you describe your time with the company thus far?

AT: “When I joined Sysco in 2021, I became the company’s first Chief Diversity Officer. As I mentioned, there was already some groundwork that had been laid. It gave me the opportunity to come in and build a strategy that would move the company forward. We were able to build a three-year DEI roadmap that we’re now operationalizing and in the process of implementing and executing. The impact I’ve been able to have just coming in has been incredible because it allowed us to understand the parts of the business that we needed to leverage DEI to make us a better business, to make us more competitive and make sure that we were hiring the right people.

“Since I joined, I have assumed responsibility for our culture, engagement and overall employee experience for the company. That’s been an incredible opportunity to really show how the work does tie to our purpose, which is to connect the world to share food and care for one another. We are embedding that in everything that we do in our DEI strategy is the foundation for that.”

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About six years ago, she had a manager who didn’t respect or appreciate her work. Fuselier recalls being passed over for much-earned promotions twice to lesser qualified individuals. She was prepared to quit. But everything changed when Fuselier got a new manager who she says “put the gas on her sponsorship and the trajectory of her career.” 

He recognized and acknowledged her contributions and supported her work publicly, even when she wasn’t in the room. Aside from work-related meetings, they consistently met one-on-one to discuss how he could help Fuselier achieve her career goals. 

“I didn’t have the type of stress that I was dealing with in my previous role,” she says. “I was seen as a partner and an equal. I was able to raise my voice and know that I was being heard and get the pay that I deserved.”

Women of color are facing a cement wall in the workplace. They are stressed and exhausted and facing a host of barriers including the one-two punch of racism and sexism, lack of representation and appreciation, pay inequality and increased microaggressions. Despite companies’ growing commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, women of color are less likely to be sponsored – a critical action that can unlock and hold open the door for them to succeed. 

What is Sponsorship?

With sponsorship, people with influence use their social capital to change how people view the person being sponsored, says Rosalind Chow, Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior and Theory at Carnegie Mellon University.

“We essentially are trying to engineer the social environment so that the protégée can be seen and more visible as a person who is worthy of notice, who deserves more opportunities and deserves more responsibilities. You’re essentially using your reputation to try and cover for your protege.” 

Research from Harvard Business Review found that Black managers are 65% more likely to progress to the next rung on the corporate ladder if they have a sponsor. When Black employees are sponsored, they are 60% less likely to quit within a year than peers who are not sponsored. 

“I know from firsthand experience on multiple occasions – sponsors are what shift your finances,” says Nneka Enurah, an advertising executive at Amazon Ads and founder of Celebrate & Elevate, an organization that provides career resources and coaching for women. 

“You need a person who can write a check. A person who can make a decision and it’s unchallenged and say – this is the person. This is the hire.”

Yet, not all Black women receive the sponsorship they need. Only 26% of Black women say they have equal access to sponsorship, compared with 32% of white women, according to research from LeanIn.org. Black women are also less likely than white women to receive support from sponsors and managers, including opportunities to showcase their work or manage people and projects. 

Benefits of Sponsorship

Mayka Rosales-Peterson, Senior Manager of Partner Marketing and Intelisys, a technology services distributor based in California has been in the tech industry for approximately 14 years. Rosales-Peterson says that while mentorship has helped her advance in her career, executive sponsorship has been the ‘cherry on top.’

“It’s that person in the room that says, I’m going to take you under my wing and I’m going to give you an opportunity because I know that there’s a gap and we need to do this,” she says. “They create roles intentionally. They give me the money that I deserve. As Black women, we can do everything in the book, but the key is having a sponsor. We need a sponsor to move the needle in our career.”

Having a sponsor ‘literally’ pays  – especially if he is a white man. Research from Payscale found that pay outcomes for women of color are more successful when they have a white male sponsor in their corner, as opposed to a person of color. 

“The problem is that they (people of color) don’t have as much social capital as often as white men,” says Chow. “There’s evidence that implies that when women engage in sponsorship, the sponsorship is not taken as seriously as men. The same is true of minorities as well.”

Even as the U.S. becomes more diverse, most senior positions are still held by white men. In 2021, only 13% of women of color had C-suite roles.  

“There’s an underrepresentation of women of color in the C-suite and board positions,” says Syreeta Williams, a Trust Solutions Director at PwC. “Having that sponsor – that voice at the table when that individual is not in the room and advocating on their behalf – this is what will be a game changer for women of color.”

