MBA Diversity & Inclusion Interview: Erik Richard of Landmark Network
(One in a recurring monthly series featuring efforts of the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Diversity & Inclusion Committee, part of MBA’s commitment to increase racial, gender, sexual orientation and ethnic diversity within the mortgage banking industry.)
Erik Richard is CEO of Landmark Network, Van Nuys, Calif., a national appraisal management and valuation technology firm. Since its inception Landmark has earned numerous service awards and spent three of the past four years on Inc Magazine’s fastest-growing companies list. Prior to founding Landmark in 2007, Richard accumulated more than 10 years of industry experience within the lender-services and real estate valuation sectors and most recently served as CFO for a national mortgage lender.
MBA NEWSLINK: What has been your experience as a member of the LGBT community in an industry that can be quite conservative?
ERIK RICHARD, LANDMARK NETWORK: Honestly. I have stayed away from disclosing personal details to clients as much as possible. I can say I have avoided the question “Are you married?” more times than I can count.
My first obligation to both my family and to my staff is to not unnecessarily risk our ongoing business growth. That said, I believe the country is changing and the likelihood for us to lose business based on the orientation of the CEO has greatly diminished. Certainly people didn’t stop using their IPhones when Apple’s CEO came out.
NEWSLINK: How do you ensure diversity and inclusion within your company?
RICHARD: I am very proud that our company is quite diverse and always has been. Today, approximately 80 percent of our company would identify under one or more minority categories. Much of our early success in this area came from our employee referral program, which promoted open positions to people known by our existing staff.
Over time, our culture of diversity became something officially sponsored by our human resource efforts. To build on this decade of success, we have now embarked on a diversity initiative for our suppliers. As a valuation services and technology company, we use countless outside contractors to assist us. Diversity categories, including veteran status, are now a consideration during our vendor onboarding, order assignment and elite status invitations.
NEWSLINK: What are you doing to ensure you are meeting the needs of your diverse consumer?
RICHARD: The make-up our diverse consumers (residential borrowers) depends greatly on where our clients (lenders and banks) focus their marketing efforts. That said, we have many lender clients that have targeted the Hispanic community and the LGBT community. In both of these instances, we have been able to sensitively interact with these borrowers during their transactions.
As an example, we set up a Spanish-language desk in our customer support center. We found that even though most of our Spanish-speaking borrowers could speak English, many of the older borrowers preferred to handle serious financial matters in Spanish. Having a team of people sensitive to this issue and able to handle their needs set us apart from many competitors.
NEWSLINK: Is diversity and inclusion necessary at a C-Level?
RICHARD: Absolutely. Everyone brings something different to the table and we ensure that our company is as diverse as the clients we serve. I also believe that leading in the area of diversity starts at the top. Your leadership at the C-Level and middle management should reflect the overall diversity goal.
For the LGBT community, this can be a little more challenging since our status isn’t always outwardly apparent. On our website I look like just another white, male CEO, which is why it’s important for us to emphasize diversity, both apparent and not.
NEWSLINK: How important do you think it is for your clients who work in lending to embrace diversity?
RICHARD: Those who have not yet considered the racial demographic changes or how to lend to a newly married gay couple may be missing the boat. Fortunately, we are seeing banks and lenders already responding to the changing demographics of our country.
I’m seeing a rapid change in how banks and lenders market to the LGBT community. Historically, they have placed ads in specific community publications, but now they are putting our faces and relationships in their general TV and magazine ads and in their branch lobbies. Being inclusive is proving to not only be good social policy, it’s good for the bottom line.
***
The MBA Diversity and Inclusion Committee was formed in 2013 to provide leadership and guidance to help the real estate finance industry gain a competitive advantage by increasing diversity in leadership, workforce and suppliers.
To support this goal, MBA hosts an annual Strategic Markets and Diversity Summit. Programming focuses on business growth, with the primary goal of educating members on how to increase their business, attract new customers and stay relevant in the current marketplace by advancing diversity and inclusive practices in their companies. The next Summit will take place November 16-17 in Washington D.C.
MBA encourages its members to support these efforts and to recognize the competitive advantages of embracing a diverse and inclusive workforce and marketplace. For more information about the MBA Diversity and Inclusion Initiative, click https://www.mba.org/who-we-are/mbas-diversity-and-inclusion-initiative/about-mbas-diversity-and-inclusion-initiative.
