Remarks as prepared for SIFMA’s 2019 Diversity & Inclusion Conference.
Good afternoon. I am Cheryl Crispen, and I head up Communications and Marketing and lead SIFMA’s Diversity & Inclusion efforts. There are a number of SIFMA team members involved in D&I, so let me thank Evan Grogan, Erin McNicholas, Niccole Rivero, Bradley Edgell, and Mark Schuermann. Also, I want to thank the SIFMA Conferences team, especially Lizzie Grimm, for all their help with this conference.
We’ve been holding D&I conferences, roundtables and symposiums for more than a decade. Over the years, this conference has grown in its offerings of timely advice, proven strategies, and takeaways to enhance internal D&I efforts and provide “good practices” for you to take back to your firms.
SIFMA has always supported, promoted, and advocated for a diverse and inclusive financial services industry. We stand behind our members and their firms’ initiatives in this space.
In my role leading D&I, I’m proud of the efforts we have done through the D&I Council. The Council has grown to over 50 member firms; we’ve held congressional roundtables with various caucuses; created a pilot internship program to attract and retain more diversity in this industry; worked with firms on Section 342 of the Dodd-Frank Act issues; produced our biennial D&I survey for members with assistance from Mercer; and of course, this very conference.
Not only are we addressing this timely and important topic here today, but we have consistently made it a priority in our conference programming. This year alone, we have held sessions covering D&I at our Compliance and Legal Seminar, our Private Client Conference, and most recently at our Operations Conference & Exhibition. SIFMA believes that the more attention we can bring to this topic, the more likely we are to discover innovative solutions for fostering, maintaining and growing diverse and inclusive environments within the financial services industry.
And now before I introduce our first panel, I’d like to thank our sponsors, whose support makes this conference possible.
I’d also like to thank our D&I council for all their good works, and especially Chris Aisenbrey and Rudy Rodriguez, the council co-chairs. It’s been a pleasure working with you all, and I’m looking forward to everything we can achieve in the future.
And now it’s my pleasure to welcome to the stage today’s first panel- A Conversation with Regulators- featuring Will Mack, Shareholder at Greenberg Traurig; Pamela Gibbs, Director of the Office of Minority and Women Inclusion at the SEC; Sharron P.A. Levine, Director of the Office of Minority and Women Inclusion at the Federal Housing Finance Agency; and Saul Schwartz, Director of the Office of Minority and Women Inclusion at the FDIC.
Please join me in a warm welcome for the panel.
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Cheryl Crispen is Executive Vice President, Communications & Marketing at SIFMA. She is responsible for SIFMA’s diversity and inclusion efforts, serving as advisor for SIFMA’s Diversity & Inclusion Advisory Council.