[House Hearing, 117 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
A REVIEW OF DIVERSITY AND
INCLUSION AT AMERICA'S
LARGEST INSURANCE COMPANIES
=======================================================================
HYBRID HEARING
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON DIVERSITY
AND INCLUSION
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON FINANCIAL SERVICES
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
SEPTEMBER 20, 2022
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Financial Services
Serial No. 117-99
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
______
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
48-839 PDF WASHINGTON : 2022
HOUSE COMMITTEE ON FINANCIAL SERVICES
MAXINE WATERS, California, Chairwoman
CAROLYN B. MALONEY, New York PATRICK McHENRY, North Carolina,
NYDIA M. VELAZQUEZ, New York Ranking Member
BRAD SHERMAN, California FRANK D. LUCAS, Oklahoma
GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York BILL POSEY, Florida
DAVID SCOTT, Georgia BLAINE LUETKEMEYER, Missouri
AL GREEN, Texas BILL HUIZENGA, Michigan
EMANUEL CLEAVER, Missouri ANN WAGNER, Missouri
ED PERLMUTTER, Colorado ANDY BARR, Kentucky
JIM A. HIMES, Connecticut ROGER WILLIAMS, Texas
BILL FOSTER, Illinois FRENCH HILL, Arkansas
JOYCE BEATTY, Ohio TOM EMMER, Minnesota
JUAN VARGAS, California LEE M. ZELDIN, New York
JOSH GOTTHEIMER, New Jersey BARRY LOUDERMILK, Georgia
VICENTE GONZALEZ, Texas ALEXANDER X. MOONEY, West Virginia
AL LAWSON, Florida WARREN DAVIDSON, Ohio
MICHAEL SAN NICOLAS, Guam TED BUDD, North Carolina
CINDY AXNE, Iowa TREY HOLLINGSWORTH, Indiana
SEAN CASTEN, Illinois ANTHONY GONZALEZ, Ohio
AYANNA PRESSLEY, Massachusetts JOHN ROSE, Tennessee
RITCHIE TORRES, New York BRYAN STEIL, Wisconsin
STEPHEN F. LYNCH, Massachusetts LANCE GOODEN, Texas
ALMA ADAMS, North Carolina WILLIAM TIMMONS, South Carolina
RASHIDA TLAIB, Michigan VAN TAYLOR, Texas
MADELEINE DEAN, Pennsylvania PETE SESSIONS, Texas
ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ, New York RALPH NORMAN, South Carolina
JESUS ``CHUY'' GARCIA, Illinois
SYLVIA GARCIA, Texas
NIKEMA WILLIAMS, Georgia
JAKE AUCHINCLOSS, Massachusetts
Charla Ouertatani, Staff Director
Subcommittee on Diversity and Inclusion
JOYCE BEATTY, Ohio, Chairwoman
AYANNA PRESSLEY, Massachusetts ANN WAGNER, Missouri, Ranking
STEPHEN F. LYNCH, Massachusetts Member
RASHIDA TLAIB, Michigan FRANK D. LUCAS, Oklahoma
MADELEINE DEAN, Pennsylvania TED BUDD, North Carolina
SYLVIA GARCIA, Texas, Vice Chair ANTHONY GONZALEZ, Ohio, Vice
NIKEMA WILLIAMS, Georgia Ranking Member
JAKE AUCHINCLOSS, Massachusetts JOHN ROSE, Tennessee
LANCE GOODEN, Texas
WILLIAM TIMMONS, South Carolina
C O N T E N T S
----------
Page
Hearing held on:
September 20, 2022........................................... 1
Appendix:
September 20, 2022........................................... 31
WITNESSES
Tuesday, September 20, 2022
Domingo, Eloiza, Vice President, Human Resources, and Chief
Inclusive Diversity & Equity Officer, Allstate................. 4
Lindley-Myers, Chlora, Director, Missouri Department of Commerce
and Insurance, on behalf of the National Association of
Insurance Commissioners (NAIC)................................. 7
Nunery, Leroy D. II, President, Evolution Advisors, LLC.......... 6
Ross, Kimberly W., Senior Vice President, Federal Relations,
American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI)....................... 9
Webel, Baird, Specialist in Financial Economics, Congressional
Research Service (CRS)......................................... 10
APPENDIX
Prepared statements:
Domingo, Eloiza.............................................. 32
Lindley-Myers, Chlora........................................ 38
Nunery, Leroy D. II.......................................... 42
Ross, Kimberly W............................................. 70
Webel, Baird................................................. 80
A REVIEW OF DIVERSITY AND
INCLUSION AT AMERICA'S
LARGEST INSURANCE COMPANIES
----------
Tuesday, September 20, 2022
U.S. House of Representatives,
Subcommittee on Diversity
and Inclusion,
Committee on Financial Services,
Washington, D.C.
The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:53 p.m., in
room 2128, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Joyce Beatty
[chairwoman of the subcommittee] presiding.
Members present: Representatives Beatty, Lynch, Tlaib,
Dean, Garcia of Texas, Williams of Georgia, Auchincloss;
Wagner, Gonzalez of Ohio, Rose, and Timmons.
Ex officio present: Representative Waters.
Chairwoman Beatty. The Subcommittee on Diversity and
Inclusion will come to order. Without objection, the Chair is
authorized to declare a recess of the subcommittee at any time.
Also, without objection, members of the full Financial Services
Committee who are not members of this subcommittee are
authorized to participate in today's hearing.
Today's hearing is entitled, ``A Review of Diversity and
Inclusion at America's Largest Insurance Companies.''
I will now recognize myself for 4 minutes, but before the
clock starts, let me just say to the witnesses and the audience
that due to the business of the House, the time of this hearing
had to be changed, so we lost several of our Members due to
their leadership roles in other committees, but I assure you
that the ranking member and I, and our colleagues, both
virtually and here, will give you our full attention. Now, I
recognize myself for 4 minutes to give an opening statement.
Today, we are here to discuss diversity and inclusion at
America's largest insurance companies. When I became Chair of
this D&I Subcommittee, I made a commitment to investigate the
state of diversity and inclusion in the financial services
sector, not only because the composition of the industry should
mirror the diversity of this country, but also because study
after study after study has shown that diverse and inclusive
companies are more productive and more profitable. We started
by looking at banks and investment firms earlier in this
Congress, and we discovered that women and minorities are
unrepresented at these institutions.
This hearing, the third in a series, takes a closer look at
insurance companies. Think about it, while no one is required
to have a bank account or make investments, most people are
required to have some type of insurance. For example, you need
car insurance to drive a car or mortgage insurance to buy a
house. The insurance industry touches the lives of nearly every
American and has assets totaling nearly $6 trillion.
That is why earlier this year, Chairwoman Waters and I sent
letters to 27 of the largest property, casualty, and life
insurance companies requesting data on their diversity and
inclusion policies and practices. And I am happy to report that
all 27 companies submitted data in response to our request.
After months of analysis, the committee staff published a
report earlier this week entitled, ``Diversity and Inclusion:
Holding America's Largest Insurance Companies Accountable.''
