Athena, a community platform for women leaders, investors, CEOs, board directors, and corporations, has received a $100K commitment from Bank of America as part of their initiative for more women to join the C-Suite. Through this gathering of successful women in a broad range of professional areas, Athena offers executive coaching, board opportunities, exclusive events, one-on-one mentorship, and more. The organization also guides CEOs, venture firms and corporations in their approach to develop senior leadership, strengthen their boards, and gain access to top female leaders.
Bank of America’s commitment will help broaden the diversity of Athena Alliance’s membership in support of the organization’s recent establishment of the Access Fellowship Fund. The fund aims to increase the number of women of color into Athena to help them advance their careers.
“To effectively remove barriers to equality and create meaningful progress, it’s critical to focus on and address areas where systemic, long-term gaps have and continue to exist,” said Sheri Bronstein, chief human resources officer at Bank of America.
With this new partnership Athena will sponsor 240 multicultural women, giving them a no cost membership that will grant them access to the broad range of development tools and learning resources offered in the Access Fellowship. Up to half will be top multicultural talent will be drawn from within Bank of America. Those individuals, women of color, will have experienced the bank’s Women’s Next Level Leadership Program that hones their strategic and tactical skills to help them progress their careers.
In furthering women to the very top of corporations and organizations, Athena offers members three levels of involvement: Self-Service, Concierge Service, or Coaching Accelerators that over the course of year-long one-on-one coaching programs members’ personal goals are targeted. In addition, all receive curated networking, member-to-member mentorship and access to a wide range of opportunities, such as board seats, executive roles, and speaking engagements.
“We believe the demographics at the top of business need to mimic the demographics of the society business serves. To do this, Athena’s goal is to have 40% of its membership comprised of underrepresented women,” said Athena Founder and CEO Coco Brown.
Through this initiative Bank of America builds on its commitment to diversity through its board of directors and CEO who chairs its Global Diversity and Inclusion Council. The bank also has 11 Employee Networks with over 300 chapters and over 160,000 memberships worldwide. Their networks that includes LEAD (Leadership, Education, Advocacy and Development) for Women and BPG (Black Professional Group) bolster workers through the development of leadership skills, connection to their local communities and creation of effective paths for diversity recruitment.
In addition, Bank of America’s board of directors is 47% diverse – two directors are African American; one is Hispanic; and six are women. The global management team is 50% diverse, and more than 50% of its global workforce are women. More than 45% of the company’s U.S.-based workforce are people of color. The Bank also recently made a $1 billion, four-year commitment to advance initiatives that foster racial equality and economic opportunity, particularly for people and communities of color.
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