Podcast | 10.23.24
BISA Portfolio Podcast — DE&I Voices: The Value of Diverse Teams
by: BISA Staff
In this final episode in the BISA Portfolio Podcast “DE&I Voices” series, guest host Logan Hickman of Nationwide converses with Megan Richter of Key Investment Services and Jermaine Perrien of Symetra about the value of diverse teams within the financial institution. Both Symetra and Key Investment Services have implemented DE&I initiatives, such as resource groups, training and leadership commitment. They discuss these initiatives and strategies for the future.
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Episode Transcript
Logan Hickman
Hello everyone, and welcome to this episode in the BISA Portfolio Podcast series covering diversity, equity and inclusion topics important to the financial services industry. I'm Logan Hickman, director of advisory annuity distribution at Nationwide. I also serve on the BISA DE&I Committee alongside our two guests for this episode. I'm excited to welcome Jermaine Perrien of Symetra and Megan Richter of Key Investment Services to join me in discussing our topic for today's episode, the value of having diverse staff members at your bank or credit union. Welcome, Jermaine. Welcome, Megan. Can you please introduce yourselves? Jermaine, we'll start with you.
Jermaine Perrien
Hey, Logan. Good to see you again. My name is Jermaine Perrien. I'm the assistant director of the internal sales desk talent and development at Symetra Financial in the Pacific Northwest, but in beautiful Bellevue, Washington. I've been in the industry since 2005 in various roles as an advisor, internal wholesaler and now leadership, like Logan said on the DE&I Committee here with BISA. This is my second year participating with BISA. It's been a great experience.
Logan Hickman
Awesome. Well, it's great to have you, Jermaine. And how about you, Megan?
Megan Richter
Well, hello everyone, and thank you for inviting me today. I'm Megan Richter, wealth regional executive with Key Investment Services. I cover our West territory that stretches from Central Southwest Ohio all the way to Alaska. I've been in the industry for over 20 years, and I've had a number of various roles throughout that time. Some of them include being a sales assistant,supporting advisors and client facing as an advisor. I've led and managed advisors and teamsand am currently leading leaders across the West that focus on building their teams of private client advisors through adding talent, coaching and developing our private client advisors.
Logan Hickman
That's awesome. Thank you both for being here, and I think it's important to note that we're actually live today from our DE&I Committee meeting here in our nation's capital. So it's greatto be with you both in person, and it's sweltering here in D.C. Alaska doesn't sound too bad right now, Megan. All right, well, let's get to the questions for today. So first, I think it's important to get our terminology aligned. Diversity can be a bit nebulous, and our different organizations tend to use it differently. The dictionary definition from Merrium-Webster is the condition of having or being composed of different elements, especially the inclusion of people of different races, cultures, etc, in a group or an organization." But how would you both or your organizations define diversity in this context? So, Jermaine, we'll start with you.
Jermaine Perrien
Okay, and glad you started with the definition of the word. Megan and I were talking earlier. And, if you talk to 10 different people, you're going to get a different definition of diversity. The word means different things to different people. Myself, you know, it's based on the groupyou identify with, right? Myself, I'm Black, African American, you know, so diversity, if you're not including Blacks or African Americans, then that definition may be a little limiting. I just put it that way, but, and I think that'd be the case for anybody, depending on the group that you identify with, right, one of the group that you belong to at Symetra. We have four key focus areas, which are people, customers, communities and leadership. But again, I think the definition is going to be based on who you're talking to.
Logan Hickman
Yeah, absolutely. How about you, Megan?
Megan Richter
I think we use the word diversity a lot in our industry: having a diverse portfolio, diversity across asset classes, the benefits of diversity to help you manage your risk. When I think about diversity and defining it, I think it's a collective of many varieties, people, cultures, experiences, thought processes. I think it's important that everyone has differences and that we celebrate those. More importantly, that we stay curious and that we learn from each other around those diversities.
Logan Hickman
I couldn't agree more. So considering our definitions of diversity, it's been shown that diverse groups provide a wide range of values. When you both think about this topic, what comes to mind? Why is it so important to have a diverse team, especially when it comes to engaging diverse clientele, which all of our organizations can continue doing better at? So Megan, I'll actually start with you for this one.
Megan Richter
I think about our teams and our clients a lot, especially around how and what we can do to improve, how we can all get better. I think it starts with our people. Having a diverse team is super important to our success. We need to bring different experiences, thoughts and voices to the table so we can continue to improve. We also need to make sure that everybody feels that they have a voice at the table and they're comfortable enough to share. From a client perspective, our teams really should reflect our clients and their communities. We can better serve our clients when we understand what's important to them. This could be speaking the same language, having similar values, shared experiences and openness to learn from each other. I think embracing our differences and creating connections and curiosity amongst and across the individuals in the group is really what adds value.
Logan Hickman
Yeah, 100%. How about you, Jermaine?