This comprehensive report evaluates diversity in six different
categories: overall workforce; executive leadership; CEOs;
board diversity; suppliers; and investment assets. The results
were disappointing. We found that the largest insurance
companies are lagging behind in the same things we measured at
banks and investment firms. On average, only 30 percent of
employees at the largest insurance companies are people of
color, compared to just over 40 percent at banks and investment
firms.
Of equal concern is the finding that women and minority
representation is concentrated at the lower level, and drops
significantly the higher up you go on the corporate ladder. For
example, 77 percent of administrative support employees
identified as women, compared to 34 percent at the executive
level, and 28.5 percent at the board of directors' level.
Although some firms are doing better in certain categories,
none are meeting expectations in every category. This report
shows that there is still plenty of work for us to do, and I am
proud that we are starting the work today with this report and
this hearing.
I am thankful for our witnesses here today, and note that
the CEOs who were invited to testify declined. Let the record
show that I am going to invite all 27 CEOs to meet on a Zoom
meeting with me, and I certainly will invite the ranking
member. This country is rich with diversity, a diverse
reservoir of talent, and it is time that we start harnessing
that resource to make our institutions stronger and better.
Let me just say, there is no one solution to the problem of
diversity and equity. We all have to work together, and learn
from each other, and do our part to achieve a more inclusive
system that offers opportunities to all.
I now recognize the ranking member of the subcommittee, my
colleague, and friend, and it is my honor to yield 5 minutes to
Congresswoman Ann Wagner from Missouri for 5 minutes for her
opening statement.
Mrs. Wagner. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman. And I want to
thank our witnesses who are here both in person and virtually
for testifying before our subcommittee today.
Today's panel includes witnesses representing multiple
parts of the insurance industry. I would like to specifically
welcome a fellow Missourian, Chlora Lindley-Myers, who is the
director of the Missouri Department of Commerce and Insurance.
Thank you for joining us today. I'll look forward to hearing
all of your testimony and taking this opportunity to learn more
about the achievements being made within your industry.
While the insurance industry has made great strides over
the past few years in improving overall workforce diversity,
Republicans agree that insurance companies can build upon the
progress that has been made to improve diversity, particularly
within its leadership. Republicans also agree with certain
recommendations made in the Majority's report, and indeed, many
of the companies sampled have already implemented some of these
recommendations.
In particular, the Majority recommended that companies
partner with Historically Black Colleges and Universities
(HBCUs) to build talent pipelines, and 100 percent of the
sampled companies already do so. Next, to develop workforce
diversity goals that are made public, and 96 percent of the
sampled companies already do so.
Third, to routinely evaluate existing diversity and
inclusion programs to ensure the effectiveness and efficiency
of programs, and 92 percent already do so. And fourth, to have
a lead diversity officer who can inform strategic discussions
across the C-suite, and 96.2 percent already do so.
I am glad to see some progress that the private sector has
already made in these categories without government
intervention. In addition, there is bipartisan support for
training academies that educate employees on job opportunities
and match graduates with mentors and sponsors to support their
career goals.
These best practices will be especially effective in
combating the challenges that companies face in increasing
diversity, specifically within their leadership ranks as
compared with overall workforce diversity, which is much closer
to mirroring the general population. However, I do want to
reiterate my concern and opposition to any legislative efforts
that impose mandatory reporting regimes on companies that are
diverse in their size, location, mission, strengths, and
challenges. It is clear that while diversity and inclusion
within the industry has greatly improved, insurance companies
still have much room for growth in several categories.
Companies that are still facing challenges can learn from the
successes of their peers and implement similar strategies.
I look forward to learning more today about the best
practices and strategies within the insurance industry.
I thank the Chair, and I yield back.
Chairwoman Beatty. Thank you.
Now, I am honored to recognize the Chair of the full
Financial Services Committee, a long-time leader and advocate
for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I), the gentlewoman
from California, Chairwoman Maxine Waters.
Chairwoman Waters. Thank you so very much, Chairwoman
Beatty.
I am proud that we are releasing a third in an
unprecedented series of reports examining diversity and
inclusion within the financial services sector. This time, we
are focused on the diversity of our nation's largest property
and casualty and life insurance companies.
The insurance industry is a unique sector of financial
services that has had much less Federal oversight than the rest
of the financial services industry because it is primarily
regulated by the States. But insurance products are equally, if
not more ubiquitous in the everyday lives of consumers. While
no one is required to have a bank account or make investments,
it is often a requirement to obtain certain types of insurance
to drive a car or obtain a mortgage, or rent a home. The
committee's report makes it clear that these companies still
have much work to do to improve transparency and
accountability.
I look forward to discussing the findings of this report.
And thank you, Chairwoman Beatty. I yield back.
Chairwoman Beatty. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman.
Today, we welcome the testimony of our distinguished
witnesses: Eloiza Domingo, the vice president of human
resources and chief inclusive diversity & equity officer at the
Allstate Corporation; Dr. Leroy Nunery II, the president of
Evolution Advisors, who is joining us virtually, I believe;
Chlora Lindley-Myers, the director of the Missouri Department
of Commerce and Insurance, testifying on behalf of the National
Association of Insurance Commissioners, and she was also
mentioned by our ranking member; Kimberly Ross, the senior vice
president of Federal relations at the American Counsel of Life
Insurers, and I would like to take the personal privilege to
also say she is also someone who started this journey of DE&I
with me, so it's great to see you in your new capacity; and
Baird Webel, a specialist in financial economics at the
Congressional Research Service.
Witnesses are reminded that their oral testimony will be
limited to 5 minutes. You should be able to see a timer that
will indicate how much time you have left. I would ask that you
be mindful of the timer so we can be respectful of both the
witnesses' and the committee members' time.
And without objection, your written statements will be made
a part of the record.
Ms. Domingo, you are now recognized for 5 minutes to give
an oral presentation on your testimony.
STATEMENT OF ELOIZA DOMINGO, VICE PRESIDENT, HUMAN RESOURCES,
AND CHIEF INCLUSIVE DIVERSITY & EQUITY OFFICER, ALLSTATE
Ms. Domingo. Good afternoon, Chairwoman Beatty, Ranking
Member Wagner, Chairwoman Waters, Ranking Member McHenry, and
other distinguished members of the committee. My name is Eloiza
Domingo. I am the vice president of human resources and the
chief inclusive diversity & equity officer at Allstate. Before
I begin, I want to share my gratitude to you, Chairs Waters and
Beatty, for creating the survey and subsequent processes.
At Allstate, one of our leadership competencies is to
challenge ideas, which essentially means pushing the status quo
with the intention of making things better. I also wish to
thank everyone who worked tirelessly on the details of today's
hearing. I am humbled and grateful for this opportunity to be
here and testify as you review diversity and inclusion at
America's largest insurance companies.
I have been in the field of diversity for over 20 years,
serving in leadership positions within academics,
pharmaceuticals, law enforcement, and healthcare. I have been
honored to lead and build the strategic work at places like
Cincinnati's Children's Hospital Medical Center, Astellas
Pharma, Johns Hopkins Medicine, Indiana University, Miami
University, Bucknell University, and now, at the Allstate
Corporation. But I am more proud of being a single mom.
