{"id":8229,"date":"2020-12-15T00:24:50","date_gmt":"2020-12-15T00:24:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www-staging.carta.com\/sg\/?p=8229"},"modified":"2021-03-05T06:54:03","modified_gmt":"2021-03-05T06:54:03","slug":"table-stakes-recap-regulating-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www-staging.carta.com\/sg\/blog\/regulating-change-table-stakes-2020-recap\/","title":{"rendered":"Regulating change: A conversation from Table Stakes 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"
Public policy can play an important role in influencing diversity and inclusion. In our <\/span>Regulating Change<\/b> panel at the <\/span>2020 Table Stakes Summit<\/span><\/a>, Carta\u2019s chief compliance officer, Suzanne Elovic, chatted with <\/span>Pamela Gibbs<\/span><\/a>, director of the SEC\u2019s Office of Minority and Women Inclusion, to get her thoughts on how the private sector can contribute to these efforts, how the SEC thinks about streamlining access to capital for people and communities of color, and more.<\/span><\/p>\n (This transcript has been edited and condensed for length and clarity. <\/span><\/i>The views Pamela expresses in this interview are hers and doesn\u2019t necessarily reflect those of the SEC or staff of the SEC.<\/span><\/i>)<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n Suzanne: <\/b>Pam, welcome to Table Stakes\u2013we’re thrilled to have you here. Many may not be as familiar with the SEC and how it relates to diversity and inclusion. Can you talk about the mission of your office and how it fits more largely into capital markets regulation?<\/span><\/p>\n Pamela<\/b>: My office was set up primarily to address a concern of Congress: the financial crisis of 2008 adversely impacted women and minorities in the industry. To build back the industry, Dodd-Frank created targeted offices focused on minority and women representation.<\/span><\/p>\n I’m responsible for all matters relating to diversity at the SEC, including workforce diversity, supplier diversity, and diversity related to our regulating entities.<\/span><\/p>\n I also created another bucket that I think is the best way to advocate for diversity. This bucket deals with mission effectiveness\u2014my goal is to integrate diversity and inclusion into the mission of our organization. So when you talk about capital formation in protecting the investor, that’s a core principle of what our mission is. <\/span>We know investors come in all shapes and sizes and all people want access to capital. So recently we’ve really been addressing diversity in the aspects of capital formation.<\/span><\/p>\n Suzanne<\/b>: That’s great. It’s really exciting to have a function like this embedded in a government agency that has such a large wingspan over capital markets in the United States. Can we hear a little bit about your background and how you came to the role you’re in? What drove you to take on a position like this?<\/span><\/p>\n Pamela<\/b>: I grew up in a small place in Virginia called Fauquier County. At the time, Fauquier County was segregated. So I’ve experienced both segregation and integration, and I’ve always wanted to commit my career and life to equality and civil rights.<\/span><\/p>\n Fast forward many years to law school, where I attended Georgetown University, which has a great program in civil rights and equal employment law. From there, I did employment law and arbitration work, but I didn’t like firing people or denying people promotions. So I thought I’d do the more affirmative work. And that was to become a chief diversity officer.<\/span><\/p>\n After many years at the Department of Labor, I moved over to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and headed their office, which became the diversity and inclusion office. And then I joined the SEC, where I\u2019ve been for about 8.5 years.<\/span><\/p>\n So my path is probably a little bit different than other chief diversity officers. That’s like the hottest job in the market right now. We come in all shapes and sizes\u2014my background is employment law, which I think is very important to do the work of diversity and inclusion. It is a passion of mine. I love doing what I’m doing, and I love to see the results of my advocacy.<\/span><\/p>\n 10 years ago, we were advocating for diversity, but they\u2019d give it either to an HR director or another VP. So <\/span>the fact that there\u2019s a high demand for chief diversity officers tells you we’re moving in the right direction.<\/span><\/p>\n The fact that there\u2019s a high demand for chief diversity officers tells you we’re moving in the right direction.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Suzanne: <\/b>What do you see in terms of the landscape? Where are the greatest challenges and opportunities to really make a difference in the diversity space?<\/span><\/p>\n Pamela<\/b>: The SEC regulates over 25,000 entities, including registrants, broker dealers, investment advisors, exchanges, transfer agents, and self-regulatory agencies. One of the things that my office does is engage these entities around diversity and inclusion.