Rosie Saez
Director,
Leadership Practices Group
| Why It's on the Top 50: Wachovia has been on the Top 50 list since 2003 and has moved up steadily every year since 2004—from 48 to 31 to 21 to 11 this year. The bank demonstrates strong CEO Commitment, as well as remarkable growth in multicultural marketing, hiring and retention and Corporate Communications.
Description: Nation's fourth-largest bank with 3,200 retail and corporate locations.
From Chairman, President and CEO G. Kennedy Thompson: "I am encouraged that I hear from people at all levels that they are seeing positive change at Wachovia as a result of our diversity focus. And more leaders are clear about the business case for diversity. They understand the need to attract and retain diverse talent in a competitive job market. They see the link between their business goals and customer acquisition and loyalty. I believe you see the greatest impact of diversity efforts when people are personally vested in both the people and business benefits of thiswork."
Diversity Strengths: Wachovia demonstrates unbiased retention across its work force and management, meaning retention rates are level regardless of race, ethnicity and gender. The company has mandatory surveys on diversity issues and allocates 48 percent of its philanthropic efforts to multicultural organizations, compared with a 33 percent average for the Top 50. Wachovia spends 27 percent of its advertising budget on multicultural ads, compared with a Top 50 average of 18.6 percent. In addition, Wachovia gets a perfect score for representing its diversity commitment on its web site.
Recent Diversity Success: Partnered with the Association for the Study of African American Life and History.
More DiversityInc Articles on Wachovia:
How Corporate Philanthropy Changed After Sept. 11
Diversity Integrationist: Rosie Saez
No. 1 Way to Get Diverse Suppliers
Banking on Remittance: Attracting Immigrants Via Wire Transfers
How Volunteerism Is Changing the Face of Philanthropy
First Comes CEO Commitment
Corporate Culture: Check It Out Before You Take That Job | Top 50 Rank: 11 Specialty Lists: No. 2 on the Top 10 Companies for African Americans, No. 7 on the Top 10 Companies for People With Disabilities Industry: Financial Services Main Competitors: Bank of America, Citigroup, SunTrust U.S. Headquarters: Charlotte, N.C. Number of U.S. Employees: 108,238 Annual Revenue: $29.9 billion % of Operations Outside U.S.: 1 Key Personnel: G. Kennedy Thompson, chairman, president and CEO; Rosie Saez, director, Leadership Practices Group (For more on G. Kennedy Thompson and Rosie Saez, read page 54 in the 2007 Special Issue and page 32 in the 2006 Special Issue of DiversityInc magazine)
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