I am the firstborn daughter of immigrants from the
Philippines who moved here in the 1970s. I am raising four
biracial boys. I have two sets of twins. My 14-year-old boys--I
know--and my 9-year-old boys. And for all those reasons, I
pursued this work, or maybe this work pursued me. It is why I
am happy to be here today to support this very important
conversation.
At Allstate, we use the term, ``inclusive diversity &
equity,'' or IDE on purpose. More than 20 years ago, we turned
inclusion into an adjective because diversity is really nothing
without an inclusive environment in which to thrive. That's
what Allstate believes, that everyone deserves to live a life
well-protected, everyone has a right to participate and prosper
in an equitable society. Allstate is one of the largest
providers of protection to consumers in the United States,
protecting their cars, their homes, phones, personal property,
lives, and identities with 172.8 million policies in force, and
$39.5 billion of premiums over the last 12 months.
We also know that true diversity changes a journey and
requires clear planning. Our multiyear IDE corporate strategy
was built with many stakeholders and focuses on four pillars:
business practices; people; culture; and community. And these
pillars clarify our drive and leadership accountability to
comprehensively integrate IDE into our daily practices and our
daily behaviors.
Under these four pillars, we have achieved milestones: our
people diversity meets or exceeds external benchmarksc, with
women making up approximately 57 percent of our total
workforce; 42 percent of our employees identify as racially or
ethnically diverse; 71 percent of our leadership, which is our
directors and above, identify as female or a person of color;
and 60 percent of Allstate's independent directors bring
gender, race, or ethnic diversity to the board. And we provide
guidance and accountability to ensure that diverse talent is a
part of our candidate slates.
We are a founding member of OneTen, a 10-year effort to
train, hire, and promote 1 million Black Americans who don't
have a 4-year degree and who are making below a family-
sustaining wage. This is part of our acknowledgment of the
wealth gap in minority communities and that Black families are
hit the hardest. So, we have dedicated ourselves to pursue
equity in our people practices.
A part of Allstate's legacy is to challenge convention. We
did this on Wall Street in 2020 when we became the first
corporate issuer to select exclusively minority-, women-, and
veteran-owned firms to lead a $1.2-billion bond sale, which led
to other companies pursuing similar bond deals with diverse-
owned companies. And since 2004, we have tripled our annual
spend with diverse suppliers to $4.7 billion.
At Allstate, we are constantly looking for new ways to
expand our IDE efforts. Under this strategy, we will expand our
definition and operations of diversity to improve the way we
support women, the LGBTQ+ population, veterans and military
families, those with disabilities, and many other diverse
communities in a meaningful way. And this is why I volunteered
to be here today, to share my recommendations and my
perspectives on inclusive diversity and equity in the insurance
industry.
I thank you, again, for the opportunity to address the
committee today, and I look forward to engaging in a discussion
together.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Domingo can be found on page
32 of the appendix.]
Chairwoman Beatty. Thank you very much, Ms. Domingo.
Dr. Nunery, you are now recognized for 5 minutes to give an
oral presentation on your testimony.
STATEMENT OF LEROY D. NUNERY II, PRESIDENT, EVOLUTION ADVISORS,
LLC
Mr. Nunery. Good afternoon, Chairwoman Beatty, Ranking
Member Wagner, and distinguished members of the subcommittee.
Thank you for inviting me to testify today and share with the
subcommittee some of my work around diversity, equity, and
inclusion on behalf of the American Property Casualty Insurance
Association (APCIA) that I believe directly aligns with the
important work of this committee.
As mentioned, I am founder and principal of Plus Ultre,
LLC, and now, president of Evolution Advisors, LLC. Evolution
Advisors is a joint venture of Acrisure, a fintech that focuses
on providing growth acceleration and greater access to
minority-owned insurance agencies and brokers. In addition to
Acrisure, our founding partners are Russell Wilson of the
Denver Broncos, his spouse, recording star Ciara, and Russell
Westbrook of the Los Angeles Lakers.
I have worked as an independent consultant for APCIA since
2020 on a variety of topics. I looked at assessing and
advancing the industry's investment in diversity, equity,
inclusion, and belonging. In 2019, the APCIA board of directors
adopted DEI as a strategic priority for the trade association
and it established a CEO-level working group on social equity
and inclusion to oversee its initiatives and its long-term
planning.
The working group commissioned me to develop an anonymized
catalog of APCIA member companies that examines diversity
efforts among the industry's workforces, boards, and supply
chains. The initial catalog was intended to be used as a
measure for industry progress and accountability through
continued analysis and ongoing updates.
The inaugural 2020 catalog included feedback from 52
property, casualty insurers and revealed that many companies
have already established and made intentional investments in
DEI. For example, 88 percent of the companies surveyed have DEI
imbedded in their business and talent pipeline and practices,
and their company cultures, and percent of the respondents
undertook pay equity analysis, and this was across all sectors
and all sizes of companies, through either internal or third-
party studies.
Sixty-nine percent of overall company recruitment goals
include strategies to engage in hiring diverse talent. There is
so much more to do, but we did find it noteworthy that
geography was the most cited challenge to DEI. Twenty-seven
percent of the companies reported, though, that the pandemic
actually created opportunities for recruiting and retaining
diverse staff.
We don't want to gloss over the findings, and there are
areas of improvement. Seventy-three percent of the companies do
not have, or did not have, DEI metrics included as part of
their organizational key performance indicators. And one pillar
area for improvement is identifying and developing more
diversity amongst senior executives. I am happy to be
continuing the work on the catalog this year, and our
preliminary results so far show that the companies are making
continual efforts, and there are some areas of improvement that
will show up in the updated survey.
I would also like to say that there are additional
projects, for example, the National African American Insurance
Association's Next Journey study, which highlights and
coincides with what your committee found, and also what we
found in separate research. I think insurers do understand that
this is not about the number of diverse faces at the table, but
the experience of those individuals once they are brought on
board. The industry seems to be shifting from an isolated focus
just on recruitment data, to a more inclusive picture of worker
experience, and programs for retention.
But there is also evidence of growing attention for
leadership development, mentorship, and retention programs, and
increased interest in HBCU recruitment. I am hoping we can
continue to keep the pulse on this, and also to move it
forward. There is no one-size-fits-all solution, but we do
think that there is some encouragements here, as long as we
keep moving forward with intentional effort and collaboration.
Thank you very much for the time. I appreciate it.
[The prepared statement of Dr. Nunery can be found on page
42 of the appendix.]
Chairwoman Beatty. Thank you, Dr. Nunery.
Ms. Lindley-Myers, you are now recognized for 5 minutes to
give an oral presentation of your testimony.
STATEMENT OF CHLORA LINDLEY-MYERS, DIRECTOR, MISSOURI
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE AND INSURANCE, ON BEHALF OF THE NATIONAL
ASSOCIATION OF INSURANCE COMMISSIONERS (NAIC)
Ms. Lindley-Myers. Thank you so much.
Good afternoon, Chairwoman Beatty, Ranking Member Wagner,
and members of the subcommittee. I want to thank you for this
invitation to testify today. We appreciate the subcommittee's
effort to examine diversity and inclusion in the insurance
industry. State insurance regulators are committed to working
on inclusivity and representation in the insurance sector. This
is an important topic, and we look forward to sharing the
ongoing efforts of State insurance regulators to address issues
of race and insurance.
