We have always been committed to upholding responsible operating standards and fostering a firm culture that is based on fairness, respect, inclusion, and merit. Diversity and inclusion have been a core part of this effort, but we understand there is still much more that needs to be done. This year, we doubled down on that commitment through a number of new internal and external initiatives specifically aimed at improving diversity within our firm and our industry more broadly.
Outlined below is a selection of practices, policies, and partnerships we have put in place to ensure we are engaging, recruiting, and retaining diverse talent and supporting organizations dedicated to ending discrimination, improving access to education, and offering career pathways for underrepresented minorities in the communities where we live and operate.
Diverse Recruiting:
We are committed to hiring the strongest talent regardless of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or economic status, and we continue to expand our recruiting networks to find diverse talent for every region, level, and department of our organization.
As part of this effort, we have set a goal of welcoming at least 30% diverse talent as part of our 2021 intern class. To this end, we are expanding our campus recruiting efforts to include more Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), and diversity-focused career events, like the University of Chicago’s Diversity and Inclusion Summit.
We have also partnered with the Manhattan College WISE Program (Women Inspiring Successful Enterprise), which aims to develop emerging female leaders and empower them to advance professionally, with the goal of engaging and recruiting more female talent. Additionally, our Women’s Group hosts dozens of global events annually, including a 2019 event with UBS and 100 Women in Finance targeting teenage girls who are interested in pursuing a career in finance.
Internal Diversity & Inclusion Initiatives:
In 2015, we launched the BAM Women’s Group to empower the women of BAM to achieve their career goals while encouraging leadership development. Our Women’s Group offers skills training, networking events, philanthropic opportunities and more.
This year, to improve and expand our diversity efforts, we appointed Travis Owen as our inaugural Director of Inclusion & Engagement, and we launched a Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) Council made up of a diverse collection of leaders within our firm. The D&I Council is tasked with leading our internal diversity and inclusion strategy and identifying and executing actionable ways for BAM to combat discrimination and promote diversity by establishing working groups, facilitating onsite events, launching mentorship programs, increasing community engagement, and forging new partnerships with organizations committed to providing education, fighting poverty and ending discrimination.
While the firm currently mandates an annual diversity and inclusion training for all employees, we will be broadening our D&I programming to include additional training for employees at every level.
Finally, BAM is committed to ensuring we are an equal opportunity employer that pays their employees fairly based on experience and tenure. BAM’s Organizational Development Team completes a gender pay analysis annually to ensure women are receiving fair and adequate compensation.
External Partnerships:
In June 2020, BAM committed to sending additional resources to our partners and other organizations that are dedicated to improving access to education, fighting poverty and ending discrimination, including #100BlackInterns, Race Forward, Braven, Centre for Policing Equity, National Urban League, Black Girl Ventures, and Campaign Zero.
We are also doubling down on our commitment to key partners: The Anti-Defamation League, Boys & Girls Club, Teach for America, A Better Chicago, Robin Hood, Urban Initiatives, Daniel Murphy Scholarship Foundation, One Goal, First Tee and others, all of which are focused on combatting discrimination and improving access to education.
