Diversity & Inclusion: Leading by Example

WASHINGTON–It’s a simple concept: the most effective programs get support from the top.

For diversity and inclusion initiatives, said Niki Scott, Executive Vice President and National Retail Production Manager with SunTrust Mortgage Inc., Richmond, Va., that goes double.

“You have to have top leadership involved,” Scott said here at the recent MBA Summit on Diversity and Inclusion. “It comes down to having your executive leadership at the front.”

At SunTrust, Scott noted, every member of the executive leadership team is required to be part of the company’s Executive Initiative program, which promotes diversity and inclusion both within the company and in the community.

“It shows our commitment not only to our staff but to the communities we serve,” Scott said.

In 2014, SunTrust began a MLA (Mortgage Loan Associate) program, targeting college students at local Virginia colleges. The first class comprised 14 students, of whom four lasted finished the program.

Rather than shut down the program, Scott said they expanded the program to other colleges with more targeted individuals. This year, 68 percent of the class is diverse; Bush said none has dropped out and all are receiving full-time offers. “We aren’t just hiring for our loan originators, but also for our fulfillment offices and back-end,” she said. “We’re holding ourselves more accountable.”

Brian Simons, Founder and President of Altavera Mortgage Services LLC, Westminster, Colo., noted while the industry has many women and minority employees, they remain underrepresented in the top management positions. He said Altavera made a concerted effort to add women to top positions in the company.

“For a company founded by a white guy, we’re 85 percent women,” Simons said.

Patty Arvielo, President of New American Funding, Tustin, Calif., said her evolution from a data clerk to company president started with standing up for herself.

“For women, particularly Latinas, it’s bred in us to sit back and be respectful and not speak up for what we want,” Arvielo said. “I am here today as a champion of the fact that you have to stand up. I see so many women standing back and not asking for the jobs that they know they can do.”

Accountability is key, said Byron Boston, President, CEO and co-CIO of Dynex Capital Inc., Glen Allen, Va. “Fostering and open conversation is necessary to combat bias,” he said. “It’s worked at my shop. By openly confronting unconscious bias–we all have it–we push it in the right manner so that it impacts a lot of people…whether it’s Donald Trump sitting in front of me or someone else, I want to have that dialogue.”

That honesty, Boston said, extends all the way up the leadership ladder. “We have a ‘no-***hole’ policy,” he said. “We don’t tolerate difficult people.”

Arvielo said her company embraces diversity as a business and cultural necessity. “Diversity is America,” she said. “We are not the exception, not the rule. I love being a Latina; I hold it up like a trophy. I’m passionate about what I do. I love serving the Latino community. But who is serving people like me at your job?”

Arvielo noted that of the 900 sales reps at New American Funding, there has been nearly a total turnover in top sellers. “Our most successful agent is a Latina woman, and I know that she is thinking that she wants to be like me,” she said.

That commitment extends to social media as well. Scott said she spends at least a half-hour a day responding to social media messages; Arvielo said she spends up to three hours a day. “I’m doing it right now,” she said.

But Arvielo said the reasons for doing so make sense. “How do you get people to work for you if you don’t engage with them?” she said. “If it takes so little to make people feel special at their organization, it’s worth it, because most people don’t.”

Simons is more old-school. “I write my staff letters,” he said. “You can send a three-line email, but it doesn’t convey what I feel. So I write letters.”

So, what advice would these executives offer to the industry?

“You can infect people around you,” Boston said. “You start right there in your unit to change people’s mind. I’m more effective engaging on a one-on-one basis. You can make a huge difference regardless of background. I still believe people want to do the right thing.”

“Continue to hold us accountable,” Scott said. “About a year ago we held a quarterly meeting and I was called out in front of our group, because none of our loan officers had attended a diversity and inclusion event. At the next event, we had 15 loan officers there.”

“Conviction,” Simons said. “You can’t talk about diversity as a requirement; it’s not something you talk about for an hour. it has to be genuine and heartfelt; diversity has to be your job.”

“There isn’t a person here who isn’t passionate,” Arvielo said. “It’s important to be passionate about who you are and what you’re trying to do.”