Our State insurance regulatory system, and insurance in
general, reflects the society it aims to protect. Over our long
history of protecting policyholders, addressing unfair
treatment of consumers, and protecting solvency, insurance
regulators have made consistent efforts to address issues of
discrimination and market access as part of a broader
conversation around pricing and underwriting in specific
insurance product lines.
However, in the wake of the 2020 national call to action on
race and inequality, the NAIC decided it could do more and
created a special committee on race and insurance, which I co-
chair. Included in this effort is a dedicated work stream
focused on diversity and inclusion in the insurance industry.
The special committee is the first of its kind in NAIC history.
Its charge is to evaluate racial inequality in the insurance
sector across all facets. This includes evaluating the
insurance sector, both as providers of insurance products, and
as employers of a large workforce.
The creation of the special committee has elevated the
NAIC's work surrounding race and inequality to candid,
commissioner-level discussions on whether and how the industry
is serving the needs of all people, policyholders and
employees, regardless of race. A key focus is on the importance
of recruiting, retaining, and promoting talent for a
representative of the insurers, customers, and communities.
To that end, we have developed broad, consensus-based
recommendations for steps that regulators and the industry can
take to improve the diversity in the employment pipeline and
the resulting employee base. We recently released these draft
recommendations for public comment, and we look forward to
receiving feedback. We acknowledge the initiatives by the
industry to increase DE&I in their organizations and look
forward to continued engagement from all stakeholders as we
finalize our recommendations.
We are also pleased to share that the NAIC has formed the
New Avenues in Insurance Careers Foundation. The foundation
will focus on fostering interest in careers in insurance and
insurance regulations, with particular focus on students from
underserved and diverse communities. On the international
front, the NAIC has used its platform to promote discussion of
the DE&I issues at the International Association of Insurance
Supervisors (IAIS). In response, the IAIS has committed to
strengthening the work on DE&I by creating a forum for
regulators to share steps taken in support of such efforts and
incorporating DE&I aspects into ongoing IAIS projects for
corporate governance, culture, and conduct.
Turning to our regulatory focus, we believe there should be
equal access to insurance markets and products. This stance is
not new. We must ensure that insurance companies are not
unfairly discriminating at any stage of the insurance process,
from underwriting to rate setting to claim handling. To that
end, the NAIC's algorithmic bias project is addressing unfair
algorithmic bias and how it emerges its right regulatory
approaches to mitigation and detection.
Recently, the project held a multi-day collaboration
session for State insurance regulators featuring academics and
experts on the topic. These issues were being discussed and
looked at so that we can take measured and deliberative actions
to avoid unintended consequences in the market. We are
committed to continuing these important efforts, and we welcome
your engagement. We recognize that the subcommittee's report
indicates that insurance, like the financial services sector at
large, has significant room for improvement to ensure a diverse
workforce at all levels of the organization.
Like you, we expect the statements of support and
commitment made in the wake of the deaths of George Floyd and
other victims of racial violence to be met with sustained
commitment to progress. The insurance regulatory committee is
committed to being a part of that progress. I want to thank you
for this opportunity to testify, and I will be pleased to
answer any of your questions.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Lindley-Myers can be found
on page 38 of the appendix.]
Chairwoman Beatty. Thank you, Ms. Lindley-Myers.
Ms. Ross, you are now recognized for 5 minutes to give an
oral presentation of your testimony.
STATEMENT OF KIMBERLY W. ROSS, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, FEDERAL
RELATIONS, AMERICAN COUNCIL OF LIFE INSURERS (ACLI)
Ms. Ross. Good afternoon, Chairwoman Beatty, Ranking Member
Wagner, Chairwoman Waters, Ranking Member McHenry, and members
of the subcommittee. Thank you for allowing me to testify today
on behalf of the American Counsel of Life Insurers (ACLI). It
is certainly a 360 moment for me, and I am honored and humbled
to be here.
Our mission at ACLI is ensuring a lifetime of financial
security and protection for all families. Pursuing diversity,
equity, and inclusion is also a proud and interconnected part
of the mission for ACLI and the industry. We know that
empirical evidence shows that DEI is good for the bottom line,
spurs greater innovation and decision-making, and is the right
thing to do. Diverse firms outperform those that are not. We
know this, and that is why DEI is an integrated part of how we
ensure that every American has access to financial security for
life.
Turning to the committee's report completed for this
hearing, it shows there has been some tremendous progress on
the DEI front for our industry during the 5-year cover period.
I will highlight just a few: 92 percent of covered firms had at
least 50 percent of their workforce comprised of women; in
2017, 100 percent of insurance companies leveraged diverse
organization to increase recruitment of people of color and
women, which includes recruitment at our nation's HBCUs and
Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs).
The percentage remains high in 2021 at 94 percent, despite
the pandemic. The insurance industry's focus on leveraging
diverse asset managers has increased. In 2021, 12 firms spent
with women-owned asset managers, and 15 firms with minority-
owned asset managers, an increase of 33 and 15 percent,
respectively, from 2017.
ACLI believes life insurers are uniquely positioned to
achieve DEI goals through the products we offer and the
investments we make. Our products build financial certainty and
can significantly enhance the transfer of intergenerational
wealth. We are leading by example and serving as a catalyst and
resource for our members to advance the renewable DEI goals and
programs.
I would like to share information on a few collective
efforts underway by our industry to grow our DEI commitments,
which are extracted from our strategic plan. In 2020, ACLI
developed its board-led Economic Empowerment & Racial Equity
Initiative, also known as EERE. EERE is a four-pillar
initiative interwoven with ACLI's overarching goals to serve
all Americans, and it is designed to transcend enduring
boundaries to financial security.
Chairwoman Beatty, life insurers know that having a diverse
and inclusive workforce is a business imperative. In 2019, ACLI
established a DEI forum led by chief diversity officers of our
member companies and senior leaders within ACLI, including our
CEO. For the past 3 years, our quarterly meetings culminated in
an annual DEI conference with the APCIA and the Life Insurance
Council of New York. The conference brings together hundreds of
chief diversity officers, regulators, CEOs, and other leaders.
Through the DEI forum in this conference, CEOs exchange ideas
and innovations and set an industry-wide DEI focus.
For instance this year, the DEI focus grappled a top-of-
line issue on retention of diverse talent in the face of the
Great Resignation. And at the conference, we unveiled our
latest impact-investing initiatives in affordable housing
called 360 Community Capital. Many of our companies actively
recruit, hire, and employ graduates of HBCUs and Hispanic-
Serving Institutions, participate in the HBCU challenge, and
partner with many affiliated organizations to advance workforce
and other impactful DEI goals in communities across the
country.
We also know that promoting diversity in corporate
leadership is critical to growth. ACLI supports the Improving
Corporate Governance Through Diversity Act, H.R. 1277,
introduced by Congressman Meeks and Senator Menendez. Diversity
is needed at all levels within a company, especially within the
CEO and C-suite levels, where mission-critical decisions and
resource allocations are determined.
