I am in awe of the strides our industry has made on LGBTQ+ inclusion since my early days with OPEN Finance 15 years ago, let alone since I began my career in 1989, when I saw no alternative to being closeted. We should never forget that our progress would not have been possible without committed LGBTQ+ and ally employee activists within each firm, working tirelessly to convince colleagues and executives to stand on the right side of history.

 

One of the best aspects of being an OPEN Finance member firm is that we have opportunities to learn from and inspire each other to make our firms, and our industry as a whole, even better for LGBTQ+ employees.

 

Today, as head of the Office of LGBTQ+ Affairs at JPMorgan Chase, my team and I develop and execute an agenda that makes the most of our firm's strength and scale to drive progress on LGBTQ+ matters internally and externally. Integral to our strength and scale are the 39,000+ employees in our LGBTQ+ business resource group, and the 500+ Managing Directors and Executive Directors who serve on our LGBTQ+ Executive Forum. Together, we seek to enhance our businesses and our culture, while in parallel broadening the programming and benefits we can provide to our LGBTQ+ employees and our employees with LGBTQ+ family members.

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I’ve seen material progress and growth in representation since JPMorgan Chase established my Office of LGBTQ+ Affairs in 2021. Since then, our firm has seen increases in the number of employees self-identifying as LGBTQ+, including 50% growth year-over-year in 2021 followed by 35% growth year-over-year in 2022. To me, this demonstrates the impact of being more visible and intentional with LGBTQ+ diversity initiatives.

 

Additionally, we continue to offer and enhance comprehensive benefits under our U.S. Medical Plan to support health outcomes for LGBTQ+ employees and family members. This includes a dedicated LGBTQ+ health concierge service to help employees identify in-network LGBTQ+ affirming providers; enhanced transgender benefits to better support employees and covered dependents from the gender-expansive community with accessing a broader set of gender-affirming services and procedures; and family-building benefits to increase flexibility in our employees’ journeys of considering when to start a family.

 

Mentorship and networking are other areas in which we’ve deeply invested. For example, the Managing Directors and Executive Directors in our LGBTQ+ Executive Forum pledge to offer informal mentoring to support future leaders. One specific initiative they execute is a quarterly series of virtual small group networking sessions for LGBTQ+ and ally employees, where our MDs and EDs facilitate dialogue about career development and being out and authentic in the workplace. These pockets of intimate dialogue in a safe space provide ascending talent from across all communities with direction and support, which helps them see new possibilities, take action in their careers, and find value in being their full selves at work.

 

A robust, year-round cadence of optional training to help LGBTQ+ and ally employees develop their understanding of the LGBTQ+ community is another great example of how grassroots employee energy combines with the strength and scale of JPMorgan Chase. For example, employees on our Gender Expansive Council championed Trans 101 training and Non-Binary 101 training, which was built out and implemented by our Learning and Development team.

 

I see our work leading to more and more people around the globe feeling they too can live their lives authentically and thrive, and in doing so, we can connect with more and more employees, clients, business owners, and communities around the globe to provide equitable opportunities to reach their personal and professional dreams.

 

Learn more about JPMorgan Chase’s LGBTQ+ efforts at jpmorganchase.com