Happy Saturday, and welcome to CEO Speaks for Saturday, August 24, 2024, sponsored exclusively by Second Wind Consultants, specializing in article 9, out-of-court, transactional restructurings.
A TMA leader recently said to me that in our effort to advance DE&I as an organization and for our profession, we should pause and celebrate what we have been doing right. And today, that is what I want to do in sharing our organization’s road to diversity with you.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion have never been about checking the boxes for TMA. What DE&I means today is fluid and changing, something we as an organization are acutely aware of and responsive to as part of our growth.
As a TMA volunteer myself many years ago, I, along with other TMA leaders like Allen Kadish, one of our long standing DE&I advocates, broke barriers with the support of TMA when it officially recognized an LGBTQ+ meet up at global and select regional conferences, championed by WorkOut, a New York City based group of LGBTQ+ restructuring professionals founded by former A&M consultant Rich Mizack, and most recently had its current president, Jamie O’Neil, speak about his life’s journey as an LGBTQ+ professional as part of a DE&I panel held at this year’s NextGen Leadership Conference.
Since then, TMA has never looked back. In 2020, following the police brutality incident that led to the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, TMA engaged James Pogue, Ph.D to get our leaders comfortable with the uncomfortable by engaging them in education and understandings about culture, personal struggles, and having sticky and necessary conversations that are necessary to bring people together.
The recipe for our success lies in our dedicated effort to support DE&I as core to our mission as an organization, embracing our path forward authentically, and now seeing the fruits of our efforts organically thrive.
While DE&I for TMA, like many other organizations, started intentionally, whether it flounders or flourishes is how embedded it becomes within a culture in an authentic and organic way. That is the story of our success, and what now drives us forward is momentum from the groundwork laid when our DE&I mission was launched as a presidential working group by then Global President Matthew English in 2021, with former chapter presidents Jenny Stam of TMA Toronto and Angela Allen of TMA Chicago/Midwest taking the lead on the launch of the first DE&I Global Committee, now lead by our first VP of DE&I Janine Figueiredo.
Today, a mere three years later, we look at the whole of what we have accomplished as an organization, and there is much to celebrate in what has become the standard in our industry for others to follow.
Through our Network of Women (NOW), having just celebrated its 10th anniversary, we are a standard bearer of women empowerment throughout the corporate restructuring, reorganization, and corporate health space worldwide and under the leadership this year of Rakhee Patel and Michelle Salazar-Rosenbloom, boasted a record-breaking conference with our NOW committee continuing to be visionary and passionate while being authentic in its dedication to support the women of TMA.
Our global executive board has a near balance of women and men in leadership roles, with our current Global chair, Jane Mitnick, and President-elect Rachael Smiley leading the way as our fifth and sixth women global presidents, respectively.
Likewise, in chapters like TMA NYC the president-elect, Molly Jobe, its current president, Kate Aiello, and its last two presidents, Heidi Sorvino and Shanté George have all been women in a chapter that has had a long history of women leaders, and many other chapters have similar stories of championing diversity and fairness in leadership celebrating gender, people of color, those who have served in military service and more.
Many of our chapters continue to seek global grant support for DE&I initiatives aimed at membership growth, whether by outreach to students at traditionally black universities or creating internship and scholarship programs to create a more inclusive profession. These are all outreach ideals that have become our TMA reality.
As I mentioned in my last CEO Speaks, TMA Global was recently recognized by the American Society of Association Executives for our dedication and efforts in our ‘Voices of Inclusion’ marketing campaign and for supporting TMA’s DE&I committee in its multiyear project, which culminated in the publication of the TMA DE&I playbook. The TMA HQ team, comprised of internal employees and independent contractors, consists of 60% women and 40% people of color, which over the course of several years was not a hiring effort by design, but one that reflects fairness and inclusion in an authentic and organic way.
Similarly, at this year’s TMA Global International Symposium and European Annual Conference, two plenary panel sessions were NOW-led programs, and nearly 60% of the two-day conference speakers, including the conference’s opening and closing keynote speakers, were women.
And following the launch of the TMA Speakeasy at this year’s TMA DIC, where under the leadership of Janine Figueiredo, we previewed the TMA DE&I playbook, we look forward to introducing the next iteration of the speakeasy at this year’s TMA Annual in Philadelphia, in October, which is being presented as a safe and respectful environment for meaningful discussion on key DE&I issues, and to share one’s own experiences, stories and insights or just to take it all in as a listen and learn opportunity. This Speakeasy will feature time to chat with bankruptcy judges willing to share about their journey as a way to kick off a low-key, interactive, casual get-together, as we keep things authentic and real. And if you haven’t registered for the Annual yes, a conference on track to again break attendance records, consider doing so today.
What started as an initiative to build a more diverse, fair, and inclusive organization for TMA is now part of the culture and fabric of who we are. Whenever one looks in TMA nation, our successes have been built on the commitment to DE&I without being contrived.
We do not check the boxes to measure our success. We built the foundation of a commitment to DE&I that now bears fruit because of the authenticity with which we embrace this mission, a core value proposition of our organization.
In building this strong foundation, in the hard work that lies ahead, our successes will carry us far. With leaders and members who so deeply care, this house will remain inclusive, fair, and strong.
This is how #TMALightsTheWay and for which we should all be #TMAPROUD.
As always, thanks for taking the time to listen today. And thanks again to our TMA CEO Speaks exclusive sponsor, Second Wind Consultants, for your support of TMA and this podcast.
As TMA Lights The Way, your input is critical, your contributions paramount, and your engagement the foundation that will create a better TMA for all our members.
Until next time, I’m Scott Stuart. Be safe, resilient, and TMA Proud.