WSIA DIVERSITY FOUNDATION

The WSIA Diversity Foundation, founded in 2020, is a charitable organization whose purpose is to promote diversity in the areas of race, gender, sexual orientation and disability and to influence meaningful progress in the diversity of the wholesale, specialty and surplus lines insurance industry and its talent pipeline. The foundation strives to:

• Promote diversity and inclusion with the larger, unified voice of the entire insurance industry

• Focus energy and purpose to influence meaningful progress in the diversity of the insurance industry and its talent pipeline

• Coordinate programs to promote diversity, develop inclusive workplace cultures, and attract diverse talent to the insurance industry

• Foster synergy among the diversity programs and initiatives of a large number of industry participants and enhance WSIA’s existing talent development initiatives

Since its inception, the WSIA Diversity Foundation has received $2.9 million in pledges from member firms, individuals and the WSIA Education Foundation.

The WSIA Diversity Foundation’s work is currently focused on these initiatives:

STUDENT-FOCUSED INITIATIVES

• Strategic plan development to guide the Foundation’s work and prioritize outreach to African American students for the short-term

• Collaboration with Gamma Iota Sigma (GIS) to develop the Industry Diversity Coalition to coordinate industry DE&I initiatives

• Participation in GIS events and conferences, with WSIA and the WSIA Education Foundation, to interact with students interested in the industry

• Developing the Diversity Speaker’s Bureau, which began making campus visits and virtual presentations at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and at other universities with diverse student populations in major metropolitan areas

• Launching a new internship/scholarship program specifically for diverse students who might not be insurance majors in partnership with WSIA member firms

• Welcoming a new Director of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion to the WSIA team who provides staff leadership to the WSIA Diversity Foundation Board of Directors and serve as a consultative change agent and resource for the association and members to achieve DE&I objectives

MEMBER-FOCUSED INITIATIVES

• Blue Ocean Brain Microlearning Platform | This online platform delivers customized microlearning content to all members each month that enhances DE&I culture and provides actionable tools to implement and share

• Inclusion Themes and Resources | Inclusion articles, podcasts and videos themed around cultural awareness themes are updated monthly to provide ally tips and tools

• Cultural Awareness Social Media Banners | WSIA and WSIA Diversity Foundation branded cultural awareness LinkedIn and Twitter banners are available for download and tie to the monthly cultural awareness themes

• CEO Action | WSIA has become a CEO Action signatory joining a coalition of more than 2.000 CEOs from more than 80 industries in a pledge to advance diversity and inclusion in the workplace and the industry

• WSIA DE&I Practitioners Forum | A quarterly one-hour forum for DE&I professionals to share ideas and collaborate on best practices in an interactive setting