Tag: DEI

Over the past several weeks, I have heard powerfully and candidly from many in our alumni and student community about the need for a clear message—backed by action—concerning the shameful record of racial inequity in our community and beyond. I hear them and want to be clear about my response: I stand in solidarity with the Black members of our community and the community at large. Further, we state unequivocally that Black Lives Matter.

Serious issues of racial inequity—brought again to the fore by the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Rayshard Brooks, Ahmaud Arbery and many others—are deeply painful and there is urgency in putting action behind our conviction.

At Olin, we say we are better than this. We are committed to being a community of diversity, equity and inclusion. We will foster an environment where our staff, faculty, students and alumni uphold these principles. Our conviction is real. Conviction alone, however, is not enough. We must put action behind those convictions.

I am appointing a task force—which I will chair and which will include representatives from within Olin and across WashU—to guide us toward identifying unjust systems and practices, and offer sustainable strategies to infuse solutions throughout Olin, from recruiting students and faculty, to curriculum improvements, to research.

At the same time, I have appointed a team to begin work immediately with the Olin Diversity and Inclusion Team to develop a robust plan, with goals and measurable performance indicators, focused on strategies to uproot systems of racism within our community. This team has my direct support.

I am committed to following through on this work, communicating regularly about our progress and consulting with all members of our community. I am grateful for the valuable insights and strong counsel I have already received. I am also grateful for the ongoing work by our faculty, staff and students toward a more diverse, equitable and inclusive Olin. I recognize there is far more work to do.

I will share further updates soon as our work begins to yield specific action steps.

Pictured above: May 30, 2020: Protestors raise their hands in solidarity outside of the Fifth Police Precinct in Minneapolis in response to the death of George Floyd. (David Brickner/Shutterstock)

A spate of recent news headlines has highlighted our school’s great success in a number of areas as a result of the hard work of our faculty, staff, students and alumni.

One of those successes: This year, we lead the world’s top business schools in the percentage of women enrolled in the full-time MBA programme.

Forty-nine percent of the Olin MBA class of 2021 are women—more than any school mentioned in a recent report from the Forté Foundation, which promotes women in business leadership. Globally, nearly 39% of business school MBA enrollment is female, Forté reported, with only 19 of its member schools exceeding 40%.

That report followed hot on the heels of another important win for WashU Olin, the No. 1 global ranking from Inc. magazine and Poets & Quants for MBA entrepreneurship programmes. I’m thrilled with the acknowledgement of the priority we’ve placed on entrepreneurship—and we’ve covered that fully in this Olin Blog post. So today, I’ll focus on the issue of gender parity.

The Forté report on parity resulted in a relative tidal wave of Olin press mentions in The Wall Street Journal, Poets & Quants, the Financial Times, Business Because and Study International. The news broke so fast, media outlets got to it before we even shared it on our own blog!

Initiatives driving success

To be sure, the news is affirming of the success of our efforts.

It affirms the priority we have placed on pressing for diversity among our students, staff and faculty. It affirms the work of student organizations such as Olin Women in Business and student ambassadors to call, reach out and build relationships with prospective students. It affirms the recruiting work of our faculty and the strong partnerships we maintain with organizations such as Forté, Reaching Out MBA and The Consortium.

Since I’ve arrived, the Olin team has worked hard to achieve this milestone, which came a little more than a year after the Financial Times ranked Olin No. 3 in the US and No. 4 globally among the best MBA programmes for women.

In those three years, I’ve seen OWIB establish an important “men as allies” initiative and collaborate with other student organizations to explore and build access to pastimes that have been traditionally dominated by men—pastimes such as golf, whiskey tastings, fantasy football and March Madness bracketology.

We’ve enjoyed impressive attendance at our annual Women’s Weekend/Diversity Weekend events. Numerous Olin alumnae return to campus to inspire, mentor and promote women leaders among our students—including Build-a-Bear’s Maxine Clark.

Maintaining our momentum

That includes two extremely successful programmes for International Women’s Day, when Olin has blown the doors off Emerson for our now annual “She Suite” event highlighting the achievements of women executives among our alumnae (Save the date: The next one is March 6, 2020.).

These and many other initiatives have contributed to this milestone—all while maintaining high standards for student admission and overhauling our full-time MBA with a substantial global immersion component. The pressure cooker of a 38-day immersion reinforces the need for diversity across genders, races, nationalities and other identities: A balanced group of students builds support, camaraderie and an aversion to group think.

While the news confirms our efforts, however, we cannot be complacent.

I’m committed, as I know our colleagues are committed, to the deliberate and proactive attention that issues of gender parity and diversity require. Maintaining near-perfect gender parity demands continued commitment, earnest attention and ongoing support of our student clubs, our alumni and our staff. Our students are motivated, determined and talented.