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Starting, scaling and owning businesses is often difficult for people of color. Not only do minority business owners find it hard to obtain financing and receive less venture capital funding, but they are also often shut out of government contracts and have less business equity than their white counterparts. 

This is where the National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC) comes in. 

Founded in 1972, the NMSDC is the largest non-profit advocacy organization for minority business enterprises (MBEs). The organization certifies, advocates and develops MBEs by connecting them to corporate members or other MBEs to help them grow their businesses.

“Our end goal is to create generational wealth in systematically excluded communities of color through entrepreneurship and our services,” says Ying McGuire, CEO and President of the NMSDC.  

What is an MBE?

An MBE or diverse supplier is a business that is at least 51% owned, operated and managed by a member of a minority group. 

“It’s Black, Hispanic, Asian-Indian, Asian-Pacific and Native American – that’s the traditional definition,” says McGuire. “Two decades ago, we created something called a growth initiative that allows companies to drop the ownership as low as 25%.”

Today’s Business Solutions is one of the more than 15,000 MBEs the NMSDC has supported over its 50-year history. 

Priscilla Luna is president of the independent office supply provider founded by her late father, Robert Jimenez in 2003. Luna also serves as an ambassador for the Houston Minority Supplier Development Council (HMSDC), one of NMSDC’s 23 affiliates. 

“You can join committees and work hand-in-hand with the stakeholders of the companies that you’re targeting,” she says. “That allows them not only to get to know you and work with you but to also see your work ethic. You don’t have to do the hard sell – you’re just working together on similar goals. The committee aspect of working with HMSDC – that’s been really important for us developing the relationships we need.” 

MBE Certification 

The backbone of the NMSDC is its certification program, which is considered the gold standard for certifying minority-owned businesses in the United States. MBE certification legally recognizes a business as minority-owned.

Through the NMSDC’s 23 regional affiliates, the organization helps MBEs implement supplier diversity programs by sharing best practices, giving them access to private sector opportunities and government contracts. 

READ: Supplier Diversity: Metrics for Tracking Tier 2 Spend

“There are corporations who look for that certification and it helps you get through those gatekeepers,” says Luna. “There’s always going to be different barriers to get to the right contact and get invited to those RFPs (request for proposals). If you can check that off the list immediately when you meet somebody, then that opens you up to the next level.”

Over two-thirds of MBEs in the NMSDC’s network report a business increase due to partnerships with its more than 1,500 corporate members. The NMSDC says certified MBEs generate nearly $400 billion in total annual economic output.

Supplier Diversity Spend 

A 2021 economic study from the Michigan Minority Supplier Development Council says it will take 333 years for MBEs to achieve revenue equity with white-owned businesses in the United States. If corporations increase their commitments to minority-owned businesses, the gap could be closed in 15 years. 

“Small businesses, we’re all known for being go-getters, flexible, more agile and faster in making decisions,” says Luna. “It makes sense that you would reach out to who’s going to be able to provide the best service, not just who you’ve been utilizing forever.” 

According to the Billion Dollar Roundtable, only 28 Fortune 500 companies have annual supply-chain diversity expenditures of $1 billion or more.

“We’ve been asking corporations to report spend by race and by ethnicity because there are disparities within the minority groups,” says McGuire. “Spend transparency is a very fundamental step to accountability and accountability is one of the key ingredients to drive the progress we want to see.”

Research has shown that increased supplier diversity can play a significant role in closing the racial wealth divide. 

“Why do you want to close the racial wealth gap? Why is it good for everybody? It’s because that means a trillion dollars in additional GDP,” she says. “This isn’t just for the Black and brown community. It’s good for everybody.”

WEBINAR: Driving Supplier Diversity Through Cross-Industry Collaboration – September 27 

Advocacy Agenda

As the NMSDC celebrates its 50th anniversary, McGuire remains concentrated on the organization’s advocacy agenda – accountability, access to capital, contacts and procurement opportunities and a goal to reach $1 trillion in annual MBE revenue. 

“We’ve had a 22% increase in total revenue for MBEs during the pandemic, a 64% increase in total US jobs and a 126% increase in wages earned by U.S. employees at MBEs,” she says. “The data shows that in the last 50 years the model worked. Looking forward, we cannot wait for another 50 years to cover the same distance.”

Achieving Federal MBE designation is also at the top of the NMSDCs agenda. The NMSDC, the Small Business Administration and state and local governments are among the places businesses can apply for MBE certification.

