Wayne Ford
Community Advocate

Broadlawns Medical Center
Headquarters: Des Moines, IA
Business: Health Care
Website: www.broadlawns.org

Broadlawns Medical Center serves the most diverse patient population in Iowa—in a given week, more than forty languages may be spoken. In order to relate to such a diverse patient population and cultivate familiarity, understanding, and cultural sensitivity, building a diverse team is vital.

In 2018, the Center established the Broadlawns Local program, which addresses the social determinants of health and the underlying needs of the community. Social determinants of health include access to education, economic stability/employment, access to health care, neighborhood, and social support. Collectively, these social determinants of health have a greater influence on an individual’s overall health and wellness than their genetic code. Some of the Broadlawns Local initiatives that have been implemented include:

• A fresh produce stand and blood pressure screenings
• Freestanding libraries with books for adults and children at clinic entrances; participation in the KidsFirst reading program
• Complimentary health workshops (smoking cessation, diabetes management, healthy aging, breastfeeding and mommy matters, pain management, etc.)
• Baby boxes/baby bags with care essentials and car seats for new mothers and babies
• Walk and Talk with a Doc: a weekly one-mile walk with physicians
• Free clinics offering wellness visits and immunizations for those without access to insurance and/or with transportation considerations
• Participation in community health fairs with blood pressure, depression, diabetic foot, vision, diabetes, bone density, and dental screenings

One of Broadlawns’ most noteworthy initiatives addressing diversity and inclusion has been the implementation of TECH and TEACH. As community advocate for Broadlawns, Wayne Ford helped initiate the TECH and TEACH job training programs aimed at people who have historically faced barriers to employment. Since piloting the job training programs (Training and Education for a Career in Healthcare) for high school seniors and adults in November of 2016, 66 individuals have completed the training, which includes earning a CNA certification. Seventy-five percent of these individuals are now employed at Broadlawns Medical Center.

In 2018, the TEACH program was established as a designated apprenticeship program for the State of Iowa. Conversations are ongoing with the Iowa Workforce Development staff to emulate this program at other medical centers throughout the state.

Patrick T. Quinn
Managing Partner

Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft LLP
Headquarters: New York, NY
Business: Legal Services
Website: www.cadwalader.com

Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft is is committed to supporting a richly diverse and truly inclusive environment. Established in 1792, Cadwalader is the oldest Big Law firm, with nearly 400 attorneys representing the world’s leading financial institutions, corporations, and funds. The firm believes that its continued success is directly tied to its ability to attract, retain, and promote the very best talent from all backgrounds, and has established numerous programs to do just that.

Cadwalader’s talent management programs are designed to help diverse and women attorneys at each level—junior, mid-level, and senior—navigate the firm successfully and understand the unwritten rules of success. The goal is to provide career development assistance and develop tomorrow’s leaders. All programs are taught by senior partners, including Managing Partner Pat Quinn. Some examples include:

The Sponsorship Program (Senior-Level): The Sponsorship Program is a nomination-based program for high-performing diverse and women associates and special counsel with at least six years of experience. Through this program, the protégés are assigned senior partners to serve as their sponsor for at least one year. Since the 2013 program launch, ten protégés have been promoted to partner and eleven have been promoted to special counsel. The Sponsorship Program was recognized as a “Best Practice” in the 2016 New York City Bar Diversity Benchmarking Report.

Business Development Boot Camp (Mid-Level): Business Development Boot Camp is designed to teach junior to mid-level women associates business development skills through a series of workshops that culminates with a mock pitch presentation.

Basic Training (Junior- Level): The Career Basic Training Program provides additional professional development skills, such as “Being an Indispensable Junior Associate” and “Networking 101” for diverse second-year associates.

Cadwalader also has a comprehensive program for recruiting diverse summer associates, which includes reaching out to career services offices at law schools and diverse law student organizations. In 2018, the firm hosted an open house for diverse law students, as well as early on-campus callback interviews for diverse applicants. As a result of these efforts, the summer associate class was 77 percent diverse.

In 2018, Cadwalader’s Women’s Leadership Initiative partnered with clients to host its Second Annual Girls in Finance Program for high school students. This “pipeline” program educates young women regarding basic finance and investment concepts and introduces them to women finance professionals, with the goal of encouraging girls to pursue careers in finance (law or business).