They come to us seeking an experience that is inclusive, collaborative and affords a voice to all identities and perspectives. Because of this work and the work that must continue, our students are prepared to make an impact, shatter the glass ceiling and reach the upper echelons of organizations where they make values-based and data-driven decisions.

Pictured above: Attendees watching the panel discussion at WashU Olin’s 2019 She Suite event on International Women’s Day. (Photo/Jerry Naunheim)

The news is excellent, and it’s spreading quickly. WashU Olin’s first-year MBA enrollment this year is 49% female–putting Olin ahead of other elite business schools.

In other words, Olin is the closest school to achieving gender parity, according to Forté Foundation, a nonprofit focused on women’s advancement and gender parity in business school.

The Financial Times (subscription required) notes that for several years, Olin has run a women’s ambassador program, equipping students and alumni to encourage other females to apply. Olin also markets MBAs as a tool for getting an edge in interviews over male candidates without the degree.

“It is that extra qualification that will help to smash the glass ceiling,” Olin Dean Mark Taylor said.

As applications to US business school decline, the percentage of women enrolled in full-time MBA programs continues to rise, climbing this fall to an average of 39% at more than 50 of the top programs in the US, Canada and Europe, Forté Foundation’s new data show.

While Olin came closest to an even split between male and female students, others with high percentages of female students include the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. Each had 45% or more women enrolled.

Nineteen Forté schools reported 40% women or more, up from 13 schools five years ago.

“Every year we see women’s enrollment inch up at business schools,” Elissa Sangster, CEO of Forté, said in a press release. “The progress over five-year intervals, in particular, demonstrates a significant shift in gender parity at top business schools.”

To learn more, see the article in Poets & Quants and The Wall Street Journal (subscription required).

In research and in practice, the results are unambiguous and incontrovertible: Organizations perform better when they welcome, embrace and foster diverse points of view. For this and myriad other reasons, creating an environment which includes and supports a diversity of voices and perspectives is the right thing to do.

Yet at the end of this millennium’s second decade, our society still falls short. We need not look far to find examples of corporate missteps in marketing or product development because planners failed to include a diverse set of voices.

This issue is near and dear to my heart. I’m gratified to be at a school that long ago recognized the importance of racial equity in business education by founding the Consortium for Graduate Study in Management.

And I believe we’ve made strides here at WashU Olin by improving the gender balance among students, attracting an increasing number of top women to the faculty, increasing the number of female full professors and advocating for additional endowed teaching chairs for women.

I recognize, however, that as a top business school, there is much more we can do. Building diversity, equity and inclusion is work we should be leading. We cannot assume we’re doing the right thing. We must address issues of inclusion, unconscious bias and institutional inequity with deliberation and forethought.

That is why I recently created two new positions at Olin dedicated to this work. Several months ago, I appointed Judi McLean Parks, the Reuben C. and Anne Carpenter Taylor Professor of Organizational Behavior, into the new role of associate dean for diversity and inclusion.

And on April 1, Olin’s former registrar, Jacqueline Slack Carter, started her new role as diversity and inclusion officer based in the dean’s office and supporting Judi.

Judi’s role formalizes and expands work she has already done at Olin and dovetails thoroughly with her research interests. Jackie has a demonstrated commitment to this work through numerous on- and off-campus activities including her advocacy for Consortium students, service on numerous university committees and membership in the St. Louis Business Initiative and the Diversity Awareness Partnership.

“I realize this will be a lot of work to change mindset and institutional culture, but it will be transformative work that will have an impact,” Jackie said. “I want to be a part of creating a new story—that we are intentional about providing access and equity for all and where all voices are heard and all are seen.”

Judi is already hard at work again on an initiative she’s pioneered at Olin, a biennial faculty development workshop that brings young, junior faculty from various institutions to our campus for workshops in research presentation, salary negotiation and networking. The June workshop helps develop young faculty and builds the hiring pipeline for research institutions such as WashU Olin.

She’s been meeting with and gathering information from the leaders of various race-, nationality- and gender-based affinity groups and she plans to host—along with Jackie—a series of broader listening sessions.

“My hope is that we can do more to level the playing field at Olin and make it a more welcoming culture for everyone,” Judi said. “It’s not that it’s not. It’s just there are things we can do to continue moving in that direction.” How well do faculty case studies reflect diverse viewpoints, for example? What more can we do to expand and diversify the voices we have on our faculty?

“There’s often a lot of resistance to diversity training,” Judi said. “You often feel like you’re preaching to the choir. But you can do the training in ways that help the person who is being underrepresented to help level the playing field.” I am grateful for the work Judi and Jackie have already put forth. They are both committed to taking a proactive approach toward driving growth in diversity and equity at WashU Olin. Consider this to be the first word on the subject—certainly not the last.

