DE&I: Doing the Work, Making the Change
Mark Dean has built a successful career leading and developing high-performance sales-service teams with several Fortune -1000 technology and financial services organizations. He has had the pleasure of learning through his roles leading various sales, service, and customer service functions at Intuit, LinkedIn, Go-Daddy, First Data, and currently Nextiva.
Mark has been a champion of diverse and inclusive cultures at the companies he has worked for. While at Intuit, Mark led the effort to start the African American Network (AAN) to address DEI gaps related to hiring, diversity education, and community involvement. Mark was also the Executive Sponsor for GoDaddy's Blacks in Technology (BIT) Employee Resource Group.
He is also committed to giving back to further causes he cares about and has served on several non-profit boards. He is a founding member of the Omicron Iota Chapter (ODU) of Phi Beta Sigma. He is currently a member of the Old Dominion University's Strome School of Business Advisory Council, ODU's DEI Committee, and a member of the Tucson Conquistadores, whose mission is to provide financial support for youth sports in Southern Arizona.
What was your honest experience being on the board as an African American?
First, I was excited about the opportunity to be involved with an initiative that is so important at this time in our country. As a black person, I personally have been negatively impacted personally and professionally by discrimination. The ability to influence how Strome approaches DEI not only at the school but how it will be prepared future generation of leaders, made my engagement more meaningful.
What holes in Strome were identified?
There were several areas related to DEI, that we uncovered as opportunities for Strome.
- Developing a shared vision and a common purpose as a department on the value of creating DEI initiatives. For example, this was one of the purpose statements that was developed; "ensure students possess a deep understanding of the business case for diversity which will prepare them to be successful leaders in multicultural organizations. Help them see the benefits of ensuring equity and inclusion among their employees, with their customers and in their supply chains".
- Developing a dedicated program(s) to hold administrators and faculty accountable to not just talk about DEI but have measurable actions and programs that are part of the work they are required to do.
- Training for administrators and faculty to ensure DEI programs are impactful and sustainable. Strome needs to ensure everyone feels comfortable and authentic in talking about diversity. There are some administrators and faculty, who just do not know what they do not know! We need to meet everyone where they are and provide a safe environment for everyone to feel they can ask questions and get comfortable with speaking to and supporting the vision around DEI.
You mentioned not being able to move forward without getting professors and teachers on board, what was the experience like, logistically? How do you, as a board, get on the same page with various experiences and backgrounds?
We had some great alumni and current administrators and faculty on the DEI Board. Led by Dr. Bruce Rubin, current DEI Chairman for Strome, we agreed that we needed everyone to share their personal perspective on how diversity impacted their lives or not. The ability to share and for non- blacks on the board, be open and honest about their feelings related to the current situation was important. As a black board member, I had to respect how non-blacks might have felt related to DEI and the Black Lives matters Movement. We found as stated earlier, perspectives are colored by each individuals varied life experiences. Some people just did not know what they did not know. However, listening to everyone's experiences related to DEI allowed us to better understand the "gaps" and what we needed to do going forward to bridge them and build an effective and sustainable program.
What are the measurable tactics and goals that are in place to ensure Strome can make the changes that have been identified long-term and on an institutional scale?
The board was able to develop a one-page purpose and strategy document that outlined the purpose, strategy and implementation priorities related to building a comprehensive and impactful program at Strome. Some of these are:
- Developing DEI training for administrators and faculty
- Designing DEI curriculum as a requirement for all Strome students
- Establishing measurable goals for hiring more black faculty members
- Establish programs and goals for recruiting more black students to Strome
- Developing comprehensive programs related to getting more exposure and involvement in the Hampton Roads Community related to DEI. We also believe working more closely with the community and local employers will help drive our purpose
