: Diversity Committee: current initiatives

As the globalization of business continues to change the face of the American workforce, the importance of effective leadership in managing diversity in the workplace becomes critical practice. Like FEI, many associations realize that if they are to remain viable organizations in meeting the needs of their constituencies, they must attract and retain members who reflect the diversity of their changing professions as well as the population. As organizations embrace and develop a firm understanding of managing a diverse workforce, they become effective in positioning their organizations for future business opportunities.

FEI Diversity Committee Mission

Our mission is to increase diversity of FEI’s membership to reflect the diversity of our profession and builds a culture of inclusion. This culture is one that embraces and leverages the differences and similarities of each FEI member, with the goal of enhancing the networking, advocacy and leadership that defines FEI. As a global leader, a diverse perspective is essential to our continued success and one of our greatest values is having an inclusive environment that respects each individual and enables our members to reach their full potential.

As part of our mission, we aim to  position FEI as a more inclusive and diverse organization by understanding and fully embracing the dimensions of diversity including (but not limited to): age, gender, race, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, ethnicity, physical abilities/qualities, educational background, geographic locations, income, marital status, military experience, and parental status.

Why is increasing diversity so important for FEI?

• Diversity is the face of the business world today and will be even more so in the future
• Diversity is important to our members’ employers and they have been moving forward in implementing initiatives and strategies of their own
• Increasing diversity is simply, good business

Why is increasing diversity important for each FEI Chapter?

• Increasing diversity of thought, experience, backgrounds, and points of view will lead to a stronger Chapter and expand the pool of potential Chapter leaders and committee members

Making Diversity Work

As we seek to recruit, retain, and involve a diverse membership, we need to be mindful to model the principles of diversity that are the keys to the success of any organization. These include:

1. Communicating openly and respectfully with each other and with our members of all backgrounds.
2. Be respectful of diversity and avoid the paralyzing and divisive effects of excessive reliance on the rules of "political correctness".
3. Never lower our standards - a diverse membership is a quality membership.
4. Avoid the dangers of stereotyping populations and lumping people together into unrealistic, and unwanted categories and groups.
5. Be all-inclusive - avoid the pitfalls of minimizing the importance of one member as a means of increasing the importance of others.
6. Expect the best and enjoy the creativity, energy, and vitality that only a truly representative organization can bring.
7. Measure our progress.

FEI Diversity Action Plan

• Develop a national FEI Diversity Committee
• Identify "pilot" chapters for initial implementation to ultimately share experiences/best practices
• Appoint Diversity chairs within each chapter
• Increase awareness within each chapter (starting with pilot chapters) by fully embracing diversity as part of the Chapter mission
  • Include diversity as a topic of discussion in chapter meetings, events, etc.
  • Educate chapter members on the importance of diversity as it relates to their own personal/professional success as well as the success of FEI.
• Contact leaders and members of the following organizations in your area (see links to web sites and information on each organization on pages 3 and 4):
  • National Association of Black Accountants (NABA)
  • National Black MBA Association (NBMBAA)
  • Association of Latino Professionals in Finance and Accounting (ALPFA)
  • National Society of Hispanic MBAs (NSHMBA)
  • Ascend (formerly the National Asian American Society of Accountants)
  • National Association of Women MBAs (NAWMBA); American Society of Women Accountants (ASWA); American Woman's Society of CPAs (AWSCPA)
• Develop relationships with the leaders of the chapters of each organization as well as their members in your area. Consider the following:
  • Contact chapter leaders and invite them to FEI Chapter meetings free of charge as prospective new members
  • Consider having a special joint meeting with one or more of the organizations
  • Consider inviting/providing speakers for FEI Chapter meetings or FEI members presenting at meetings of the respective organizations
  • Consider including student members of these organizations in FEI Chapter scholarships
  • Provide non-member access to FEI On -line and FERF research
  • Consider reciprocal member pricing
  • Consider cross promotions for respective national conferences and joint sponsorship opportunities.
  • Place reciprocal ads and articles in national publications
  • Offer reciprocal vendor booths at respective national conferences
  • Communicate the benefit of FEI membership through new member marketing promotions to candidates from these organizations
• Monitor and report on chapter diversity initiatives on a monthly basis.
  • Identify challenges and recommendations on meeting those challenges
  • Document successes as best-practices
  • Build plan to expand diversity initiatives to other chapters/regions