With its comprehensive approach to fostering inclusion and nurturing diverse talent at every level, Cadwalader is creating opportunities across the firm.

Monica L. Bankston
Chief Diversity Officer

Corning Incorporated
Headquarters: Corning, NY
Business: Technology
Website: www.corning.com

Corning succeeds through sustained investment in RD&E, a unique combination of material and process innovation, deep trust-based relationships with customers who are global leaders in their industries, and the world-class talent of its diverse workforce.

“We depend on diversity of ideas, experiences, and perspectives to develop solutions to tough problems, identify opportunities for growth, and unleash new capabilities that make a positive difference in the world,” says Wendell P. Weeks, Corning’s chairman and chief executive officer.

Throughout Corning’s history, women have played a significant role in helping develop the life-changing innovations that have built the company’s legacy. The UP2 Initiative is a catalyst to help build on that legacy and develop the next generation of women leaders at Corning.

Through UP2, the top 200 women of the company each mentor at least two other women, who in turn coach two other women, and so on, creating a powerful multiplier effect. A global initiative, UP2 mentors share lessons learned with women colleagues around the world through one-on-one communication, conferences, networking events, and online tools such as an internal website and a dedicated group on the Blue Line, Corning’s internal discussion platform.

In 2018, Corning marked the 50th anniversary of its formal Diversity & Inclusion initiative with a twoday conference and celebration. Senior leadership joined hundreds of employees for the occasion, which was a significant milestone in its corporate history. Corning’s 16 Employee Resource Groups expanded globally, increasing the total number of chapters to 50 worldwide. The Diversity in Leadership initiative continued to increase diverse representation among company leaders.

In 2019, led by Chief Diversity Officer Monica Bankston, Corning will focus on four D&I objectives:

1. Ensure alignment with Corning’s business strategy and future needs
2. Meet the challenges of emerging dimensions of diversity
3. Promote an inclusive work environment
4. Increase Corning’s Diversity & Inclusion brand reputation

Each objective has a set of well defined priorities, action items, tactics, and measures. Corning focuses on identifying diverse emerging talent and creating “stretch opportunities” that will help them grow into tomorrow’s business leaders.

The company is also working to achieve 100 percent pay parity for employees. Having achieved parity in the United States in 2017, Corning is using the same approach to close pay gaps for its global workforce.

Annie Holmes
Chief Equity Officer

Council of Chief State School Officers
Headquarters: Washington, DC
Business: Education Management
Website: www.ccsso.org

To fully support state members in the areas of diversity, equity, and inclusion, the Council of Chief State School Officers understands that it must first focus on internal goals in these areas.

The most compelling accomplishment for CCSSO in 2018 was the establishment of the Equity Office with the hiring of the Council’s first chief equity officer. Other notable achievements include the following:

• The launch of Aligning Equity for Impact: A 2-year Equity Plan, led by Chief Equity Officer Annie Holmes, to drive the work of the strategic plan through an equity lens by identifying areas for implementation of equity initiatives and strengthening previously implemented work
• A climate survey, which provided baseline data that is being used to examine staff programs and measure organization climate for employees
• The development of internal definitions for diversity, equity, and inclusion as they relate to the organization’s stated mission, vision, and strategic plan
• The “Aligning Equity for Impact: 2-year Equity Plan” developed by the chief equity officer has three pillars: improving organizational climate for diversity, equity and inclusion; supporting state education agencies; and cultivating relationships with partners in the educational equity field. Within each pillar, there are several objectives for 2019; these include more training for staff, updating policies and procedures by applying an equity lens, seeking joint grant funding with partners, and creating a scorecard state education agencies can use to improve their organizations and educational action for students

The organization’s new chief equity officer, Annie Holmes, oversees all internal diversity, equity, and initiatives and strategies; leads the Aligning Equity for Impact initiative; and supports state equity initiatives. Holmes has also commissioned an equity committee to continue to drive internal work with an inclusive voice of diverse staff driving change.

Because CCSSO is a nonprofit organization, its greatest challenge to achieving diversity, equity, and inclusion objectives is funding. Although there has been a great deal of enthusiasm from external partners and members regarding CCSSO’s strategic direction, and staff members are very engaged in the work, limited funding restricts the true impact the Council can make. Chief Equity Officer Holmes has been able to secure some funding to support the work and will continue to identify financial support for the work.