<\/span><\/p>\n In the last three years, I’ve seen extreme positive movement in the diversity space. But the biggest movement has taken place this year. In addition to COVID-19, there was a pandemic around race\u2014suddenly now you have everyone dealing with racial injustice and inequities.<\/span><\/p>\n I’m also seeing more chief diversity officers and more policies around diversity. I’m seeing more engagement around supply and diversity, more transparency, more disclosures\u2014really positive steps. And maybe we’re not there with representation\u2014and I\u2019m not sure what \u201cthere\u201d is\u2014but we’re definitely moving in the right direction.<\/span><\/p>\n But there are still challenges as you point out. We still have to address unconscious bias\u2014the role that bias plays against both women and minorities (and any background that\u2019s not quite the norm, like individuals with disabilities). <\/span>I advocate really hard for our workforce to be inclusive of individuals with disabilities because they often get left out of the diversity discussion.<\/span> We\u2019ve made progress in the LGBT area as well, but there are still challenges. There are still microaggressions and biases in the workplace, and there are opportunities for all of us to make more progressive moves to enhance diversity and inclusion.<\/span><\/p>\n I advocate really hard for our workforce to be inclusive of individuals with disabilities because they often get left out of the diversity discussion.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Suzanne<\/b>: One of the things that’s interesting to me about your role is on one hand, there’s an inward focus on how the SEC runs itself as an organization in the right ways that take into account some of the issues around diversity and inclusion.<\/span><\/p>\n On the other hand, as a regulatory body that oversees pretty much the entire capital markets of the United States, how much of your role is external facing\u2014dealing with other companies and trying to promote change in that space where you don’t really have regulatory authority when it comes to diversity issues? And in parallel to that, what do you see in terms of the private markets\u2014companies coming in and trying to hold themselves accountable and hold each other accountable?<\/span><\/p>\n Pamela<\/b>: You\u2019re right\u2014these offices were created to address the internal workings of our own organizations. So it focuses on our internal workforce at all levels and supplier diversity.<\/span><\/p>\n The piece of my office that is growing and changing and becoming more important to the agency, though, is the external facing work. And that’s with our regulated entities, but also with my colleagues across the agency. We have four advisory committees that address policies and practices that may impact our investors, asset managers, and small businesses. We’ve worked heavily with those external committees to make sure the representation on those committees is diverse, but also that they have taken on issues that impact the minority investor or the underrepresented communities that we service.<\/span><\/p>\n That’s an emerging area of what I’m doing now, under the leadership of Jay Clayton. He is a big advocate for the Main Street investor. So we’re starting to see, even with offices, more advocates for small business.<\/span><\/p>\n Our office is uniquely qualified to address the barriers and challenges that minority and women-owned businesses face around access to capital. We do outreach to make sure that our events are inclusive to minority and women-owned businesses. I feel like we’re stable with workforce and supplier diversity. And now we’re beginning to understand the value-add to the agency around capital formation and being an investor advocate.<\/span><\/p>\n Suzanne<\/b>: It’s a fascinating issue for the SEC to be at the forefront with the companies it regulates in a space that it can’t technically regulate but can certainly influence. Developing that area is going to be interesting and hopefully helpful for a lot of the companies you work with.<\/span><\/p>\n Pamela:<\/b> Yeah, the statute that created my office, section 342 of the Dodd-Frank Act, basically gave us authority to develop standards and assess all regulated entities on diversity best practices, but it didn’t allow for enforcement authorities. So we still don’t have that. Everything we do with our regulated entities is voluntary. We have to get them to collaborate and be willing to share their information with us, but there’s no mandate. That’s where some people said that the statute fell short\u2014we don’t have enforcement authority, nor is it part of our examination process.<\/span><\/p>\n Suzanne<\/b>: Is there a way to publicize or publish best practices or standards you see that you think other companies should emulate? How should we as citizens and companies that are within the purview of the SEC think about what our obligations are and hold ourselves to those standards?<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Becoming a chief diversity officer<\/span><\/h2>\n
Challenges and opportunities in the diversity space<\/span><\/h2>\n
Regulating change<\/span><\/h2>\n