The events of 2020 led Natixis Investment Managers to implement several new initiatives to help move more meaningfully toward its long-held diversity and inclusion goals. These efforts included:
• Creating a social justice matching-gift program, designed to support nonprofit organizations that seek to advance equality for minority groups and promoting social justice around the world.
• Supporting the global expansion of MADE (Multicultural and Diversity Engagement), the firm’s Boston-based group supporting racial and ethnic diversity. The firm also collaborated with experts in guiding “courageous conversations” with teams globally in the context of their local cultures.
• Incorporating shared values-based leadership training, with an additional emphasis on ethnic/racial diversity, into the firm’s global leadership development program.
• Adding charter schools based in Boston and San Francisco to its philanthropic partnership program, and collaborating with them to create workforce development, career exploration and financial literacy programs that introduce underrepresented elementary and high school students to career opportunities in the finance industry.
• Creating a scholarship program in Boston, London and Paris aimed at increasing industry diversity and contributing to the firm’s talent pool. Two students with a demonstrated financial need in each country will be granted scholarships, along with internship and mentoring opportunities.
• Launching Racial Equity Investment Portfolios, which seek to identify companies that promote diversity, equity and inclusion and avoid or divest from companies that cause, contribute to, exploit or profit from racial injustice.
“Diverse thinking is at the heart of everything we do,” said Tracey Flaherty, global head of corporate social responsibility and public affairs. “We strive to create a workplace where all employees can thrive.”
Contact: Crystal Sullivan, director, public relations, at Crystal.Sullivan@natixis.com.
— Evan Cooper