Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion: Working Groups
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By Naomi Mercer, SVP, Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion American Bankers Association n the past six months, the American Bankers Association (AmBA) has formed three groups around diversity, equity, and inclusion to foster bankers’ discussions and create opportunities for collaboration.
The first group, the AmBA Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Advisory Group provides input to guide ABA staff on programming and advocacy efforts while serving as a major resource for bankers’ DEI needs. The group’s mission includes developing new DEI opportunities and expanding existing programs that highlight banking as a career of choice. The Advisory Group helps create and execute initiatives that showcase the industry’s diverse and dynamic career opportunities and commitment to supporting equitable banking solutions. They advise AmBA on recruiting and retaining diverse talent and expanding succession planning resources. The advisory group also complements and reinforces the emerging leader/women’s leadership programming developed by AmBA and state banking associations. This group is made up of seventeen bankers drawn from different asset-sized banks, a cross-section of geographic locations, and varying positions within their banks though all having a strong interest in and/or responsibilities for diversity, equity, and inclusion. The bankers in the Advisory Group represent a number of identity factors, including, but not limited to different races/ethnic groups and genders. They meet on a quarterly basis and members serve a two-year term. Naomi Mercer is the staff liaison for the Advisory Group. At the most recent Advisory Group meeting, the members discussed AmBA’s response to the current civic activities around
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The Arkansas Banker n Fall 2020
police brutality and racial inequalities more broadly as well as their own banks’ responses. Other topics included internal and external communications regarding current events, the pros and cons of in-house or outside consultants to lead facilitated “critical conversations,” ways to engage their communities, and the need for online assessment tools to pair with self-reflection exercises that foster individual development on DEI topics. While forming the Advisory Group, AmBA staff realized that a two-pronged approach was indicated. AmBA had identified a dearth in policy input on DEI subjects from organizations with more robust DEI programs. The AmBA Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Peer Working Group is a forum for chief diversity officers and other senior diversity practitioners at midsize and larger banks with established diversity and inclusion programs. The Peer Working Group provides a forum for bankers to discuss and share current trends, challenges, and leading practices. They also offer feedback on DEI policy and advocacy efforts and provide input on AmBA resources related to diversity and inclusion. Beginning in February of this year, the Peer Working Group meets on a near-monthly basis. The staff liaison is AmBA policy attorney, Diana Banks. Recent Peer Working Group meetings have focused on pivoting focus from recruiting and workforce issues to social justice issues, particularly the banking industry’s response to the Black Lives Matter Movement and racial disparities in income equality. Other topics of discussion included policies requiring masks inside bank branches for health and safety issues and the potential racial profiling implications, community outreach and engagement, and the latest developments in legislation regarding DEI and banks.
