It included essential questions in the four areas we measure—CEO Commitment, Human Capital, Corporate and Organizational Communications, and Supplier Diversity. We invited companies in 24 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs), mostly in the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic and New England, to participate. Here are five organizations that stood out, in their ranked order.

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No. 1: KeyCorp, Cleveland
The regional bank, whose CEO, Beth Mooney, is a strong proponent of D&I, has a CEO-led executive diversity council, and 15 percent of executive bonuses are tied to diversity goals. Its cross-cultural mentoring program is particularly effective, with two-thirds of its managers participating.

No. 2: PNC Bank, Pittsburgh
With strong mentoring and resource groups, PNC has made great progress in its efforts to promote women. There are almost 20 percent more women in the second level of management (direct reports to the CEO’s direct reports) than the average of all companies that submitted.

No. 3: Ameren, St. Louis
The utility company has very strong CEO support in Tom Voss and deep community connections. Ameren spends 8 percent of its gross revenue on philanthropy and directs half of that to multicultural nonprofits.

No. 4, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, Newark
The health-insurance company takes advantage of the diversity of its home city, with its new hires of Blacks and Latinos more than double the average percentages of submissions.

No. 5: SSM Health Care, St. Louis
The hospital system has strong mentoring and work/life programs and has increased its women in top management.

The other participants, in alphabetical order, were: American Diabetes Association, Cintas Corporation, Dot Foods, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Huntington National Bank, The Laclede Group, Moffitt Cancer Center, State Street Corporation, and Thompson Hine LLP. We commend them for sharing their data and for their commitment to improving their diversity-management initiatives.

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KeyBank Foundation Awards $1.25 Million to Cleveland Metropolitan School District and Cleveland State University for “STEM” Classrooms on Cleveland State Campus

CMSD, CSU to create joint campus for 11^th and 12^th graders at MC²STEM High School

CLEVELAND – January 8, 2013 – KeyBank Foundation has awarded a $1.25 million grant that will enable the Cleveland Metropolitan School District and Cleveland State University to partner in creating a STEM school for 11^th and 12^th grade students on the CSU campus, officials from KeyBank Foundation, the school district and the university announced today. The grant agreement is expected to be approved by the boards of CMSD and CSU at their next meetings on January 8 and January 16, respectively.

The grant will fund renovations at Cleveland State’s Rhodes Tower to create facilities for students from the Cleveland schools’ MC²STEM high school. The high school, which offers a special curriculum emphasizing science, technology, engineering and math, has demonstrated significant success in preparing students for higher education. Its goal is to immerse high school students in a college environment, to better prepare them for enrollment at a four-year university. MC²STEM recently graduated its first class; 100 percent of those graduates enrolled at a university.

Currently, 9^th grade students at MC² attend classes at the Great Lakes Science Center, while 10^th graders are taught at GE Lighting’s Nela Park campus in East Cleveland.

“We are proud to invest in a partnership that we believe holds great value for Northeast Ohio as it prepares students for success in education and for advanced careers in a modern workforce,” said KeyBank Chairman and CEO Beth Mooney.

The upgraded facilities at Cleveland State will include renovated classrooms, laboratories and a fabrication lab, or FabLab, where computers and production equipment are linked through sophisticated technology that allows students to create objects based on their own designs.

In addition to renovations, KeyBank Foundation’s grant will provide scholarship support for students intending to take early college courses and enroll at CSU.  It also includes budget support for CSU to provide professional development opportunities for STEM teachers, as well as graduate student support for STEM students.

“The long-standing partnerships maintained with KeyBank and CSU have been instrumental in our ability to expand our high-performing school choices in Cleveland,” said Cleveland Metropolitan School District CEO Eric Gordon. “Support from our business and higher education communities provides additional momentum for the implementation of the Cleveland Plan that complements levy support from citizens to propel us toward our transformation goals.”

This gift is the latest in a series from KeyBank Foundation in support of STEM education at CMSD. In 2011, the Foundation awarded $700,000 to CMSD to fund STEM programming and support services at six elementary and middle schools in the District. In total, KeyBank Foundation has awarded CMSD more than $2.5 million to support STEM education initiatives. Key also announced today that they will be donating 1,900 computers to CMSD for use in classrooms and computer labs across the District.

“We are thankful to KeyBank Foundation for continued support of innovative educational programs and pathways to college for Cleveland students. The creation of the MC² partnership would not be possible without this gift and the commitment of our faculty to the mission of preparing a new generation of students to succeed in college,” said Cleveland State University President Ronald Berkman.

“In addition to offering a curriculum that prepares students for higher education, we are introducing them to a college environment, which contributes to a smoother transition after they graduate from high school,” said Margot Copeland, executive vice president and chair of KeyBank Foundation. “And, because the STEM disciplines are so rigorous, they prepare students not only to enroll in a four-year college but also to graduate.”