“We have private sector (certification), we have with some state local governments, but not in the federal procurement system,” McGuire says. “We believe if there’s no designation, you cannot set a goal. If you cannot set a goal, you cannot measure it. If you cannot measure it, there’s no accountability. If you don’t have accountability, you’re not going to see progress.”

In the past couple of years, she says the NMSDC has seen a tremendous increase in interest from corporations. McGuire points to a recent meeting of supplier diversity leaders where she asked them to identify if they or their companies were new to business diversity. More than half of the people raised their hands.  

“Our role is critical because these are newer folks coming into the space,” she says. “We have a huge responsibility to give them the tools, knowledge and best practices to show them how to do this and do it faster. It’s a very exciting time for us as an organization to make an impact.”

In the book Anti-Racist Leadership: How to Transform Corporate Culture in a Race-Conscious World, White argues there are deep-rooted reasons behind corporate America’s failure to be fully inclusive. He co-wrote the book with his daughter Krista White during the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement. 

“One of the big topics of discussion over the last couple of years is the issue around structural and systemic racism,” White says. “The way to combat that, to build better companies is to take a hard look at the systems that operate inside a company. What are the structures and what are the key processes? And where might those systems, structures and processes have places that are biased against someone or specific groups inside our companies and work to reverse those?”

What is an Inclusive Workplace Culture? 

An inclusive workplace culture is one where people of different backgrounds and perspectives are valued. White says inclusive leadership has to be built into a company’s DNA. He says inclusive leadership begins with middle management. 

“You need to deliver to that group the right set of tools, training and incentives to make sure that you can embed and build more sustainable activities around the work of anti-racist leadership and inclusive leadership inside the company,” he says.

White adds that empathy is a key part of the journey. 

“We looked at my career and the career of some of the others that we interviewed,” he says. “The common through-line was, the capacity to try to understand the other person’s point of view and translate that into some actions. The capability around empathy is going to be a critical one for leaders in the future.”

White says while every leader may not be empathetic, empathy is something that can be learned. 

“One of the ways to do that is to think about our own stories, to listen to other people’s stories, and try to synthesize those in ways that allow you to build a more cohesive culture inside of companies,” he says. 

CEO-Driven Change 

White says CEOs need to do more than say they support diversity, they have to live it. One of the first things he did as head of Jamba Juice was audit the company’s culture to see what changes needed to be made. White says feedback from all of the key stakeholders is important, but it’s ultimately the leader’s job to determine the company’s direction and stay true to the plan.

“The CEO has to oversee this work, she can’t delegate the work to someone else,” he says. “The anti-racist leadership work is connected to culture and you’d never delegated the culture of your company. Therefore you have to be involved.”

White says the CEO is responsible for setting the company’s agenda and communicating how this relates to its strategy and values. But he says that doesn’t eliminate the need for a Chief Diversity Officer. 

“When there is a Chief Diversity Officer in place, that Chief Diversity Officer reports to the CEO,” he says. “That’s one of the things I think is critically important and even if it’s not a direct report to the CEO. That role needs to have appropriate scope and responsibility and be fully integrated into the work of the company across functions.”

Research shows that diverse companies perform better. When White started at Jamba Juice, he notes that 80% of the company’s management was white men. By the end of his first year, half of Jamba Juice’s management was made of women and people of color. Within three years, Jamba Juice’s market cap jumped 500%. 

How to Begin  

Don’t expect to see changes overnight. Transforming to an inclusive culture may require several years of effort. White says the transformation begins with seven steps:

1. Actively listen and learn: Set up roundtable discussions or town halls to take the pulse of your organization. Successful meetings will focus more on listening rather than talking. Allow employees to ask questions. 
2. Enlist and align across the senior leadership team: Get commitment from people at various levels of the organization, especially top management. Alignment typically starts with making the business case for DEI.  
3. Audit the culture: Conduct internal or external surveys managed by third-party auditors to determine if your corporate culture is working for stakeholders. With the data, determine if there are systemic ways in which some people are being held back. 
4. Document what you are doing now: Assess what programs and practices are working and what needs to improve. Don’t try to interpret the findings of the audit – compile and present the facts like how many LGBTQ people you have in your organization or how many white people are in your management ranks. 
5. Establish benchmarks: Measure progress quarterly and annually against your goals and how they compare with industry competitors. Set specific goals like how many women or people of color you want in senior management and by when.
6. Build action-learning teams or task forces: Create small groups to work on problems in the organization and come up with solutions. The teams should work closely with the CEO and other leaders to support the effort.
7. Develop an action plan: Factor in everything you’ve learned and draw up a blueprint with how the changes will be incorporated over the next few years. Examples of goals can include increasing supplier diversity, creating a comprehensive DEI training program or forming employee resource groups for underrepresented employees. 

