Associations Explore the Economic Upside
of Inclusion at Diversity Summit 2009
In order to stave off financial disaster,
financial advisers typically tell their clients to diversify. In response to the global
economic downturn, more than a dozen
speakers told association professionals
the same thing last month at the 2009
Association Forum of Chicagoland Diversity Summit, held May 7 at the American
Bar Association.
“In the past, when we think about diversity inclusion, it’s been driven from a
compliance-based perspective,” says this
year’s Diversity Summit keynote, Robert
Rodriguez, Ph.D., author of Latino Talent:
Effective Strategies to Recruit, Retain and
Develop Hispanic Professionals. “But in this
day and age I think we all fundamentally
believe that diversity is good for business.”
During his keynote, Rodriguez, assistant
dean of the Kaplan University Graduate
School of Management, discussed the
changing face of the American workforce
and presented strategies associations can
At the May 2007 Diversity Summit, the Forum
announced an unprecedented commitment
to invest $1 million to double the number of
diverse management personnel employed by
Chicagoland associations by 2012. Since then,
57 associations have joined the Diversity Workforce Partnership, making an annual commitment of at least 10 hours of staff time to assist
with the Forum outreach effort at job fairs and
speaking at events. The Forum is grateful to
these participating organizations:
Association Management Center
American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons
American Academy of Pediatrics
American Association of Diabetes Educators
American Bar Association
American College of Healthcare Executives
American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians
American Dental Hygienists’ Association
American Dietetic Association
American Health Information Management
Association
American Library Association
American Medical Association
American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy
American Society for Quality
use to harness the abilities of minority talent, with a focus on Hispanic employees.
“The workforce of the future is going to
look much different than it does today,”
Rodriguez says. “So those associations
that are much more effective in making
sure folks from unique and different backgrounds are able to work together, are
able to leverage each other’s strengths
and are able to invite voices that maybe
in the past have been marginalized, [they
will benefit from] the real power of diversity and inclusion.”
The theme of this year’s Diversity Summit was “Managing and Leading a Diverse
Workforce in This Economic Climate,” and
featured a case study on diversity in the
arts, courtesy of The Goodman Theater,
as well as four breakout sessions on topics such as multiculturalism; board, staff
and volunteer development; and diversity
benchmarking.
Patricia Blake, CAE, immediate past
American Society of Safety Engineers
American Society for Surgery of the Hand
American Theological Library Association
Anixter Center
Appraisal Institute
Bostrom Corporation
CCIM Institute
Chicago Association of REALTORS
Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce
Consortium for Professional Credentialing
disabilityworks (an initiative of the Chicagoland
Chamber of Commerce)
Healthcare Information and Management
Systems Society
Hispanic American Construction Industry
Association
Hispanic Alliance for Career Enhancement (HACE)
Home Builders Association of Greater Chicago
Human Resource Management Association of
Chicago
Illinois CPA Society
Illinois Nurses Association
Illinois Podiatric Medical Association
Institute for Diversity in Health Management (an
affiliate of the American Hospital Association)
Institute of Food Technologists
International Association of Defense Counsel
chair of the Forum, has seen firsthand the
business benefits of diversity. As executive
director of the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, she makes inclusion a top priority for her organization.
“We have about 40 employees, and
we’re very diverse,” she says. “I believe
that helps us perform better; we’re all better, smarter and brighter because we have
a diverse workforce.”
Forum held its first Diversity Summit in
2000 in order to discuss how it could commit to diversity and assist in the professional advancement of association
professionals from underrepresented populations. Since then, it has adopted a professional practice statement on “Achieving
Diversity in Associations,” published
numerous articles on diversity in FORUM
and awarded annual professional development scholarships to association professionals through the Association Workforce
Diversity Scholar program.
International Association of Lighting Designers
International Psychogeriatric Association
Institute of Real Estate Management Foundation
Insulating Concrete Form Association
Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority
Mainstreet Organization of REALTORS
Mechanical Contractors Association
Meetings & Events USA
Million Dollar Round Table
National Association of Social Workers, Illinois
Chapter
National Automatic Merchandising Association
National Black MBA Association
National Marine Manufacturers Association
National Roofing Contractors Association
RSM McGladrey
SmithBucklin
Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers
Society of Women Engineers
Solutions by Connell LLC
St. Jude League/Claretian Publications
Young Adult Library Services Association
For more information about the Diversity
Workforce Partnership, please contact Forum
Workforce Manager Nicholas Bailey at bailey@
associationforum.org or (312) 924-7043.