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Contacts:
KeyBank: Lynne Woodman, (216) 577-1374, lynne_woodman@keybank.com
Cleveland Metropolitan School District: Roseann Canfora, (216) 858-6510 roseann.canfora@cmsdnet.net
Cleveland State University: Joe Mosbrook, (216) 523-7279, j.mosbrook@csuohio.edu

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The hiring manager at her first banking job hired Mooney on the condition that she would get her master’s degree in finance. That extra talent development made all the difference, Mooney said during her keynote at a DiversityInc event.

“I owe it to him. If someday I wanted a promotion, [not having a degree] would stand in my way,” she said. Her advice? Get all the talent development you can. “Acquire credentials you need for success and the ones that give you the most flexibility for opportunity,” Mooney said.

Additionally, Mooney revealed the three personal skills that she believes women need to focus on during talent development—a strong sense of self, a sense of humor and a sense of team.

It’s these “sensibilities” that helped her become the first female CEO of a top 20 U.S. bank in May 2011 and rank No. 1 in American Banker’s 25 Most Powerful Women in Banking. KeyCorp is one of DiversityInc’s 25 Noteworthy Companies.

1. Sense of Self

Mooney learned an important lesson in personal talent development when she took her first job: Sometimes a strong sense of self is the only thing that’ll get your foot in the door.

She knew she wanted to be in banking—a male-dominated field. After being turned down by several banks, she wasn’t going to take “no” for an answer. It took Mooney three hours to wear down the hiring manager at her next interview. She got the job on the condition that she would go to night school and increase her talent-development potential.

“The man who had hired me was just reflective of the times. Women were tellers, not executives or having executive potential … They simply didn’t hire women into training. The bank did not believe women were a good fit for a managerial training program,” said Mooney. “But I was tenacious, so I was given the chance.”

2. Sense of Humor

But “getting into banking wasn’t the same as getting ahead in banking,” said Mooney. She still had to deal with being one of her company’s only female employees, as well as to earn respect from her male clients. It again was time for some personal talent development.

By using humor to re-characterize herself, she was able to save a commercial real-estate account in the mid-1980s. “[The clients] felt they could take advantage of me. They were anxious to discount me. I had to fix that fast to do my job,” recalled Mooney.

Watch the video above to learn how Mooney’s sense of humor proved that she “wasn’t stupid” and saved the meeting. “Humor creates balance and perspective for the environment around you. It helps manage the external realities in your career, which are not always easy or friendly, even harsh,” Mooney said.

3. Sense of Team 

There has been tremendous progress among women, thanks to increased talent development from diversity-management efforts.

In 2011, the global percentage of women leaders hit an all-time high: 1 in 10 companies had a female director. “Part of the difference is that we led not with differences but by trying to be a part of the team. Diversity has found its way to the C-suite by doing so,” said Mooney.

However, there is still a long way to go. With Fortune 500 CEOs totaling less than 4 percent women (18 total), it is clear that talent-development initiatives in many companies need further fine-tuning.

“The way to succeed in any career is be part of the solution,” said Mooney. Talent development helps every employee to be a team player. Talent development also helps you to better understand the business and how it works. “Behind every successful woman and man is a pit crew.”

Talent Development & the Future?

Mooney knows that it is still “something of an event” to have a “woman or a diverse” candidate leading a company today. But she believes that in the future it will be different. She attributes that more diverse future to the evolution of leadership and the considerable diversity and inclusion efforts of diverse leaders. In addition to mindful recruiting and promotions, their efforts frequently include innovations in talent development, like Kraft Foods’ JumpStart program that provides talent development to master the unspoken “rules” of corporate culture.

She continued, “I have a theory for those who succeed in business dominated by white males. We came in and acted like we belonged. Guess what? Now we do.”

For more on the benefits of talent development, read Best Practices on Improving Retention.

The post How Talent Development Helped This Woman Became CEO of a Major Bank appeared first on DiversityInc.

In this exclusive, 2,240-word Q&A with DiversityInc’s Senior Vice President and Executive Editor Barbara Frankel, Beth Mooney shares insights about how her journey has involved overcoming naysayers, getting help from mentors and sponsors and, most importantly, her own perseverance, hard work and vision for herself.

In the interview, Mooney discusses:

• The feminization of leadership and how women influence organizational culture from the top
• How diversity can change personal career trajectory
• Creating opportunities for future generations and the importance of coaching/mentoring
• Why diversity is key to the success of community banking

KeyCorp is one of DiversityInc’s 25 Noteworthy Companies and is No. 4 in The DiversityInc Top 10 Regional Companies. Mooney follows in the footsteps of retired Chairman and CEO Henry Meyer, who had been a strong diversity leader at KeyCorp.

Read Q&A With KeyCorp’s CEO Beth Mooney at DiversityIncBestPractices.com.

For more on women in leadership, read Successful Career Paths for Women in Corporate Sales.

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