Chairwoman Beatty and Ranking Member Wagner, as laid out
more fully in my written testimony, significant DEI work is
underway at ACLI. And as your report shows by many of our
member companies, we are committed to growth and know there is
more work to be done. Our commitment is deep in tangible,
girded by our 175 years of protecting families. We remain
intentional to the DEI mission before us, and I thank you again
for the opportunity to testify, and I look forward to the
discussion.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Ross can be found on page 70
of the appendix.]
Chairwoman Beatty. Thank you, Ms. Ross.
Mr. Webel, you are now recognized for 5 minutes to give an
oral presentation on your testimony.
STATEMENT OF BAIRD WEBEL, SPECIALIST IN FINANCIAL ECONOMICS,
CONGRESSIONAL RESEARCH SERVICE (CRS)
Mr. Webel. Thank you.
Chairwoman Beatty, Ranking Member Wagner, and members of
the subcommittee, I appreciate the opportunity to testify
today. My name is Baird Webel, and I am a Specialist in
Financial Economics at the Congressional Research Service
(CRS). And just one note of housekeeping, especially for people
who might be watching who aren't familiar with CRS, we are an
organization that provides objective, nonpartisan research and
analysis to Congress. CRS as an organization takes no position
on the desirability of any specific policy or policy outcome.
The first part of my written testimony basically takes a
look at some of the other government statistics in this area.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) puts out a lot of more
macro-level statistics, and I thought it might be interesting
to take a look essentially at what some of the macro statistics
say compared to what the committee's findings were. And in
this, I would be remiss in not thanking my colleague with me
today, economist Lida Weinstock from CRS, who shared valuable
expertise in preparing this portion. And the second part is
basically some observations on the legislation that was also
put forth with regard to this hearing.
Looking at the, sort of, overall statistics, BLS basically
takes a macro-level approach so that this survey is essentially
hoping to represent the entire employed population of the
United States. And they have stuff going back a little bit
further to 2011 or so, so a little bit longer look than what
the committee had taken a look at.
I think that when you look at the statistics, I guess the
conclusion that you draw from the macro statistics is somewhat
mixed. There are some areas in which the insurance industry has
a higher percentage in some of the racial/ethnic categories and
some in which they have a lower percentage. In particular, the
macro statistics show that in Black and African-American
populations, they are a little bit higher than the overall
working population. And in Hispanic and Latino populations,
they are somewhat lower. And particularly, in women, also much
higher than the overall working population.
But I think that it is important to keep in mind that these
are macro statistics, and they do not drill down into the
hierarchy of the insurance industry in the same way that the
committee did with the surveys that you produced. And so I
don't think--if there are numbers in the macro statistics that
are somewhat contradictory or maybe--I would take that as an
interesting piece of information. There may be some differences
in measurement bias or something along that regard. But
overall, I think the numbers are broadly consistent between the
macro picture and what the committee found in the surveys that
it took.
Particularly with regard to insurance, I am actually more
surprised at some of the differences between securities and
banking worlds in the macro statistics. And a couple of words
about some observations on the legislative side. As has been
noted, the primary regulation of insurance is at the State
level, and this does, I think, create some complications for
Congress when it wishes to exercise authority in the realm of
insurance.
In looking at the pieces of legislation, both the drafts
and what has been introduced, you can see that there are
obviously differences in banking and in securities when you
have direct regulators of those spheres under the Federal
purview. So, it is basically a question of using the
authorities of the Federal Insurance Office, or the Federal
Reserve, which does have oversight of a very small number of
insurance companies at this point, or the other tact that is
sort of taken is addressing diversity and inclusion through the
more general securities loss. And in terms of this regard in
insurance, I would just also draw the Members' attention to the
fact that much of the insurance industry is also in a mutual
form, which means they are not publicly traded, they are not
selling stock to the public, and that may, depending on how you
sort or craft a legislation, reduce the impact that going the
sort of SEC securities law route has on the insurance industry.
With that, my time is about done, and I will be happy to
answer any questions.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Webel can be found on page
80 of the appendix.]
Chairwoman Beatty. Thank you for your testimony, Mr. Webel.
I now recognize myself for 5 minutes for questions.
My first question is for you, Dr. Nunery. One area we
investigated was CEO diversity at insurance companies, and the
findings in that area were troubling, to say the least. On
average, 24 out of 27 CEOs were White men, two were White
women, and one was an Asian man. Not one woman of color was
represented at this level.
Can you describe the impact of this lack of diversity on
the insurance industry or on consumers?
Mr. Nunery. I think the issue is of concern and needs to be
addressed. When you look at other studies, let's say Business
Insurance Magazine, when they do their diversity study, 60-some
percent of the respondents say that the CEO is most responsible
and accountable for enacting DEI initiatives. The next-highest
person is the chief human resources officer, at 15 percent.
That is a 50-point gap between the two. If you don't have
leadership that either represents or can speak to or is aware
of the concerns and issues of diverse communities, it is likely
that management inside those companies won't be held
accountable.
One of the challenges that the industry has is attracting
talent. When I do informal surveys and ask how many people in a
room of 100 knew about insurance as a career when they were in
high school, maybe 2 hands out of that 100 go up. How about
college, maybe 3 hands. And that is in diverse communities with
diverse audiences. I guess the key here is making the industry
more attractive, but also making sure that the retention
efforts really are meaningful.
In short, leadership does matter here, particularly when
you are talking about establishing policies and making sure
there is someone held accountable for reporting all the way
through the organization. It is not something that can be fixed
overnight. But it is--
Chairwoman Beatty. Thank you very much for that. That is a
good segue for my next question, which goes to you, Ms.
Domingo. We find that most minority and women representation
occurs at the lower level. As someone who is in leadership at
your insurance company, Allstate, can you explain why that is
and whether there is a system in place or a pipeline for women
and minorities?
Ms. Domingo. Thank you, Chairwoman Beatty.
I appreciate that question. It is a really important
question, even for myself as a woman of color in leadership. We
actually, at Allstate, have seen an increase in our promotion
of women and people of color in our leadership over time. We
have also seen an increase in our hiring of women and people of
color in our management, actually over the availability of
diverse candidates in the nation. We have set that goal, and we
have actually exceeded that goal.
To your question about systems that are in place to ensure
diversity, like many of our peer companies, we have a lot of
racial and ethnic diversity at some of our lower levels, our
independent contributors and our hourlies, somewhere in the
vicinity of about 57 percent. One of the things that we have in
place is leadership programs. We have about 14 of them that
target females and--
Chairwoman Beatty. And just for the sake of time, where has
that gotten us? We have all these, you are admitting, at the
lower level. Is there a pipeline of how many people report to
the president and CEO, have a seat at the table with the board
of directors? Because we are also talking about equity, and the
reports aren't showing that, so maybe I missed something.
Ms. Domingo. No. That's okay. That is something that we are
still working on. However--
Chairwoman Beatty. But does it exist now?
Ms. Domingo. It does exist right now. And our board, we are
actually happy to present--you are the first to know--that our
board diversity, which is about 60 percent right now, is going
to increase in the next year. We are bringing on a Black
female. And so--
Chairwoman Beatty. You have how many now?
Ms. Domingo. We have 3 of 10 who are female, 3 of 10 who
are people of color, and we are bringing on another Black
female at the end of--
Chairwoman Beatty. Another--how many Black females do you
have now?
