Corporate Diversity & Inclusion Trends of 2020

“The pandemic is not agnostic to issues of power, privilege, or equity…This is a clear example of the very issues that diversity and inclusion initiatives are designed to address.” Maxine Williams, Facebook’s Chief Diversity Officer

This post is part of ZoomInfo’s 2020 Annual Report series.

Earlier in the year, we published an article around the importance–and steady increase–of diversity and inclusion (D&I) job titles in corporate America.

To backtrack, after noticing a trend in ZoomInfo’s database which showed not just the rise in D&I roles (by approximately 113% in the last five years) but also an uptick in rates of online research conducted on the topic, it was clear that something interesting was taking shape in the realm of D&1.  

  • In the first half of 2020, according to ZoomInfo data, around 40% of Fortune 500 companies employed director titles with “diversity” and “inclusion.” The last half of 2020, however, saw the number of people in “diversity” and “inclusion” increase by ~200%, or nearly tripling from the beginning of the year.
Graphic-Diversity-and-Inclusion-In-500-Companies
Figure 1: The first half of 2020 saw only 40% of Fortune 500 employ someone with a director-level title or above in D&I; the second half of the year witnessed an increase of nearly 200% of titles in D&I.

In 2021, we’re betting against a trend that sees Fortune 500 companies sans D&I execs; in other words, employees will continue to prioritize working for companies who make diversity and inclusion a priority, and hiring will follow suit. 

Speaking of hiring, here is a list that’s derived from our platform and highlights the latest exec moves in D&I:

  1. Garima Tyagi is the Head Diversity & HR Business Partner at Verizon based in New York City, New York.
  2. Bonita White is the Director, Diversity & Inclusion at the Department of Health and Human Services 
  3. Latasha Gillespie is the Head of Global Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at Amazon.com 
  4. Namrata Yadav is the Head of Diversity, Inclusion & Learning Strategy at Bank of America
  5. Traci Wade is the Senior Director, Diversity at Oracle
  6. Erica Dean is the Senior Director, Inclusion & Diversity at Comcast 
  7. Michelle Charles is the Global Cs Diversity & Inclusion Head at SAP 
  8. Wendy Lewis is the Diversity Head at McDonald’s 
  9. Leonor Ayala is the Senior Director, Diversity & Inclusion at NBCUniversal 
  10. Scott Ballina is the Senior Director, Diversity at Citrix 

This is but a small sample that’s indicative of a growing trend in D&I–a promising career path that’s solidifying its place in corporate culture and abroad. To hear from a diversity recruiter, check out this episode of ZoomInfo’s new podcast Talk Data to Me.

To browse through more go-to-market trends and 2021 business predictions, continue on to ZoomInfo’s latest Annual Report: Going to Market Smarter in the New Economy.