By Brenda Matamoros Mark Mason, chairman, president and CEO of HomeStreet Bank, along with his wife Tracy and daughter Chloe, joined more than 90 HomeStreet employees who marched in the recent Seattle Pride parade to show their support of the LGBT community. The lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community has had much to
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Recognizing the business imperative to embrace diversity, the U.S. Small Business Administration and National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce launched the first initiative of its kind focused on LGBT business owners. LGBT Business Builder will bring together expertise and resources from staff at SBA district and regional offices, NGLCC’s 38 U.S.-based affiliate chambers and
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In this issue of Affinity Inc Magazine, we focus on the profound benefits of partnership and cite many examples of how it’s working across the business equality community. At the federal level, the U.S. Small Business Administration and National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce have created LGBT Business Builder to connect their wealth of
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COVER STORY In 2012, John Taft, CEO of RBC Wealth Management-U.S. and great-grandson of President William Howard Taft, joined more than 50 current and former CEOs to publicly oppose a constitutional amendment that would have banned same-sex marriage in Minnesota. For Taft, marriage equality makes sense economically and personally. Economic impact Diversity and
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By DeVere Kutscher, Publisher, Affinity Inc Magazine. Happily, today more companies than ever, and even government agencies, welcome — and in fact seek out — lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender-owned businesses as part of their supply-chain diversity strategy. LGBT business enterprises are increasingly joining the ranks of other diverse suppliers such as women, veterans, Hispanic, disabled
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By Melissa Lowery Wassel Lewis, AFLAC Wassel Lewis, director of strategic sourcing at Aflac Inc., is on a mission to welcome more LGBT-, women- and minority-owned businesses to the insurance company’s supply chain. He is responsible for category management and sourcing activities, with an emphasis on information technology, operations and group insurance. He
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Rejecting bias and bigotry in favor of acceptance and appreciation and incorporating this policy into an organization’s strategic vision is the central theme of D.A. Abrams’ book, “Diversity & Inclusion: The Big Six Formula for Success,” published in 2013. As the chief diversity and inclusion officer for the U.S. Tennis Association, he has set the
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By Melissa Lowery Lockheed Martin Corp. has a long history of supporting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender inclusion. PRIDE, the company’s LGBT employee resource group, was founded in 1981 as an opportunity for LGBT and straight ally employees to seek ways to shape the future together. Lance Freedman, Lockheed Martin “At Lockheed Martin,
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The National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, in collaboration with the National Business Inclusion Consortium, presented the 2015 Financial Services Diversity Leadership Awards to three honorees in February. The evening began with a reception on the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange, followed by a dinner and awards ceremony. This year’s award
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By Genny Hom-Franzen David Ricciardi is the president and founder of Proximo Consulting Services Inc., a certified LGBT business enterprise based in New Jersey. The company provides data warehousing, data integration, business intelligence, data analytics and data strategy. Its core mission is to help clients turn the massive amounts of data available today into information
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