DiversityInc - October 2006

PEOPLE &PLACES

Brenda Thompson

Director, Diversity and Leadership Education, MGM MIRAGE

In the extremely competitive hospitality and entertainment industry in Las Vegas, MGM MIRAGE has a distinct edge that keeps bringing customers back. That edge is cultural awareness, and Brenda Thompson is primed to take its diversity initiatives to the next level.

Thompson, formerly the diversity manager for Sprint Nextel (No. 39 on The 2006 DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity® list), is the new director of diversity and leadership education at MGM MIRAGE (No. 40 on The 2006 DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity® list).

Strategically, the vision for diversity and leadership education is “about maximizing 100 percent inclusion of everyone in the organization,” she says. “Diversity leadership seeks to increase the value-added opportunities and resources that result from knowing and understand-

ing the similarities and differences in our growing global work force.”

At MGM MIRAGE, the goal is to make diversity training a core component that infiltrates every facet of the business. MGM

MIRAGE has made diversity training a
requirement for all of its senior managers
and expects to do the same for all of its
70,000 employees. Thompson and her team
are responsible for supporting this effort. She
currently is in the process of meeting with
each property president and property project manager to
“ensure I understand their diversity and leadership train-
ing needs and to ensure that we are working in lock step.”

Diversity training has made an impact on the business and it shows, according to Thompson. “It’s about awareness and making customers feel included. They are little things, small adjustments in behavior, but these kinds of things keep them coming back.”

Kevin Carter

General Manager, Diversity and Inclusion in the Americas, BP

Leaving a U.S. diversity leader such as

Safeco (No. 10 in the DiversityInc Top 10

Companies for GLBT Employees) is no small endeavor. But with more than 20 years in the diversity field, Kevin Carter decided to make just that leap when he joined the global giant BP.

Carter came to BP in July after holding diversity-leadership and strategic-planning roles at various companies, including Ernst

& Young (No. 24 on The 2006

DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity® list), McDonald Investments, National City Bank, and most recently, Safeco. Carter, who was recruited by BP, decided to make the change because he saw greater professional opportunities at an international company.

“In the diversity field, you always aspire to get to
work for a global company,” he says. “I’m excited by all
the different countries, cultures, people and styles I will

have the opportunity to interact with … both growing as a person and being part of a company that can make progress in diversity and inclusion on a global scale, particularly around women in parts of the world such as Latin America … This is something that I can accomplish here [at BP] that I cannot do in an American company.

BP, which has nearly 100,000 employees in 100 countries across six continents, officially launched its diversity initiative in

2000. The division’s broad purpose is to create plans and policies to enact an inclusive meritocracy across BP.

“We are still at a stage where we are fostering commitment on diversity and inclusion,” says Carter. “When this was launched we created a 10-year strategy, and we are midway along the journey. At this point, we want to truly engage all of the senior leaders and grow from there.”