Waddell & Reed Financial Expands Diversity & Inclusion Initiatives and Partnerships
March 12 2020 - 4:30PM
Business Wire
New partnership with Forté Foundation, expanded
partnership with Rock The Street Wall Street, new enterprise-wide
mentoring program lead efforts
Waddell & Reed Financial, Inc. (NYSE: WDR) continues to
actively build and enhance diversity & inclusion initiatives
across the organization, recently announcing several new
partnership and program initiatives:
- In conjunction with its celebration of International Women’s
Day, the Company launched a corporate sponsorship and partnership
with Forté Foundation, a non-profit organization
connecting female MBA students and recent graduates with job
opportunities in the financial services industry. Forté's alliance
network links talented women, influential companies, leading
universities and business schools, and pioneering donors. The
partnership with Waddell & Reed Financial helps introduce
students to careers in the financial industry, while allowing the
Company to participate in campus programs or Forté-led events. It
was announced as part of Waddell & Reed Financial’s celebration
of International Women’s Day, which included an employee panel
discussion on mentorship, leadership, opportunities and challenges
faced by women in the workforce, in support of this year’s Women’s
Day theme of #eachforequal. “An important part of our shared
Culture of Belonging is the ability to enhance our diversity of
perspective, sharing knowledge and experiences, which leads to a
stronger culture and better results for our clients,” said Philip
J. Sanders, CEO of Waddell & Reed Financial, Inc. “This also
aligns with our ongoing growth strategy as we continue advancing
our position as a values-based and purpose-driven
organization.”
- The Company also announced it has committed to expanding its
partnership with Rock The Street Wall Street (RTSWS) by
partnering with a to-be-announced high school in Kansas City,
Missouri. Last year, Waddell & Reed Financial became the first
organization in the Kansas City area to partner with RTSWS, a
national, non-profit organization offering a financial and
investment literacy program designed to spark the interest of
female high school students in careers in finance. Partnership
engagement includes financial literacy sessions, mentoring programs
and a field trip to Waddell & Reed Financial headquarters.
Surveys conducted after the initial program year with Shawnee
Mission North High School showed a 65% increase in financial
literacy among students who participated, and a 100% increase in
those who said they are likely to pursue a major/minor in finance
or economics. “This is a dynamic, growing program that data shows
is very successful in raising financial literacy levels and
encouraging young students to pursue their dreams of a career in
finance,” said Sanders. “We’re pleased to expand our partnership to
a second school this year.”
- Waddell & Reed Financial also is pleased to become a
sponsor of Kansas City Women in Technology, a non-profit
organization whose vision is to grow the number of women in
technology careers within the Company’s headquarters area, Kansas
City. The goal is to inspire girls toward an interest in technology
careers early, through educational workshops and mentoring for high
school and college students considering technology career paths.
The sponsorship, which aligns with one of the Company’s key
strategic enablers of advancing technology and data analytics,
includes networking events and volunteer opportunities for
professionals to retain women currently working in technology.
- A new employee mentoring program has been introduced, enabling
all employees to either connect with a mentor or act as a mentor to
colleagues. The program facilitates interaction and learning
opportunities across differing ranges of experience, skills and
departments. The goal is to actively support employees as they
pursue personal and professional goals. Mentees choose their own
mentors based on their areas of expertise through a new online
mentoring platform. The Company provides the tools, resources and
education to support the partnership, while letting the mentee
drive the experience. Mentors and mentees can be anyone in the
organization, regardless of tenure or title, supporting the desire
for diversity in thought and experiences and creating unique
pathways to success.
These initiatives mark a continuation of actions the Company has
undertaken in the last two years, including:
- CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion™ pledge, signed
in early 2019 by Sanders, acknowledging that the organization will
act to cultivate trust, diversity, flexibility and understanding.
By signing the pledge, Waddell & Reed Financial has
acknowledged it will take specific actions to advance an open and
empowering environment.
