TheCorporateCounsel.net

When I started at the SEC way back in 1994, I was immediately struck by how much more of a diverse workplace it was as compared to the private sector companies where I had worked (I had a career as a financial analyst working for financial institutions while I was in law school). At the time, I probably chalked the differences up to working for the federal government versus working in the private sector. What I soon realized when I embarked on my career at the SEC was just how much of a difference a diverse workforce can make in terms of creating a successful, dynamic organization.

When I started in Corp Fin in 1995, Linda Quinn was the Director of Corp Fin, most of my supervisors were women, and the workforce as a whole was a very diverse group. The “Senior Staff” in Corp Fin included women and minorities, and they instilled in everyone a sense that the Division operated as a meritocracy whereby anyone in the Division, regardless of their race, ethnicity, age, gender, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, disability, economic status or other diverse backgrounds, could advance in their careers if they worked hard and worked well with others as a team. At a time when DEIA was not necessarily on everyone’s mind and before the agency had OMWI as a driving force for promoting DEIA, it seemed to me that the recognition of the importance of diversity was just part of the SEC’s DNA. Those early experiences taught me a lot about the value of DEIA efforts, and how important those efforts are to any organization.

– Dave Lynn