Ms. Domingo. All of the people of color are male.
Chairwoman Beatty. So, there are no females?
Ms. Domingo. No. We have females.
Chairwoman Beatty. There are no Black females--
Ms. Domingo. We are bringing one on--we are excited to
bring one on at the end of this year.
Chairwoman Beatty. Okay. Thank you.
The next question is for Ms. Ross. Despite the fact that
over 90 percent of ACLI member companies have committed to
diversity, what do you think the insurance sector is lagging
behind in?
My time--I am going to give myself a few seconds for you to
answer, and the rest you can put in writing.
Ms. Ross. Chairwoman Beatty, thank you for your question.
Did you want me to take time to answer it?
Chairwoman Beatty. If you are more comfortable responding
in writing--it is fine--the ranking member is letting me have a
few extra seconds.
Ms. Ross. Thank you. Certainly, there is room for growth.
The DEI is an integral part of the growth for our industry. And
we know that in terms of our total workforce numbers, there is
an opportunity for growth, but we are proud of our increases in
supplier diversity. We are proud of our numbers on our boards
of directors, and again, the growth that we have had for women
in our industry. We think it exceeds other parts of the
financial services sector, and we are encouraged by that
growth, while knowing that there is still room to grow.
Chairwoman Beatty. Okay. Thank you very much. I now have
the privilege to yield to the ranking member of the
subcommittee, the gentlewoman from Missouri, Ms. Wagner, for 5
minutes.
Mrs. Wagner. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman.
As I said in the subcommittee many times before, I do
support voluntary disclosures of diversity and inclusion data.
Having frank and honest conversations about what challenges
companies face in recruiting a diverse workforce can help us
tackle those challenges, and examining diversity data is a big
part of that conversation.
However, I have long opposed mandatory disclosures that
create an apple-to-oranges comparison between companies with
different missions, goals, locations, and resources. I want to
thank the companies that participated in this survey for
telling their own stories in full context.
Since each company self-determined their metrics, I don't
think we can really use this data for straight comparison, but
it is a starting point to look at what practices work for
promoting diversity and what obstacles companies still face.
With that in mind, I do want to explore one of the biggest
challenges we saw in the data--and I know the chairwoman has
spoken about it, I have, and the committee has as a whole--and
that is the executive level diversity. The committee received
data in response to the chairwoman's letter, which showed that
the sample insurance companies employed, on average, 30.5
percent people of color, and 54.6 percent women. Those numbers
show real progress. However, at the executive level, the
responding companies employed 16.2 percent executives of color,
and 33.5 percent of female executives.
Ms. Ross, do you think itis important to have a diverse
board and C-suite in order to meaningfully shift the culture of
a company?
Ms. Ross. Thank you for your question, Ranking Member
Wagner. Absolutely. That is why ACLI has worked with the NAIC
on our insurance and race effort; that is why we have grown our
numbers for board diversity for the nation's largest insurance
companies at 28.5 percent for women, and 22 percent for people
of color. And it is consistent with, or better than the
performance of some of the other sectors of the financial
services industry. As far as CEO levels, we know that those
advancements are usually made from our C-suite, and that is why
we are focused on our C-suite efforts to diversify
And with that growth in our board diversity, we look to
having more diverse levels at our CEO. But what I do want to
also highlight is that although there was not diversity in the
CEO level for the companies that were surveyed, there are other
companies among our 280 member companies that do have a woman
or--
Mrs. Wagner. I think all participated in the survey
portion. We are sorry that more didn't show up for hearing, but
I appreciate your input. Let me move on.
Lack of diversity is not always an easy problem to solve
because the root causes are sometimes complex. I think one way
we can continue to progress in this area is to have a candid
dialogue about what is working and what is not working. We can
learn from each other and not be shamed for the things we are
trying but may not yet be yielding results.
Ms. Domingo, Ms. Ross, what are the challenges that you are
facing? What are you struggling with? Are there additional
factors we can consider to increase the recruitment apparatus
in the talent pool?
Ms. Domingo?
Ms. Domingo. Thank you so much for that question,
Congresswoman Wagner.
I agree entirely that audits like this are actually some of
the reason that we think it is important to examine and look at
yourself in the mirror. Some of the things at Allstate that we
are handling is ensuring that our managers have the education
and the scripting to actually talk about this. It is one thing
for me and for the leadership to be able to talk about this,
but for our managers to also give this information and talk
about this in a fluid way with their employees, to talk about
equity in the hiring and promotion processes, is also important
for us.
Mrs. Wagner. Thank you very much. I am out of time. I
appreciate your efforts and your being here today.
And I yield back to the Chair.
Chairwoman Beatty. Thank you.
I now recognize the Chair of the Full Committee, the
gentlewoman from California, Chairwoman Waters, for 5 minutes.
Chairwoman Waters. Thank you very much, Chairwoman Beatty,
for this hearing. This is so important, and the work that has
been done that you and I basically initiated has revealed an
awful lot about insurance companies. Let me just say this: I
know that some of the insurance companies like Allstate are
very familiar in our communities, and we see people of color at
various events representing Allstate, et cetera, et cetera. I
don't want to focus on employment. I want to focus on
ownership.
And I am looking at supplier diversity. The average amount
of money spent with diverse suppliers at surveyed insurance
companies was 2.7 percent with minority-owned suppliers, 2.4
percent with women-owned suppliers, and 1.2 percent with
minority- and women-owned suppliers, as a percent of overall
procurement spent.
Chairwoman Beatty took up the oversight of something that
we created some time ago called the Offices of Minority and
Women Inclusion (OMWIs). We learned a lot about those who were
in positions of leadership as it related to diversity and
inclusion and what they seemingly did or were supposed to do in
order to create opportunity.
One of the things we discovered was that not many of them
knew much about how to create ownership with contractors. I am
about building wealth with ownership. For example, what is the
percentage of solo or with the use of suppliers? I am
interested in understanding that. And I am wondering, for those
of you who have positions where you are in charge of diversity
and all of that, do you talk about ownership? Do you talk about
using more suppliers? Do you talk about some old models that I
think we used to see where there were agents, I think, that had
companies and businesses that they owned, and they literally
did business with several insurance companies, and they wrote
the insurance for these--for the community.
What do you do in terms of understanding that we are not
only interested in employment--yes, we want upward mobility, we
want upper management--that there is a lack of this certainly.
It is still in the boardroom, but what do you do in
relationship to Black businesses, Latino businesses, women-
owned businesses, to include them in their businesses because
they are suppliers, they are business people who perhaps could
be agents if you still use them that way?
Ms. Domingo. Thank you, Chairwoman Waters. That is a great
question, and I am sure you saw my head nodding.
We have a goal at Allstate of $470 million spent with our
diverse suppliers by 2025. And at this point, towards that
goal, we have already achieved half of that goal. To your
point, one of the things that Allstate does is we provide each
minority supplier with a peer mentor. So, we supply them with
another vendor who is a majority vendor or another minority
vendor, and we provide peer mentorship. Then, we also provide
sponsorship and mentorship from the Allstate side to ensure--as
you know, attention, equitable attention, specific attention to
their success, coaching on their contracts--
Chairwoman Waters. Let me reclaim my time here for a
minute.