Lynnette D. Espy-Williams
Member and Chief Diversity Officer

Cozen O’Connor
Headquarters: Philadelphia, PA
Business: Legal Services
Website: www.cozen.com

“Cozen O’Connor does not need convincing—as a firm and as individuals, we recognize the moral and business imperatives to building a much more diverse legal workforce. Cozen O’Connor is now one of a handful of Am Law-ranked firms with a full-time partner-level chief diversity officer, as well as a shareholder-led Women’s Initiative— both of which have budgets commensurate with the importance of their missions,” says Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Michael J. Heller. “These efforts are already reaping rewards. Cozen O’Connor is making notable progress with attracting, retaining, and advancing female and minority attorneys. Of course, we still have a long way to go. Moving forward, we are committed to prioritizing diversity when it comes to bringing in new attorneys, divvying up assignments and opportunities, and promoting people to positions of authority within the firm.”

In 2018, Cozen O’Connor hired the firm’s first diversity data analyst to track diversity metrics, analyze data, report statistics, and develop a data-driven affirmative action plan. The practice also operated a new 1L Diversity Fellowship for first-year law students from underrepresented groups, increased the resources available to the firm’s attorney resource groups, and added an LGBTQ staff resource group.

The firm also appointed its first chief diversity officer, Lynnette D. Espy-Williams. She has set a number of ambitious goals for 2019, including these:

• Host a firm-wide Diverse Attorney Retreat in Philadelphia in February. All self-identified diverse attorneys, Diversity Committee members, and firm management will convene for a two-day conference to facilitate dialogue and reinforce the importance of diversity and inclusion.
• Develop a formalized mentoring and training program that will serve the firm’s diverse attorneys, since diverse attorneys oftentimes find it difficult to independently identify a sponsor and/or mentor.
• Implement the Mansfield Rule, which requires that 30 percent of candidates for leadership roles, equity partner promotion, or senior lateral positions be women or minorities. This serves the broader goal of ensuring that significantly more leadership and shareholder positions are held by diverse attorneys.
• Explore development of a diverse supplier program to encourage the hiring of businesses owned and operated by women, minorities, LGBTQ, veterans, and disabled persons.

Satra Sampson-Arokium
Director–Diversity & Inclusion

Dechert LLP
Headquarters: Philadelphia, PA & New York, NY
Business: Legal Services
Website: www.dechert.com

With 27 Dechert offices worldwide, diversity and inclusion are core components of the firm’s identity, and how it attracts, recruits, and develops people. As an integral part of the firm’s culture and business strategy, D&I shapes personal commitments and guiding principles.

Dechert strives to develop and integrate diversity goals and strategies into all business processes and practices, while building a better, stronger firm. Some recent accomplishments include:

• The announcement of Dechert’s membership in the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity; the firm pledged to “use all means available to realize a truly diverse profession”
• The design and launch of a diversity dashboard that helps leaders see where things are working effectively, and where more attention is needed
• The launch of the Diversity Champions award, recognizing those who have played the biggest role in supporting a diverse and inclusive culture
• The rollout of inclusive leadership training at the 2018 Partner Retreat.

Dechert continuously tracks and analyzes diversity data to ensure parity and to remedy any inequities across gender. Some important strategies in this area include:

• Application of the Mansfield Rule 2.0 measures whether law firms have affirmatively considered women, LGBTQ+ and minority lawyers (at least 30% of the candidate pool) for promotions, senior-level hiring, and significant leadership roles in the firm
• Inclusive Leadership Training for partners and managers, occurring every six weeks
• Monthly Diversity Dashboard reporting
• Partner Leadership Program– customized leadership development engagements for partners focused on collaboration, communication, effectiveness, leadership challenges, and best opportunities for meaningful growth

Satra Sampson-Arokium, Dechert’s director of diversity and inclusion, leads the firm’s Diversity & Inclusion Plan and Professional Development Initiative. She is tackling two of Dechert’s greatest challenges:

• Due to intense competition for diverse legal talent, Dechert’s most significant challenge is to retain its best attorneys. Besides other large, top-tier firms, Dechert competes with other participants in the legal industry (e.g., federal and state governments, and corporate law departments), for top diverse talent.
• In keeping with its Diversity & Inclusion Plan and Professional Development Initiative, Dechert is continuing to build a culture of open communication and transparency about career development and related feedback and advice. The firm is also strengthening ties with its Talent Development and Practice Group Management teams to develop specific tools and training that will help attorneys succeed.