Pictured above: Judi McLean Parks, newly appointed associate dean for diversity and inclusion, presents at a recent “lunch-and-learn” for Olin staff and faculty.

Olin placed in the top four globally and top three in the United States in a new Financial Times ranking of the best full-time MBA programs for women, released Sunday night. The WashU MBA program is ranked just behind programs at Stanford and UC Berkeley and just ahead of Harvard’s.

New faculty in 2017. First row, Karam Kang, Xing Huang,
Ashley Hardein; second row, Hannah Perfecto, Zhenyu Liao;
third row, Sydney Scott, Rachel Ruttan.

The release of the ranking was timed for its proximity to this week’s International Women’s Day on Thursday, which Olin will mark by hosting nearly 700 attendees for its special program, “The ‘She’ Suite: Celebrate International Women’s Day with Women in the C-Suite and in Leading Roles.”

“This new ranking gives tremendous affirmation to our efforts to expand women’s voices in Olin’s MBA program,” said Dean Mark Taylor. “It also challenges us to continue the momentum. It’s about fairness, but it’s also about diversity. Diversity drives innovation and appreciating diversity is a core value for Olin.”

Using data gathered from previous rankings, the Financial Times also examined its numbers through several female-centric lenses. For example, Olin ranked first in the US for female percentage increase in salary post MBA and first globally for parity across genders in the starting salary of newly minted MBA graduates. Olin also compared favorably in the percentage of female enrollment, with nearly 40 percent women in the incoming class in 2017—the sixth highest percentage among the top US schools.

“Diversity drives success in business as well as the classroom,” said Olin MBA Shelley Lavender, Boeing senior vice president and head of Boeing’s strike, surveillance and mobility business. “The work Olin is doing to attract women and men from around the globe is ensuring its graduates experience the powerful, profound, and positive impact that diverse teams bring to all aspects of our life.” Lavender also heads Olin’s MBA advisory board.

The news was welcomed by Perri Goldberg, MBA ’18, president of the student-run Olin Women in Business organization, which was named Chapter of the Year at the National Association of Women MBAs Conference in October 2016.

“I am so proud of our school—the admissions effort to attract more female students, our welcoming, collaborative, and inclusive community, the supportive, yet challenging faculty,” said Goldberg. She said the organization has made a priority of collaborating with Olin in creating a welcoming, inclusive environment for both women and men.

“I am confident that this top ranking will attract other strong females and males into the program,” she added, “and I cannot wait to see what our community and OWIB will do in the future.”

Dean Taylor also noted that while the results are encouraging, there are still areas of opportunity. For example, with around a quarter of its faculty female, Olin is about average among the top US schools but is striving to improve: in its most recent round of faculty hiring last year, six of the seven new faculty members were women.

Joyce Trimuel (EMBA 2016) has been appointed the Senior Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer at CNA. In this newly created role, Trimuel is responsible for developing and leading a cadre of strategic priorities aimed at accelerating the company’s efforts to build a diverse and inclusive culture.

“In addition to being a catalyst for positive change and a passionate, demonstrated champion of diversity, Joyce is a results-driven business leader who will ensure we attract, develop and retain the best people by focusing on the broadest possible pool of talent within our company and throughout the marketplace,” said Liz Aguinaga , Chief Human Resources Officer, CNA.

Joyce Trimuel

Trimuel joins CNA with nearly 20 years of underwriting and industry leadership. Most recently, she served as Vice President and Kansas City Branch Manager for Chubb. At the same time, she founded the Lead.Link.Leverage initiative, offering more than 200 women business leaders in the Kansas City community professional career development.

“Diversity and inclusion leads to more innovation, more opportunities for all, better access to talent and better business performance,” said Dino E. Robusto , Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, CNA. “By working with people from different backgrounds and with different experiences and working styles, we learn and obtain another point of view. Diverse views make for better decisions, and thus drive a high-performance culture. Joyce’s leadership will allow us to meet the needs of customers from countless backgrounds and play a more vital role in our global communities.”

Trimuel holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign , as well as an MBA from the Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis . She has earned several diversity achievements, including acting as the chair of Chubb’s Multicultural Development Council, developing and implementing a first-of-its-kind leadership development program, and leading several successful civic and charitable partnerships.

About CNA
Serving businesses and professionals since 1897, CNA is the country’s eighth largest commercial insurance writer and the 14th largest property and casualty company. CNA’s insurance products include commercial lines, specialty lines, surety, marine and other property and casualty coverages. CNA’s services include risk management, information services, underwriting, risk control and claims administration. For more information, please visit CNA at www.cna.com.

Source: CNA News Release, Chicago, March 6, 2017