Regions bank CEO John Turner only AL based CEO of “Diversity and Inclusion” program with mandated unconscious bias training
Regions Bank, locally headquartered in Alabama, joins the increasing efforts of banks across the nation to incorporate greater diversity and inclusion measures within the workplace. Taleisha (Nikki) Ming-White, the organizational and leadership development administrator for Regions Bank’s Learning and Development team, has led many social justice efforts. In October of 2020, she joined a diversity and inclusion fellowship hosted by CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion, or CEO Action. Established in 2017, CEO Action consists of 1,300-plus CEOs campaigning to advance diversity and inclusion in the workplace. Beginning in October 2020, the group launched a fellowship program, attracting individuals from a plethora of industries and fields to craft policy designed to combat racism and achieve greater levels of social justice. Based on Regions Bank’s newfound membership of the CEO Action coalition, the bank was selected to participate in the newfound fellowship program. Notably, Ming-White was also afforded the opportunity to represent Regions for a maximum of two years with the CEO Action for Racial Equity fellowship program. Within the past several years, Ming-White has made it a goal to incorporate diversity measures by creating diversity and inclusion training materials, collaborating with colleagues in Human Resources to incorporate diversity measures in the hiring process, and streamlining the bank’s diversity tracking and reporting system. She also currently serves as co-chair for the Junior League of Birmingham’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Taskforce. John M. Turner, Jr., CEO of Regions Bank, additionally made a point to sign the CEO Action’s official CEO Pledge, which vows to increase the equity of all, namely Blacks, Latinos, Asians, Native Americans, LGBTQ, disabled, veterans, and women. The pledge, which 2,000 CEOs have already supported, commences in an apologetic claim that business leaders just aren’t doing enough. It then delves into 4 separate commitments, with one of them advocating for an expansion of re-education policies to guarantee free “unconscious bias education modules.” The pledge concludes by voicing the need for greater enforcement mechanisms for the group’s agenda as it states, “We also pledge to create accountability systems within our companies to track our own progress and to share regular updates with each other in order to catalog effective programs and measurement practices.” The CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion’s website states, “Simply put, organizations with diverse teams perform better.”