If I looked at your database for all of your suppliers,
would I see a comprehensive database where no matter what the
supply needs were, you had someplace to go and to reach out and
do business with suppliers? Or do you need to learn how do this
better?
Ms. Domingo. I would say a little bit of both. We do have a
warehouse of information where our suppliers can go and use our
procurement.
Chairwoman Waters. Why is the percentage so low?
Ms. Domingo. The percentage of our spend?
Chairwoman Waters. The amount that you spend on minority
and women suppliers. Why is it so low?
Ms. Domingo. We are increasing that with mentorship and
sponsorship as we speak. And again, we are happy to report that
we have half of our supplier spend already reached. And three
of our minority suppliers we recently sold to a majority
supplier at the amount of about $100 million, and so we are
also--
Chairwoman Waters. Thank you very much. My time is up, and
I have to yield back, but your response is not good. You do
very little, and you have to do better. All of the insurance
companies have to do better. We want ownership. We have to
close the wealth gap. Thank you very much.
Chairwoman Beatty. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman.
The gentleman from Tennessee, Mr. Rose, is now recognized
for 5 minutes.
Mr. Rose. Thank you, Chairwoman Beatty, and thank you,
Ranking Member Wagner, for holding this subcommittee hearing
today. And also, thank you to our witnesses for testifying
today and making your time available for us.
I would like to start off by saying that I was quite
disappointed when I saw the hearing schedule for this month. As
members of the Financial Services Committee, one of our primary
responsibilities is conducting oversight of the Executive
Branch. The last time we even held a hearing with a Biden
Administration official was on July 20th, and we will have gone
nearly 4 months without holding a hearing with any Biden
Administration officials because of the October recess.
It is not right for the Democratic majority to shield the
Administration from oversight just because there is an election
in November. The Senate Banking Committee held a hearing last
week with SEC Chair Gary Gensler. Why didn't we hold a full
hearing with Chair Gensler? While I appreciate our witnesses
for being here, we really should have Biden Administration
officials here instead.
Now, as time is limited, I will dive right into my
questions. Equity is being embraced wholesale by schools,
corporate America, and the Biden Administration. It has
infiltrated hiring, curriculum, admissions, trainings, and
more. But equity is not the same thing as equality, and
delivers very different results. Rather than providing all
individuals with equal opportunities to succeed, equity
segregates individuals by race and other immutable
characteristics. It calls for institutions to treat people
unequally in order to achieve equal outcomes. Equity recklessly
embraces legally-prohibited classifications as a way to
eliminate perceived differences in outcome, in violation, I
believe, of equal protection and Federal law.
Ms. Domingo, do you believe that it is fair to use equity
as an excuse to treat people unequally in order to achieve a
desired outcome?
Ms. Domingo. Thank you for the question, Congressman.
Allstate believes that equity is the practice of ensuring
that all people can be successful, all people can receive the
tools to be accepted, respected, dignified, and a part of the
community. We also see equity as a way to give everybody a fair
shot, regardless of diversity demographics.
At Allstate, we ensure fair practices in our hiring and in
our promotion. We do see equity as a way to be more inclusive
and have an environment that is even more inclusive. We live
our commitment to match the communities in which we live, work,
and serve, and equity is one of the ways that we desire to
achieve that goal.
Mr. Rose. I guess as I hear your answer, what I am hearing
you describe is the notion that I think we have all long viewed
as desirable, but that is equality, where we strive to give
people equal opportunities, and encourage environments where
people can succeed based on their capabilities and abilities
and on the content of their character, as Dr. King said.
What I see in equity is entirely different. I see as I
study this question and look at the description of how it is
being implemented across our society, I see just what I would
view, and I was just reading an article earlier today from Dr.
Ben Carson on what is the new form of racism. So, I am very
concerned about this drift from the use of the word,
``equality,'' and underlying meanings, and the substitution of
the word, ``equity,'' and the underlying meanings that go with
it.
But I want to go ahead and give a couple of other folks a
chance to answer that same question. Do you believe it is fair
to use equity as an excuse to treat people unequally in order
to achieve a desired outcome, Commissioner Lindley-Myers?
Ms. Lindley-Myers. Thank you for the question. I think that
when you look at equity and you are trying to determine whether
or not there is equal treatment, I believe it is one and the
same, in that you provide the opportunities for people to
either succeed or fail, and it is on that individual to either
succeed or fail. And I think not allowing everyone that
opportunity then leads to inequity and not equal treatment.
That would be my answer to you, Congressman Rose.
Mr. Rose. Thank you. I think we largely agree that equality
is a value which we should achieve and strive for, but I see I
am out of time, so I yield back, Chairwoman Beatty. Thank you.
Chairwoman Beatty. Thank you.
The gentleman from Massachusetts, Mr. Lynch, who is also
the Chair of our Task Force on Financial Technology, is now
recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. Lynch. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman. I really appreciate
you holding this hearing, and I appreciate the work of the Full
Committee Chair, Chairwoman Waters, on this issue as well.
And I think that if I could clarify the dilemma described
by my colleague, Mr. Rose, here is the deal: In the financial
services sector, we see very little presence in a meaningful
way of people of color, and that has developed over time. And
when you look at insurance company board rooms, and financial
services companies, and banks, you see very little opportunity
and participation by people of color. It is all White. All of
these boards are White. Let me just get to the point.
And so what this committee is struggling with is to
identify those barriers that heretofore have been exceedingly
efficient in preventing Black people, people of color, from
being part of that whole industry. That is a problem. We have a
problem. And we need to figure out a way that--we need to
fulfill the promise of America, and there is a real problem in
financial services, a really difficult problem.
And I know, just recently, that people are waking up to
that dilemma, and there are companies that are earnestly and
honestly and genuinely recognizing the failure of the industry
to be inclusive in the past. And they are trying mightily, some
of them, to fix that.
Now, what I would like to do is to ask our witnesses, look,
if you have struggled--if Allstate has struggled with this, and
other companies are struggling with this, what do you see as
the principal barriers to--I heard some of the numbers, and it
seems like women of color, there is a real--for some reason,
there is a real gap there.
And look, I grew up with five sisters. Fortunately, they
all work in a union environment, so they get the same pay as
the guys do, same benefits, same pensions, but this is a
different world. And I want to know from our witnesses, what
are you seeing the barriers are, and how do we knock down those
barriers?
Is it childcare? I know a lot of women of color also have
responsibility not only for childcare, but also eldercare. Is
there a way to knock down those barriers on the part of the
company by providing opportunity and providing some support to
get those women into the workplace at high levels? Are there
ways that we can help lift them up, or give them a hand? To any
of the witnesses, I would be happy to hear your response.
Mr. Nunery. Congressman, this is Leroy Nunery. Thanks for
that. I found the last commentary very interesting, talking
about equity and conflating it with equality, and here is why:
When you look at the industry, and I have done research for
years now, the way people end up getting hired into the
industry isn't from school, it isn't from an ad, it isn't from
a recruiter; it is because of a personal connection or friend,
and that goes for White, Black, or anybody else. The industry
itself has a brand awareness issue. If you want to not only
increase the amount of talent but also, as Chairwoman Waters
aptly stated, the amount of ownership, you have to have
sponsorship, you have to have somebody inside, but also
outside, advocating for that cause.
