MBA Honors 2017 Residential Diversity & Inclusion Leadership Award Winners
DENVER–The Mortgage Bankers Association announced five winners of its annual awards recognizing member companies for their leadership in diversity and inclusion here at its Annual Convention & Expo.
Companies were evaluated in two groups based on overall number of employees and recognized for two different categories of award: organizational diversity & inclusion and market outreach strategies.
“In only our second year of existence, we were once again inundated with quality submissions and pleased with the numerous initiatives and programs our members have created,” said MBA Chairman Dave Motley, CMB, and past Chairman of the MBA Diversity and Inclusion Committee. “These award winners reflect the tangible progress our industry is making on diversity and inclusion. But we have a long way to go. The goal of these awards is to celebrate the best initiatives so that they are models for continued progress.”
Company initiatives were scored by two groups of judges, consisting of members of MBA’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee and MBA staff. Companies were scored based on quality of their overall submission; identification of a target audience and annual goals; demonstration of a tangible benefit to participants and the overall enterprise; replicability of the program; innovative program approaches; and program success in broadening the culture of the organization through the values of diversity and inclusion.
For Organizational Diversity and Inclusion: Flagstar Bank, Pulte Mortgage, Altavera Mortgage Services
The Organizational Diversity and Inclusion award celebrates company initiatives that were specifically developed and designed to increase diversity and inclusion within the leadership and employee base of member companies, thereby leading to a mortgage banking industry that may better reflect and understand its customers.
For a company with more than 1,000 employees, Flagstar Bank is recognized for numerous diversity and inclusion initiatives, including across-the-board training, clear goals and metrics for success based on five distinct “pillars” of diversity and inclusion, mentorship and action diversifying its corporate board.
For companies with less than 1,000 employees, Pulte Mortgage and Altavera Mortgage Services both demonstrated exemplary commitment to organization diversity and inclusion.
Pulte Mortgage partnered with a cognitive neuroscientist to launch interactive learning videos and discussion questions for managers and their teams to not only start the dialogue about diversity and inclusion, but to keep it alive. The teachings enhanced Pulte’s definition of D&I, which goes much deeper than visual components and more into ensuring that employees feel welcomed, included and valued.
Altavera Mortgage Services was recognized for design and implementation of its Diversity + Inclusion + Advancement + Leadership (DIAL) program, which proactively cultivates leadership opportunities for women, LGBTQ individuals and ethnic/racial minorities and works to remove traditional barriers to their advancement.
For Market Outreach Strategies: New American Funding and First Community Mortgage
The Market Outreach Strategies award recognizes company initiatives specifically developed and designed to increase outreach, marketing and products to attract customers from the industry’s fastest-growing market segments.
For companies with more than 1,000 employees, New American Funding is recognized for creation of its Latino Focus Committee, focused on the lending experience of Hispanic consumers and improving the Hispanic community through homeownership; and the New American Dream Initiative, focused on raising awareness and increasing the level of homeownership in African-American communities through home-buying education.
For companies with less than 1,000 employees, First Community Mortgage is recognized for providing educational and financial resources to minority homebuyers, including a wide array of bilingual information and educational resources for potential Hispanic homebuyers.
Commercial and Multifamily members will have a separate award process, with nominations opening at a later date to be announced and awards presented at the CREF/Multifamily Housing Convention & Expo next February in San Diego.
To learn more about MBA’s Diversity and Inclusion efforts, visit www.mba.org/diversity. The MBA Summit on Diversity and Inclusion will take place in Washington, D.C., this December 4-5. For more information, click https://www.mba.org/store/events/conferences-and-meetings/summit-on-diversity-and-inclusion.
