Bloomberg
- Insider presents the first installment of The Equity Talk, a new series with executives on DEI.
- Citi hired former Goldman executive Erika Irish Brown to lead its diversity and inclusion strategy.
- Brown shared how she wants to change the financial giant and her goals for the next three months.
For over a decade, Erika Irish Brown abided by a mantra during her time working on Wall Street: "What gets measured gets achieved." Now, in her recently assumed role as the head of diversity, equity, and inclusion at Citi, she's applying that same philosophy to drive results.
"DEI is not a 'nice to have.' It's a 'need to have,' and it's important we reframe the conversation to be about the value it brings to the business bottom line," she told Insider. "I think we have to get beyond justifying that business case and get on to actually executing and demonstrating that business value."
Hired in June, Brown is one of a handful of executives driving Citi's billion-dollar investment to help bridge the racial wealth gap and increase economic mobility for people of color in the United States. She's also working on the firm's goal to increase the representation of women in leadership positions to 40% by the end of 2021, up from 37% in 2018, and to increase Black leadership to 8% in the same timeframe, up from 6% in 2018.
Brown said the firm was on track to achieve these goals. She and Citi CEO Jane Fraser, the first woman to lead a major US bank and an outspoken advocate for inclusion, meet regularly to discuss the future of the firm – and the country.
Before spearheading Citi's diversity efforts, Brown worked as a DEI executive at large financial institutions such as Bank of America, Bloomberg, and Goldman Sachs. She left investment banking in 2009 to "be an agent for change" and diversify the financial sector, she said.
For the debut of The Equity Talk, Brown discussed how she's measuring the effect of DEI at the $142 billion firm and her optimistic outlook on 2022.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
How has your experience working in finance influenced the way you approach DEI?
My passion for DEI while I was an investment banker is what led me to make the transition. At the time, there weren't many, if any, DEI roles on Wall Street, and I wanted to be an agent for change to help drive the conversation forward on important issues like representation, pay equity, and inclusivity. This wasn't territory that was explored before, and by being in a DEI role and also being a Black woman myself, I knew I could make an impact.
Before joining Citi, you helped Goldman introduce the "One Million Black Women" initiative, in which the bank vowed to invest $10 billion to address racial biases. What do you think will be the legacy of this initiative? Why was this important to you?
In my DEI roles, I've always tried to connect the dots between racial-equity, commercial, and human-capital initiatives that drive or make the business case for diversity. And that holds true at Citi, where I have an opportunity to help connect the dots across all our racial-equity work happening within the organization and outside the organization, including our Action for Racial Equity initiative - Citi's $1 billion commitment to help close the racial wealth gap and increase economic mobility in the US.
There is so much work across our industry to advance racial equity, and I'm inspired by the commitments that have been made by multiple firms. I look forward to supporting progress on Citi's goals specifically in the years ahead.
You took the helm as the global head of DEI in June. What was one of the first things that you did in your new role?
I've spent this period of time - two short months - listening; meeting our people; understanding the strategies in place, the book of work that exists across the firm globally; and really taking stock in all the work that we're already doing and starting to process in terms of how to approach the future. So the future in building a strong global team is really strengthening that inextricable link between talent and diversity for this firm globally.
You joined Citi in a really interesting time for DEI leaders. There's a lot of pressure. There's a lot of accountability happening, but there's also a lot of support from leaders. How do you feel about this?
I'm excited. Our Action for Racial Equity is a huge initiative and an opportunity to engage with leaders and initiatives across the firm.
I was an investment banker for 15 years, and I've been in the diversity, equity, and inclusion space now for 15 years. I've always brought that commercial approach to my work. I've always seen the business value and the opportunity to leverage diversity as a competitive advantage to source deals differently, to invest differently, to expand into different marketplaces. There's real opportunity through diversity, including who we buy from, who we do business with, how we support and invest in the communities that we serve. I see all of that at Citi right now.
Now, it's a matter of how we connect all those dots and show that collective impact and bring it all to bear. I think the benefits of the work that we're doing can be quite powerful - not just to Citi or the communities that we serve, but globally.
Do you think that managers are starting to see that business case for DEI, that DEI is a business imperative?
I think there is more awareness than ever of the so-called business case for diversity, equity, and inclusion. There's no shortage of research out there that really demonstrates bottom-line returns through diversity, equity, and inclusion from credible organizations like McKinsey or Catalyst.
You need effective, inclusive managers and leaders in order to bring all of that talent to bear fruit for the firm. So joint accountability and talented people and effective management and leadership are what will move the firm forward. But it takes time, and you want it to be sustainable.
Citi's CEO Jane Fraser, the first woman to lead a major bank, is an outspoken advocate of DEI. What does it mean to you to have that buy-in from your CEO?
For any diversity and inclusion effort, it has to start at the top. And that's absolutely an important part. If you don't have that executive-leader sponsorship, it makes a job that's already difficult more difficult.
At the same time, a diversity and inclusion initiative doesn't happen because everybody at the top says it's going to happen, right? You need to have full buy-in throughout the firm.
I think the more you have an open dialogue around diversity, equity, and inclusion, the more people realize that it's part of their own role, too. There's accountability for everyone.
What's your vision for the future?
My vision is always on how to continue to drive Citi as the best place to work for the best people, to drive shareholder value and move forward toward equity.