Real Change, Right Now

From Nat Queen: JPMorganChase has a history since the '70s of promoting inclusiveness, but it could do more. The ranks of the official staff should be more diverse, with more representation of Black, Hispanic and other minority groups, as well as LGBT individuals. These are our customers and should be represented amongst our staff.  Our staff should be representative of our client base.  
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Tom Barile, AM, and I, along with the supervision of Donald K. Lister, VP, established the Special Recruitment area with Chemical's HR Department.  We found that many minority students did not sign up for the usual on-campus recruitment schedules, mainly because they did not know or have any role models or family in the industry.  Special Recruitment interviewed candidates from the same group of colleges as the general Management Recruitment area did but in a more personalized and selective way.  We did not lose sight of the fact that their peers at The Bank would be from similar colleges ad educational background. This was a strategic move we made from recruiting minority students from HBC's (Historically Black Colleges) and it worked. 
 
From Bob Matthews: Every time we deviate from a strict meritocracy we all suffer a diminution of the quality of our life.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
From Steve Tocci: In my 36 years at Chase, it was obvious to me that the Bank has been an exemplar in the hiring and promotion of black and other minority employees. In addition, I'm not aware of any cases at our esteemed bank where a black entrepreneur who was otherwise qualified was turned down for a loan on the basis of skin color. Our."Path Forward" statement could have been a bit stronger in making these points. Despite all of this, the "Path Forward" is a positive program in its own right. It would have been even more admirable had it been publicized long before the unruly mobs took to the streets. Such a precedent would have undoubtedly earned higher praise than the actual sequence of events.
 
 
 
 
From Gary Radford: During the Carter Administration (‘77-‘81), the government handed down edicts for the Bank to hire and promote minority employees. We were given “goals” in each department of Chase to work towards compliance. To achieve the numbers, applicants and employees were hired and promoted regardless of qualifications. The results were predetermined. The overall impact was a failure.
     I totally agree with the statement of alumnus Bob Matthews who said it so succinctly with his statement, "Every time we deviate from a strict meritocracy we all suffer a diminution of the quality of our life."

 

REAL CHANGE, RIGHT NOW: Read JPMorgan Chase's statement on the path forward to creating a more inclusive world for the Black community. We welcome our alumni's Comments on Real Change, Right Now.