Jermaine Perrien
If you look at our industry, I like to simplify things, and I would say that all of the firms that we work with, we're trying to address four basic needs: income growth, access to your money and some kind of protection or safety function, right? We all have those needs, but meeting those needs requires different approaches. No matter what community people are. A part of those communities are not homogenous, right? We all have our similarities, but we're all unique. So it's really, really important to meet people where they are, to communicate effectively. You just must be aware of generational, cultural, religious, gender differences to make sure you're not missing the target.
Logan Hickman
I couldn't agree more. Now, drilling down a little bit on a more specific level, what examples can you share that demonstrate the impact on clients of having a diverse staff at your organization? And Jermaine, we can start with you on this one.
Jermaine Perrien
There's a lot of different examples I would say I could come up with. From a company standpoint, maybe you have marketing material, right? Is your market material in different languages like Mandarin or Spanish? Your customer service reps, when your clients call in, they want to check on their accounts, are you able to talk to them in a language that they're comfortable with to make sure they have a full understanding of what they've invested in or what they purchased? And then, again, this goes to that definition of diversity. Start talking about geographic or regional differences. Are people on the phone, are people in person, talking with people that they identify with in there, that are from their communities or not? I think that those are examples of, again, speaking people's language. I think that's really, really important.
Logan Hickman
Yeah, absolutely. Representation matters. How about you, Megan?
Megan Richter
I definitely think there's the example of being able to speak the same language, right? It has a very direct and overt impact to clients, especially if English isn't their first language. I think we take that for granted many times and assume that a lot of people here can speak English. I'll give you an example. I recall when I was an advisor, I actually had a husband and wife who were both born completely deaf, and they only spoke sign language. So unbeknownst to me at the time, my banker spoke sign language, and it was a world of difference for our client. I mean, it changed the entire dynamic of the relationship just going forward. I think another example that I've personally had with clients is that sometimes they would and would not work with me because I'm a female, right? And I think it's okay. We just have to find a way to meet them where they are and what they're comfortable with.
Logan Hickman
Wow, two very powerful stories. Megan, I appreciate you sharing those examples. I would say all of us have also been clients along within our current roles, and I'd like us to discuss our own experiences or ideas. How do we value diversity when working with our own financial professionals? Megan, we'll start with you with this one.
Megan Richter
This is interesting, as I was thinking about my own financial advisor here. When I think about it, I want someone who thinks about things differently than I do. I want someone that can show me a new perspective. They understand how this could benefit and help my family by looking at things from a different kind of view. I think working with someone that understands where my family and I are, financially and personally, is really important. We love to travel. We love to meet new people and explore other cultures. My family doesn't think about finances the same way that I do being that I'm in the business, so having someone that can bring a different perspective and experiences that's also able to explain it to the rest of my family is really, really important. I don't know if you've ever had clients that are family members. They're usually not the best, right? But I think working with someone who is different than you in many ways creates better performance, better connection and just understanding overall.
Logan Hickman
Yeah, absolutely. And what would you add, Jermaine?
Jermaine Perrien
I would say I love not having explained why I'm making the decision. And a lot of times working with someone who gets you, it helps save a lot of time. And for me, time is my most valuable resource. The other thing is, I would say we all love supporting companies who support people who look like us or who look like people that we care about. So from a diversity standpoint, there's a different type of connection, different type of understanding that comes with having diverse employees who are able to connect better with with their clients.
Logan Hickman
Yeah, absolutely. And if I may add, I think individual communities have individual needs, right? So my financial planning needs won't look the same as Megan's financial planning needs, won't look the same as Jermaine's financial planning needs. And so being able to work with someone who understands your community's specific financial planning needs is so important to helping you accomplish your ultimate financial goals. So with all of this being considered, that leads us to the big question, What strategies can financial services companies implement to increase diversity on their teams? Jermaine, we'll start with you.
Jermaine Perrien
Megan, I were talking about this a little bit earlier. For me, I think you have to start with the people that work at your firm. You got to start there. You got to talk to people. Got to meet them where they are. And you got to listen, right? If you listen, people will tell you exactly what they need. You ask, if you dare to ask a question again, they will tell you exactly what they need. And you always start there. There's other strategies. I know I've seen a lot of firms, they have employee resource groups. That are, you know, the goal is to focus specifically on different groups, different communities, or whatnot, and that's internally within the company, whether it's helping people get promoted or providing them access to resources that are available at the company, to things they do externally. I would say this is probably understated, is partnerships and collaborations. You know, we're here at BISA. There's a lot of great ideas out there, and we had some meetings earlier today, where a lot of really, really good ideas were shared. I think we need to leverage those ideas and help our individual firms. And then, last but not least, probably what's most important is community efforts. Got to get out into the community, right? Whether it's where your home office is or where people work. The company needs to get out into the community, and then they need to encourage their employees to get out in the communities and get the word out, right? You know, share information, spread the knowledge. That helps the company and it helps the community.
Logan Hickman
Yeah, what would you say, Megan?
