We can say, ‘We can’t find talent,’ but we’ve been going to the wrong places! - Ryan Companies CEO Brian Murray
Getting buy-in “My presentation is a sprint through U.S. history from the perspective of African Americans,” said Williams, who has frequent appearances with national media. He looks for three things from organizations seeking to partner with the Racial Justice Initiative: First, buy- in from the top, because that’s what drives change. Second, a multiyear commitment to the work of racial justice — because there is no quick fix. And third, a willingness to connect the values of their mission statement to the work of racial justice. His talks, always tailored to his audience’s industry and values, are what he calls “historical recovery” and are meant to fill in the gaps in most people’s understanding of Black history. They touch on topics from redlining and racial covenants to Jim Crow justice and the often-overlooked role of Black women in securing the right to vote. Historical recovery acknowledges the wrongs that have been done, he said. The education sessions and the pre-session homework Williams assigns — often a combination of reading and viewing documentaries like TPT’s “Jim Crow of the North” — are designed to ground the listeners in a shared experience that can build a foundation
Three of the companies, Ryan Companies, Kowalski’s and Delta Dental of Minnesota, share their journey.
Ryan Companies: employee diversity Ryan Companies CEO Brian Murray, the first non- family member to lead the construction management company, says he first began to better understand systemic racism and his own unconscious biases through his three children, Colombian adoptees. When they entered high school and started getting treated differently, such as being pulled over by police. Their experiences opened his eyes. They might live in the same house, but they were not all living in the same world. When he assumed the CEO role in 2018, Murray made diversifying the workforce one of his top priorities. After a September 2020 Racial Justice Initiative presentation where Williams spoke to 80 of Ryan’s senior leaders via WebEx, there was a common thread among leaders that accelerated the company’s progress on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), Murray said. They set a goal to increase the number of diverse employees to 20% by 2025. With the assistance of a February 2021-established Black employee resource group, the company sent recruiters for the first time to historically Black
for further learning and transformation. Over the last three years, more than a dozen companies and nonprofits have participated in the Racial Justice Initiative’s educational sessions: Best Buy, Ryan Companies, SPS Commerce, U.S. Bank, as well as local grocery chain Kowalski’s Markets, to name a few. In learning from the Racial Justice Initiative, these companies enhanced or expanded their own commitments to racial justice.
colleges and universities (HBCUs). Ryan has since hired several interns from Tuskegee Institute with “incredible engineering expertise,” Murray said. It also hired Atlanta-based Keisha Duck as its new chief human resources officer. Such changes
increased the percentage of diverse employees among its 2,000 employees.
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