Mark Smalls
Senior Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer and Chair of the JAMS Diversity Committee
JAMS
Headquarters: Irvine, California
Industry: Alternative Dispute Resolution
CEO: Christopher K. Poole
Website: www.jamsadr.com
His Credentials: MBA, marketing, Columbia University (a Johnson & Johnson Leadership Fellow); BA, management, Duke University
His Philosophy: To reap the full benefits of DEI, it must be imbedded in the culture of an organization. That includes education, candid conversation, goals, metrics, training, rewards and recognition.
Over this past year, JAMS laid the groundwork to make lasting change in our organization and in the ADR industry. We created the JAMS Neutral Utilization Report, a tool that tells clients how often they choose diverse neutrals and conducted an internal survey of our 400-plus neutrals to encourage them to self-identify as to specific demographics so clients gain a more comprehensive view of our panel.
The company established the JAMS Diversity Fellowship Program to provide training, mentorship, sponsorship, and networking opportunities for up-and-coming diverse ADR professionals. We also created an external newsletter called DE&I Pulse, which provides a comprehensive update regarding our efforts to combat discrimination in all forms and the progress we are making in promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion at JAMS and within the legal industry.
JAMS created a tracking tool that records how often clients use our diversity and inclusion clause, which was designed to encourage the appointment of diverse neutrals, for arbitration agreements.
Finally, we established six employee resource groups for diverse associates: Allhands@JAMS, Latinx@JAMS, Black@JAMS, AAPI@JAMS, Out@JAMS, and Body Positive@JAMS.