“The great place to start is to examine where you are and get clear around that,” White says. “Then the second big step is to determine what your ambition is with this work and how it fits into your strategy and values in your company. Then get started and take action.”

Grab your copy of the book from James D. White today!

President and CEO Chris Nassetta has served in his position with the company since 2007 and has played a large role in the hotel giant’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and environmental, social and governance (ESG).

Read through DiversityInc’s Q&A with Nassetta to learn more about his start in the business and rise to CEO, how he balances his work family with his wife and daughters and how Hilton stays focused on its diversity efforts.

1. You have an interesting story as to how you got your start in the hotel business. Can you talk a little bit about your start in the engineering department of a hotel, what that entailed and where you went from there in your career?

“That’s right – in high school, I needed to make some money over the summer, so my father suggested I get a job in a hotel. I started at the Capitol Holiday Inn on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. I was young and the lowest-level person in the engineering department, so I got all the jobs that nobody else wanted to do – including plunging a lot of toilets! That job really opened my eyes to how a hotel operates and all that the hospitality industry could offer – even though it took me a while to get back to hospitality after I started my career in real estate.

“After I graduated from the University of Virginia, I spent several years in real estate and private equity before getting back to lodging and hospitality. My business partner and I were recruited to run Host Marriott – now Host Hotels & Resorts. I joined Host and was CEO when Blackstone took Hilton private. After spending many years on the ownership side of the business with Host, it was an incredible opportunity to come to Hilton.”

2. You were formerly the CEO of Host Hotels & Resorts and became CEO of Hilton shortly after it was acquired by Blackstone in 2007, which happened all right before the Great Recession. What was the experience of going from Host to Hilton like, especially during that time?

“It really was a daunting task coming to such a historic company. Hilton truly shaped the industry as we know it today, from creating the first centralized reservation system to pioneering destinations and inventing iconic food and beverage offerings like the pina colada. The company had an incredible legacy, but it had lost its way. I joined Hilton because I believed in the power of its legacy and saw a great opportunity to help the company get back on track.

“The first few years were especially challenging as our team focused on transforming both the business and the culture, amidst a financial crisis – but it was critical to get us where we needed to be. I had experience working through many crises, though, even before the Great Recession. Fortunately, we had a great partner in Blackstone as we navigated an especially difficult market.”

3. Hilton was struggling during that time, and you really turned it around – what was that process like? What steps did you take to make Hilton what it is today?

“It was a long process, but we knew we had to get everyone around the world aligned on our business strategy and the culture we were building together. I’ve always believed that you can have the greatest strategy in the world, but without the culture to support it, you cannot get the job done.

“A major part of Hilton’s transformation was re-grounding ourselves in our founding purpose – to fill the earth with the light and warmth of hospitality. Conrad Hilton founded the company on the belief that travel and our hospitality could make the world a better place, and that principle motivates our teams every day as we serve guests around the world.

“We’ve been very successful in the last decade and a half – pandemic notwithstanding – and we continue to be laser-focused on executing our winning business strategy and creating the best experiences for our Team Members and guests around the world.”

4. A lot of getting Hilton on the right track had to do with changing the corporate culture. How did you decide what a good corporate culture should look like and what it meant for Hilton? And how did moving Hilton’s headquarters from Beverly Hills to McLean, Virginia, play into this corporate culture?

“When I joined the company, it was not performing the way it could be in large part because it lost sight of its dynamic, entrepreneurial culture. The leadership team had to paint a picture of the future for our teams and show that we were on a path to building a bigger and better company. We had to get back to the basics and remind ourselves what made Hilton so iconic in the first place – our hospitality.

“The decision to move Hilton’s headquarters away from Beverly Hills was part of the transformation effort – it was clear that we needed a fresh start. Northern Virginia was appealing for many reasons. Running a global organization based on the East Coast allowed for more alignment and engagement with our teams in time zones all over the world.

“Today, we operate corporate offices around the world, including London, Singapore, Memphis, and Dallas, in addition to our full-time remote Team Members, giving us the opportunity to recruit from an even wider, more culturally and generationally diverse candidate pool.”

