Allyship is a journey rather than a destination. The work of an ally never really ends and allies understand they are not necessarily always working toward a goal, but rather, serving a greater purpose.
Each year, as part of our Women of Color and Their Allies event, Fair360, formerly DiversityInc recognizes a handful of individuals it has seen do the work of an ally and lift up underrepresented communities within their organization. This year’s validated allies were announced at the event, held on Sept. 21 in Louisville in partnership with Humana.
2022 Validated Allies
Carolyn Tandy
Since joining Humana as the Senior Vice President and Chief Inclusion and Diversity Officer, Tandy has helped the company break into the Top 10 on Fair360, formerly DiversityInc’s Top 50 Companies for Diversity list. She has worked to refresh Humana’s Executive Inclusion & Diversity Council, developed new avenues for recruitment, built support for supplier diversity initiatives through the company’s mentor protégé program, and created greater connectivity between the company’s Network Resource Groups.
Prior to joining Humana, Tandy served as Director of Diversity and Inclusion at Texas Roadhouse, leading the company’s national diversity and inclusion strategy for more than 70,000 employees across 58 markets.
Lisa Kaplowitz
As the co-founder and executive director of the Rutgers Center for Women in Business, Kaplowitz currently serves as an assistant professor of professional practice in the Finance and Economics department at Rutgers and has been a powerful voice for gender equity both in the workplace and at home.
Her work in fighting for gender equality dates back to her days as a college gymnast at Brown University, when Kaplowitz and her teammates won a landmark Title IX case that added more varsity athletic opportunities for women and served as a catalyst for other universities and high schools to follow suit.
Kevin Hourican
Kevin Hourican is the President and CEO of Sysco. He was among the CEOs to sign the CEO Pledge in 2020, part of the CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion effort, to rally the business community to support the advancement of diversity and inclusion within the workplace. In that same year, he helped Sysco launch its internally focused podcast called “Real Talk” to provide diverse leaders, allies and associates to have honest discussions about issues in society and what the company can do to work toward solutions.
Under his leadership, the company has not only increased diverse representation among associates, but has also increased spend with women and minority owned suppliers by 25%.
Martin Lyons
In early 2022, Lyons took over for former Ameren CEO Warner Baxter, a long-time champion of DEI, and has continued the work that has made Ameren the Top Utilities Company for Diversity in three out of the last five years. Within the company, Martin has emphasized the importance of DEI learning summits for Ameren leaders and focused on accountability through the introduction of performance metrics which require diverse hiring slates and panels.
In 2021, Ameren spent approximately $900 million with diverse suppliers, up nearly $100 million from the year before and has committed to increasing that number in 2022 under Lyons’ leadership.