April Kelly-Drummond
Head of Diversity, Equality, Inclusion & Multicultural Engagement

Denny’s Corporation
Headquarters: Spartanburg, SC
Business: Food and Beverage
Website: www.dennys.com

Denny’s believes equality is not a policy, it is a value. Through a variety of programs, the company supports key causes, including requiring a diverse slate of candidates for all staffing, metric- and goal-driven succession planning at every level—from busser to boardroom, identifying and developing high-potential talent, and maintaining a robust mentorship program.

Diversity/Inclusion is intertwined within the company’s overarching strategy to ensure that the work is implemented from the top down. This ensures that leadership takes ownership of Diversity/Inclusion efforts and that their teams are fully involved.

Denny’s defines success in the area of diversity, equality, and inclusion in terms of culture change, not in terms of classes taught, people of color represented in its advertisements, or community outreach events (though, of course, the company keeps track of all those things). It is relatively easy to teach classes and hire consultants. Changing the way people think is quite a bit harder; but that is exactly what Denny’s is committed to doing—to fostering short and long-term changes in the company’s culture, as it continues to emphasize the importance of diversity.

Looking forward to the reminder of 2019, Denny’s has set the following goals for internal and external success:

• Worker success is Denny’s success: The company strives to create an environment in which all workers feel valued, with a fair opportunity to succeed. Internal initiatives aim to create a culture in which people are trained appropriately, have the tools to perform well, and have the energy to engage in activities they are passionate about outside work.
• Multicultural Engagement, Community Outreach, and Supplier Diversity initiatives can help Denny’s lead the industry by recognizing and taking advantage of opportunities provided by demographic and cultural changes.

Led by its head of diversity and multicultural engagement, April Kelly- Drummond, Denny’s partnered with 12 leading minority nonprofit advocacy organizations in 2018 to extend the reach of its Hungry for Education scholarship program, which combines Denny’s longstanding commitment to help fight childhood hunger with its focus on promoting academic achievement, into local communities across the brand’s key designated marketing areas. brand’s key designated marketing areas.

Hungry for Education awards scholarships to multicultural students for their creative and unique ideas regarding how Denny’s can impact childhood hunger in local communities. Last year, more than 2,600 students submitted applications and $326,725 in scholarship money was awarded to 51 students.

Joseph Searles
Director of Diversity Community Engagement

Sady Fischer
Director of Diversity & Inclusion

Excellus BlueCross BlueShield
Headquarters: Rochester, NY
Business: Health Insurance
Website: www.excellusbcbs.com

“At Excellus, we work to ensure a diverse workforce that reflects the communities we serve and an inclusive, respectful, fair, and equitable organization in which all employees feel valued, respected, and safe to be their authentic selves at work.”

In 2018, Directors Joseph Searles and Sady Fischer led several key diversity and inclusion initiatives focused on the following areas:

Recruitment: Excellus enhanced and leveraged its Diversity & Inclusion Internship Program; conducted outreach at colleges, universities, and association groups; increased the number of college interns from underrepresented groups to 40 percent; and connected with more high school students to develop tomorrow’s workforce.

Employee Development: The company grew ERG membership, support, and value proposition; championed its Diversity & Inclusion Mentoring Program; and sponsored development programs focused on leadership, transferrable skills, and civic engagement.

Culture: Excellus increased executive leadership engagement and cross-cultural understanding; introduced two new diversity workshops and trained all company leaders in at least one of them; enriched organizational knowledge of the business case for diversity and inclusion; increased the number of employees that participated in diversity workshops; and increased the number of employees who adopted a published diversity profile in the online corporate directory.

Business Growth: The company partnered with local organizations to help connect uninsured individuals and families to its individual-market insurance products.

Looking forward to 2019, Excellus’s goals and objectives are to:

1. Ensure diversity and inclusion concepts and best practices are central to every activity, from compensation and equitable pay to interviewing, hiring, and onboarding
2. Expand applicant pools to include more candidates from underrepresented groups
3. Increase diversity at all levels of the organization
4. Introduce new diversity education and Increase knowledge of related topics and issues
5. Identify new ways to connect the uninsured to Excellus’s individual market products

Creating a diverse and inclusive culture has been a journey for Excellus, and the company is looking forward to continuing to build a culture by learning—continuing to evolve the organization’s collective diversity and inclusion knowledge through formal education, workshops, and authentic conversations the enable leadership and staff members to learn from one another. Through these ongoing efforts, Excellus can truly define what it means to be diverse and inclusive, how it relates to the company’s profitability, and how everyone is accountable.

