If a high school headmaster can be chosen to lead a prominent community bank, Massachusetts companies have few excuses for not having a better record on workplace diversity.
Whitinsville-based UniBank recently chose Michael Welch, the 15-year headmaster of St. John’s High School in Shrewsbury, as its latest CEO. As banking reporter Bram Berkowitz explores in his story this week, the bank tapped Welch less for his management expertise – although St. John’s does have a staff of over 100 – and more for his community connections.
Alongside Welch, the bank chose experienced UniBank hand Christopher Foley to serve as its president and run day-to-day operations. Welch’s role in the new partnership will be making use of his fat Rolodex and “wearing out a lot of shoes” trying to form community partnerships and evangelize about the bank’s products and services, according to Tim Wickstrom, chairman of the board of directors at UniBank.
The rest of the risk-averse banking world and the famously clubby real estate industry, where recruiting efforts often make use of a manager’s relatively tight social circle, could take a lesson from UniBank’s unconventional decision.
As this paper has reported many times in recent years, people of color and women are still locked out of many job opportunities throughout the commercial real estate and banking industries. That fact – itself rooted in the centuries of oppression that forms an indelible part of Massachusetts’ and America’s history – begets its own vicious cycle where only a limited number of women and minorities are able to claw their way to top spots and are able to give the mentoring younger people like them need to succeed.
Indeed, it’s worth pointing out that Welch and the other high-profile “unconventional” bank leader, East Boston Savings Bank’s Richard Gavegnano, are still both white men.
The only way to change the current state of affairs is for white men in positions of power to become part of the solution. It is neither practical nor just to expect women and people of color to liberate themselves from the soft bigotry of familiar ties.
Recruitment is a crucial part of this work, from internship programs that actively seek out and support diverse cohorts to conscious efforts to offer mentorship to women and people of color already working in the industry. Industry groups like NAIOP are already having great success with programs like these.
Talent pipelines like these will help, but the banking and real estate industries’ executives also have to think more broadly about the talent they recruit for their next openings. The same skills that make someone a good fit for a position are as often found in someone who “fits the mold” of a typical hire as in someone coming from a different industry, or with different experiences.
Many top leaders will tell you their strongest teams are the most diverse, with different viewpoints and experiences helping these companies adapt to new situations and discover new opportunities. Massachusetts’ executives owe it to their companies and to society to make increasing the diversity of their workforce and especially their management a constant part of their work.