5. Hilton was No. 1 on our 2021 Top 50 list of diverse employers and ascended into the Hall of Fame this year. How and when did you realize diversity, equity and inclusion were a big part of your corporate culture and how do you maintain focus on DEI?

“Hilton was founded on the belief that travel could bring people together to celebrate different cultures and experiences, so inclusivity has always been a part of our company’s DNA. From a business perspective, that foundation of inclusivity helps us better serve our incredibly diverse customer base so we can deliver returns for our owners and investors. Everything we do from a DEI perspective is anchored on listening and learning from our Team Members’ unique perspectives, along with those of our guests, owners, suppliers and partners to create better experiences for everyone.

“Around the world, we have hundreds of thousands of Team Members representing more than 170 nationalities, speaking over 40 languages, and spanning five generations – and we’re committed to creating the best, most inclusive home away from home for each and every one of them. We continue to recruit and hire the best and brightest talent that represents the communities we serve, develop that talent into leaders across the company, and encourage and empower all of our Team Members to share their perspectives at every opportunity. And we take their feedback to heart – with concrete goals designed to help our Team Members to thrive – from ongoing education opportunities to mental wellness programs to best-in-class parental leave.

“We’re also committed to creating more opportunities for women, people of color, LGBTQIA+, disabled individuals and veterans through our supplier diversity program and work with our ownership community. And, we have been able to have such a huge impact because we partner with organizations that share our goals and are deeply invested in supporting these efforts.

“I’m extremely proud of the progress we’ve made, and recognition like our No. 1 ranking with DiversityInc, but we also know that the work is never done – and the past two years have especially served as a reminder of that. Through all the uncertainty we’ve faced, we have remained committed to the people and communities we serve, even expanding our work and deepening our goals that guide us in this commitment. Our hospitality is an unstoppable force for good, and will continue to be for years to come.”

6. In the past, I’ve heard you refer to Hilton as a family and you also have a family of your own. How do you balance your work family and your wife and daughters?

“I am incredibly grateful for my amazing wife and daughters – they make it possible for me to do what I do. I’ve always been an early riser, whether I’m home or traveling, which gives me a couple of extra hours to dedicate to both my Hilton family and my own. In a typical year, I’m on the road about 80% of the time, so when I am local, I prioritize spending time with my family. I make sure to get home at least two nights during the week to eat dinner with my family and love to cook for family and friends on the weekend. And no matter where I am in the world, I am religious about clearing my inbox of work emails and catching up on my family’s group chat before I go to sleep.”

7. Were there any DEI lessons you learned early on during your career that has carried through to your role as CEO and led Hilton to be a top employer for diversity?

“I learned early on that you can’t surround yourself with people with the same background or point of view as you. You have to build a team around you that challenges you and brings their unique skills and life experiences to the table – and you have to act on what you hear and learn. That diversity of thought, coupled with our bias towards action is really important at Hilton and helps us better serve all our stakeholders. It’s also helped us build this really inclusive culture that enables our Team Members to bring their authentic selves to work each day – because they feel supported and know that they have a meaningful impact on the business.”

8. What does your partnership with DiversityInc mean to your company and your DEI strategies?

“Our Team Members are the driving force for everything we do – and that includes helping us create the best and most inclusive culture we can. Partnering with organizations like DiversityInc not only helps us learn and grow, but also helps to hold us accountable as they share incredibly valuable data and feedback. We are so proud of the meaningful work we have done over the past decade, and extremely honored to have received recognition for our efforts. Still, we know there is still more work to be done to make Hilton – and the industry – truly inclusive for everyone. I am so appreciative of our Team Members and partners like DiversityInc on this journey and look forward to our bright future together.”

9. ESG is another big part of corporate culture and is something we report on a lot at DiversityInc. What does your ESG strategy look like and how does it fit in with your DEI efforts and overall corporate culture?

“Our ESG strategy – Travel with Purpose – is an incredibly important part of our business. Now more than ever, it is critical that we focus on protecting the places where we live, work, and travel, and creating truly inclusive growth in our communities.

“We’re also evolving our Travel with Purpose Goals to deepen our commitments to our Team Members, our communities, and our planet – while ensuring alignment with the latest climate science and best practices.

“Of course, DEI plays a big role in our Travel with Purpose strategy. Hilton is an engine of opportunity and a beacon of hope – and we will continue to prioritize career growth opportunities (especially for underrepresented groups), community impact, and responsible and inclusive conduct across our business. I am so proud of all that our team has accomplished, and even prouder of the course we are charting for the future.”