Teresa Lavoie, PhD
Principal and EMPOWER Chair

Fish & Richardson
Headquarters: n/a
Business: Legal Services
Website: www.fr.com

Fish & Richardson recognizes that people are one of the firm’s most valuable assets. Diverse backgrounds provide unique perspectives that result in new and better solutions, and having a diverse team that reflects the diversity of the public arena enhances the quality of legal services the firm can provide to clients and sustains its standing as a premier intellectual property law firm. Fish also recognizes the importance of fostering a work environment that values the diversity of experiences, perspectives, capabilities, and talents of each member of the firm, and contributes to a firm fabric and culture of intentional inclusion.

Fish has made a long-term commitment to building and sustaining a diverse and inclusive workforce. The firm has had a formal diversity initiative in place for more than 10 years. The initiative links together a variety of programs that support recruitment, retention, professional development, and outreach, and is designed to help the firm attract, retain, and advance a diverse legal staff.

In 2017, Fish became one of the first 30 U.S. law firms to adopt the Mansfield Rule, which requires that 30 percent of candidates for any leadership role must be women and attorneys of color. This practice not only builds a leadership pipeline, it is good for diversity and helpful for succession planning.

“From the beginning of my career, I was determined not to build my practice by ‘pulling the ladder up behind me,’” says Teresa Lavoie, a partner who advocates for women and diverse attorneys as a member of Fish’s Compensation Committee and chair of the firm’s EMPOWER initiative. EMPOWER addresses issues unique to women in the legal profession, increases networking and mentoring opportunities, and provides tools and resources that position women for success.

As a key driver of Fish’s work to reduce bias in the promotion process, Lavoie works closely with the firm’s diversity chair to participate in the promotion committee process, reviewing materials and participating in committee discussions to ensure candidates are considered on the merits. In 2018, women represented 50 percent of the attorneys promoted to equity principal and 45 percent of the attorneys promoted to non-equity principal.

Lavoie also helped to spearhead changes to Fish’s parental leave policy. The firm added many improvements, including extending paid leave time and adding a phased hours program that gives employees who are primary caregivers significantly more flexibility before and after their parental leave.

Jacqueline M. Welch
Senior Vice President–HRDI; and Chief Diversity Officer

Freddie Mac
Headquarters: McLean, VA
Business: Financial Services
Website: www.freddiemac.com

Freddie Mac gets diversity right. As a minority majority company, almost half of its employees are women. However, the organization believes that a more inclusive workplace is a must if it is to attract and retain diverse talent, foster innovation, and drive business outcomes.

In 2018, Freddie Mac launched a new board-approved diversity and inclusion strategic plan, defining three pillars to focus its D&I efforts:

WORKFORCE DIVERSITY

The organization worked to develop and sustain a pipeline of diverse applicants, while promoting an inclusive culture that enables employees to bring their whole selves to work. Much of the work is driven by employee resource groups (ERGs) and division-specific D&I committees. More than 2,500 employees are active members of ERGs.

Freddie Mac took specific steps to address the potential of pay inequity. Studies show that women and minorities may be disadvantaged by having to report salary history, and the organization has done away with the practice of asking for salary history across the enterprise. Further, while HR knows the salary history of internal candidates, that information is not shared with hiring managers.

Finally, Freddie Mac piloted its first-ever sponsorship program to help high-potential women and women of color navigate the corporate landscape and be positioned for success and growth. This program is the first step toward creating a culture of sponsorship for career development, while increasing the readiness of underrepresented high-potential leaders.

SUPPLIER DIVERSITY

Freddie Mac developed qualified diverse suppliers through its Vendor Academy program and by ensuring diverse suppliers are included in the bidding process, which has ultimately increased its diverse spend—18.9 percent of total enterprise spend was with diverse suppliers in 2018.

FINANCIAL TRANSACTIONS

The financial transactions pillar, unique to those in the financial services industry, is focused on promoting the use of diverse firms in capital markets transactions. Freddie Mac continues to make progress in providing minority-, women-, and disabled-owned businesses with opportunities to support financial transactions.