Cleveland: Diversity Drives Economic Recovery
STEVE STEINOUR
HUNTINGTON BANCSHARES
96 DiversityInc
THE ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME AND MUSEUM
key, says Nuru-Holm. “It’s one thing to get them in the door, but it’s another
to retain them,” she says. For example, student services include the AHANA
Peer Mentoring Program, designed to engage incoming Black, Latino, Asian
and American Indian freshmen both academically and socially. Similarly,
the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Alliance (GLASA) and LGBT Student Services
work in concert and are active, organized and visible. “They feel they have a
voice here,” says Nuru-Holm. Support through cultural-competency training
and education is also available, including CSU’s free Leadership Forum on
Diversity series for students, educators and the public.
Diversity and inclusion are core value at Columbus, Ohio–based
Huntington Bancshares. “We are committed to attracting and retaining indi-
viduals from a variety of backgrounds, with a variety of characteristics and
attributes,” says Steve Steinour, chairman, president and CEO of Huntington,
which operates more than 600 branches in Ohio, Michigan, Indiana,
Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Kentucky. “But we realize that diversity
in and of itself doesn’t advance our mission. To keep winning as a growth
organization, we need to be more open and actively welcome the unique way
of thinking that every colleague has to offer.”
Huntington has refocused its efforts on diversity, and in January 2011, the
company appointed Traci Dunn as senior vice president, inclusion director.
“This journey is focused on building an inclusive culture," says Dunn. "It
brings out the best in each of us. It enables us to drive innovation to improve
the customer experience in all the ways they expect but most importantly all
of the ways that exceed their expectations. Our unified approach to inclusion
enables us to provide an inclusion lens to our talent processes as well as our
business practices.”
In Greater Cleveland, Huntington supports the Global Cleveland
Initiative and Welcome Center. This initiative is about attracting talented
people to the area—whether they are from other parts of the country or
other parts of the world. The center connects them to opportunities in the