- The Company launched an initiative in 2019 called Culture
Connections, centered on core components of Diversity &
Inclusion, Employee Appreciation, Philanthropy, Strategy &
Values and Well-Being. Culture Connections is a
purposeful and planned strategy to directly and authentically
illustrate the company’s commitment to advance its position as a
values-based and purpose-driven organization. As one of the core
components, Diversity & Inclusion facilitates a range of
internal education programs and events to advance knowledge and
understanding, such as Black History Month, International Women’s
Day and Pride Awareness, among many others.
- The Company over the last year also has continued to broaden
the diversity of the composition of its Board of Directors --
incorporating important, new perspectives into the group – by
appointing to the Board three women with expertise across multiple
industries and professions. According to executives, having a
strong, diverse Board of Directors working in a collaborative
partnership with the executive leadership team will better position
the Company to build upon the transformational progress to date and
achieve long-term growth strategies, all while advancing its
position as a values-based and purpose-driven organization.
“It’s exciting to see the change and cultural growth around the
Company,” said Brent Bloss, President of Waddell & Reed
Financial. “These steps are actionable, they drive progress and
enthusiasm across our workforce and illustrate our commitment to
our purpose, vision, mission and our core values.”
About Waddell & Reed Financial, Inc.
Through its subsidiaries, Waddell & Reed Financial, Inc. has
provided investment management and financial planning services to
clients throughout the United States since 1937. Its subsidiaries
include Ivy Investments, an asset manager and distributor of
investment products to retail and institutional clients; and
Waddell & Reed, Inc., a broker-dealer with nationally based
independent financial advisors. For more information, visit
ir.waddell.com.
IVY INVESTMENTSSM refers to the investment management and
investment advisory services offered by Ivy Investment Management
Company, the financial services offered by Ivy Distributors, Inc.,
a FINRA member broker dealer and the distributor of IVY FUNDS®
mutual funds and IVY VARIABLE INSURANCE PORTFOLIOS®, and the
financial services offered by their affiliates.
About Forté Foundation
Forté Foundation is a non-profit consortium of leading
multinational corporations and top universities and business
schools. It was called to action by a landmark research study,
Women and the MBA: Gateway to Opportunity, that looked at why women
are underrepresented in top business schools compared with medical
or law schools. Forté Foundation was launched in 2001 to address
this inequity and its impact on the business landscape and grew to
25 member schools in 2005 in the US. Today it includes 54 member
schools: 39 in the US, four in Canada and 11 in Europe.
About Rock The Street, Wall Street
Rock The Street, Wall Street, founded in 2013, inspires and
equips girls with skills to succeed financially throughout their
lives and potentially pursue careers in finance. Girls learn about
savings and investment, budgeting, the capital markets and their
role in maintaining the welfare of their families and the economy,
while simultaneously helping them see the real world application of
the math content they learn in the classroom. Visit
rockthestreetwallstreet.com.
About Kansas City Women in Technology
Kansas City Women in Technology is an organization unique to
Kansas City and was created to serve the needs of the Kansas City
community. Kansas City Women in Technology is not a chapter of a
larger organization and is not affiliated with any other
organizations like Girls Who Code, Girl Develop It!, Women in Tech,
Women Who Code – though we do promote their efforts. Kansas City
Women in Technology has launched several programs that reside under
the umbrella of Kansas City Women in Technology as a larger
organization. Those programs include CoderDojoKC, Tech sHeroes,
TechTalks, Coding & Cupcakes, and Coding & Cocktails. Visit
kcwomenintech.org.
About CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion™
CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion™ is the largest
CEO-driven business commitment to advance diversity and inclusion
within the workplace. This commitment is driven by a realization
that addressing diversity and inclusion is not a competitive issue,
but a societal issue. Recognizing that change starts at the
executive level, more than 600 CEOs of the world’s leading
companies and business organizations, are leveraging their
individual and collective voices to advance diversity and inclusion
in the workplace. CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion™ aims to
rally the business community to advance diversity and inclusion
within the workplace by working collectively across organizations
and sectors. It outlines a specific set of actions the undersigned
companies will take to cultivate a trusting environment where all
ideas are welcomed and employees feel comfortable and empowered to
discuss diversity and inclusion. Visit ceoaction.com.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200312005740/en/
Media Contact: Roger Hoadley VP, Communications
rhoadley@waddell.com
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