Megan Richter
Jermaine and I were talking about that, getting into communities, and just the communities that we've worked at historically, too. I think it starts with being very intentional around your recruiting and building diversity on your team. You've got to get out of your comfort zone, engage and encourage everybody that's on your team to share and feel comfortable sharing their whole self. That's pretty important. To make sure the team you currently have feels comfortable. To do that, make sure your team has opportunities and exposure to experience again, like other cultures, people, different ideas, a little bit like what we're doing today, right in our meeting here. I think a whole diversity training, creating groups, you mentioned resource groups Jermane. A lot of companies have that, and if you don't do that, create those groups, make sure that you're celebrating diversity and you're encouraging and empowering your teams to join them.
Logan Hickman
Yeah, absolutely. I love the point Megan about being able to show up as your full self to work. It's so important when you can show up in a full way. You can give your best, because you feel empowered to do so, and everyone benefits when that happens. So kind of to expand on that, if you could share some examples, I'd love to know how your organizations are implementing diversity, equity and inclusion practices. So Megan, we'll start with you.
Megan Richter
Yeah, so diversity, equity, inclusion is a part of our core values -- respect. We value the unique talent, skills and experiences that diversity provides. We have a number of various groups all employees can participate in. We call them resource groups. We call them key business impact and networking groups, sometimes called KBINGS. We've got training throughout the year that many of the groups have. We also host events throughout the year too, which is great, so you can be a member or an ally of every and any group, which is fantastic. We've also created an advisor professional development program, which is targeting some of our soon to be graduates that have completed CFP education as part of their undergrad program. It's a two phase program which launches and develops early career advice-based wealth management. It enables novice advisors to really step in, learn the technical skills, the financial acumen necessary to build a successful and client centric financial practice.
Logan Hickman
Yeah, that's great. That's great. A lot going on over at Key. How about you, Jermaine?
Jermaine Perrien
We have a top-down approach. It starts with our CEO. She's come out and said she wants to be the most inclusive carrier in the industry. We hired a chief diversity officer a few years back, and him and his team they do a great job, but it goes through the entire executive leadership team, his leadership across the company, there's a lot of different things that we do. These are things we can go to the website and, you know, support for racial and social justice, pay equity for women. Flexible work. We do a lot of coalition work with organizations like the Coalition for Equity and wholesaling and association for wholesale and diversity. And then work with organizations like BISA.
Logan Hickman
Lots of great stuff happening at Key and Symetra, and honestly, all of the member firms that I've had the pleasure of interacting with since being part of the BISA DE&I Committee. It's so encouraging to see all of the different programs and initiatives that are going on across the industry. But even though there is so much going on, it's important to note that there's still a lot of good, important work to do. So I really appreciate you both taking some time today to weigh in on this subject. It's very important spreading awareness of the value of diverse teams within the financial services industry as something we strive to do on the BISA DE&I Committee, and it's an honor to serve with both of you. So thanks so much for being here today.
Megan Richter
Thank you. It was great.
Logan Hickman
Thank you. Yeah. So again, I want to remind listeners please subscribe and share this podcast, if you found it valuable. Uave a great day. We'll see you next time.
About Logan Hickman
Logan Hickman, ChFC®, CLU®, serves as director of advisory annuity distribution for Nationwide. In his role, he leads a team of high-performing sales professionals who are responsible for growing advisory annuity sales within the broker-dealer channel. Hickman is also responsible for helping design and implement long-term sales strategies that align with Nationwide's mission of protecting people, businesses and futures with extraordinary care.
Perhaps most importantly, though, Hickman is a fervent champion of diversity, equity and inclusion. Aside from the daily duties of his role, he serves as the President of Nationwide's Pride Employee Resource Group’s Scottsdale Chapter. He also serves on BISA's DE&I Committee and is a 2023 BISA Rising Star.
Hickman and his husband, Ben, live in Scottsdale, AZ with their cream-colored miniature dachshund, Whitney. Outside of work, they enjoy hiking (when it’s not too hot), long weekend trips and exploring the Phoenix food scene with friends.
About Jermaine Perrien
Jermaine Perrien has worked in the financial services sector since 2005. He joined Symetra Financial in 2015 and is currently assistant director of internal sales/talent and development for the retirement division. Perrien was recognized by BISA as a 2023 Rising Star and is a member of the Association for Wholesaling Diversity. He is passionate about providing opportunities, helping others realize their potential and increasing financial literacy. Perrien also serves on Symetra’s DEI Strategy Team and the retirement division’s DEI Leadership Council. A 2004 graduate of the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington, Perrien lives in the Pacific Northwest with his wife and children.
About Megan Richter
Megan Richter is a wealth management regional Eeecutive with Key Investment Services within the following markets: Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Oregon, Washington and Alaska. She leads and coaches a team of Wealth Market Leaders leading Private Client Financial Advisors to grow her business through deepening our existing relationships and expanding our market share across Key Bank’s footprint.