Childcare and eldercare particularly get in the way of
female insurance executives. If you look at the Million Women
Mentors' Women in Insurance Initiative, or the Association of
Professional Insurance Women, you will see that is one of the
factors, but also, it is a matter of having somebody inside who
promotes your cause and helps you to advocate.
If we really want to address some of the longstanding
issues in terms of pricing and redlining and all of that, you
have to have people realizing that this product is something
that everyone uses, but it is not fairly distributed and it is
not necessarily priced appropriately.
I am just stating that as someone who has been studying
this issue for a while. I think you have hit on something, but
it also applies to anybody of any ilk and any background.
Mr. Lynch. Thank you, Mr. Nunery.
Madam Chairwoman, my time has expired, so I yield back.
Thank you. Thanks for having this hearing.
Chairwoman Beatty. Thank you.
The gentleman from South Carolina, Mr. Timmons, is now
recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. Timmons. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman.
And I want to thank all of the witnesses for being here
today.
Ms. Domingo, I will start with you, please. What would you
say that you and your company are most proud of in the audit
results, and where would you say the most work remains to
further diversify your workforce?
Ms. Domingo. Thank you for your question, Mr. Timmons. I
would say that for Allstate, we are probably most proud of
our--in 2020 we created a $1.2-billion bond sale where we
worked with minority-owned, veteran-owned, and women-owned
business enterprises and supported the largest bond sale,
independent bond sale at that time, as part of our bold action,
our commitment to making real change and influencing others to
make real change, so we are very proud of that.
And then to your other question, as my colleague mentioned
before, we are creating sponsorship and mentorship programs to
ensure that our talent, our diverse talent at all levels of the
organization are seen as proteges. Sponsorship programs not
only support the employee who is being mentored or being
sponsored, but also support the sponsor to be more engaged and
accountable for moving diversity numbers.
Mr. Timmons. Sure, thank you.
I serve in the Air Force, and the military has been
grappling with diversity and inclusion and trying to make the
military and every group of decision-makers at every level
reflect the gender and racial diversity of the country. I think
that is a very good objective. I think everybody can agree to
that.
The question becomes, how do we get from where we are now,
which is not reflective of the makeup of our society, and where
we want to be, without disadvantaging people who have also had
challenging socioeconomic backgrounds that are not diverse. It
becomes an issue, particularly in the military, because we
track everything. And when there are promotion opportunities,
it often leaves people feeling like they have been left out
because they are not diverse, either in race or in gender.
Is this a challenge in your business environment? And I am
also going to open it up to the rest of the witnesses. It is
just something that we have been working on in the military,
and it is a lingering issue.
Ms. Domingo, I will start with you. Is that something that
you all deal with on a regular basis, the conversation of merit
versus diversity and inclusion?
Ms. Domingo. It is. It is a real conversation at Allstate,
and it is a critical conversation. One of the things that we
are doing is ensuring that we actually talk about it, so
talking with our managers, talking with our hiring managers,
particularly making sure that we have education about this.
I think one of the reasons why some of that continued
perception is ongoing is because some of these conversations
are actually not happening where some of the decisions are
taking place. That is one of the things. So I would say, yes,
this is ongoing for us, and having open and clear dialogue and
expectations is something that we are trying to do at Allstate.
Mr. Timmons. Thank you.
Dr. Nunery, do you have any thoughts?
Mr. Nunery. Congressman, you have hit on something. I am
doing a separate study, and interestingly, 90-some percent of
the folks that we are surveying have no military experience. A
significant number of them are not of any type of diversity in
terms of their gender designation. So, the industry itself has
an issue with recruiting, attracting, and being present with
those communities.
I think there is actually another opportunity going
downstream into community colleges, middle schools, and high
schools. A lot of the jobs inside, at least certain parts of
the insurance world, don't require a college degree. And so, I
think there is an opportunity here to say, wherever you are,
given the pervasiveness and the need for insurance and people
who really understand risk management, understand how insurance
works to educate more and bring more people on board, no matter
where you live, no matter how much education you have attained.
I am glad you raised that point, because it is something that I
am finding through my own independent research.
Mr. Timmons. Sure. Thank you.
I think we can all agree that our objective for the
military and for businesses is that our society is well-
reflected in those institutions. We just have to make sure that
we are being intentional about it, because we don't want to
take opportunities away from anyone. We want to give
opportunities to everybody.
And with that, Madam Chairwoman, I yield back. Thank you.
Chairwoman Beatty. Thank you.
The gentlewoman from Pennsylvania, Ms. Dean, is now
recognized for 5 minutes.
Ms. Dean. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman.
And thank you to all of our witnesses for testifying today.
And I would like to extend a special welcome to Dr. Nunery.
Dr. Nunery, if I am correct, you are my constituent in the
proud Fourth Congressional District of Pennsylvania.
Mr. Nunery. Cresheim Valley Road, Glenside, Pennsylvania
19038.
Ms. Dean. Glenside, a part of the civilized world. That is
even better. That is terrific.
We have talked about this before, but I want to lay the
predicate that we know that diversity and inclusion across all
industries improves the bottom line. It is not just the right
thing to do, but it improves the bottom line.
Dr. Nunery, from your work, your research, can you talk
about how increasing diversity improves profitability?
Mr. Nunery. The opportunity to not only bring diverse
voices into the room and also think about things differently
comes with the individuals who were there. One of the reasons I
joined Acrisure's Evolution Advisors is because we are
investing in minority-owned agencies and brokers, similar to
what Chairwoman Waters talked about being able to diversify
distribution, but also tap into markets and bring products to
the markets that often are evading them.
I think the idea of not only more creativity, greater
revenue, but more sustainability, are the outcomes of having
diversity. It is not one thing or the other; it is all of
those.
Ms. Dean. And does it also help--even though this isn't the
focus of this hearing, does it also help attract a more diverse
customer base, so you bring more people into the products that
are available?
Mr. Nunery. Congresswoman, it has to go beyond just the
advertising, what people see on their television screen. It is
also about education, financial literacy. How many people
really understand what they read when they get their insurance
policy? Imagine if what we did was bring all of that to the
table so that folks were better educated but also more
knowledgeable about what they were procuring. So, yes, I think
it actually has more downstream effect. It could affect the
economy in a very positive way at a very low cost.
Ms. Dean. Terrific. Thank you.
One issue that we highlighted in this committee is the
importance of data and transparency for understanding where we
stand in the state of diversity and inclusion in your industry
for today's focus.
Ms. Domingo, I am impressed with the level of transparency
shown by Allstate through your strategy. Can you talk about the
importance of transparency for holding companies accountable in
this area? And then, I will have a follow-up to that.
Ms. Domingo. Yes, one of the things actually prior to my
joining Allstate is we did not have talent scorecards or
consistent diversity spend scorecards that were being shared
with our leadership, again, on a consistent basis. We have
incepted that now on a monthly basis. All of the leadership see
their talent scorecard, their diversity numbers, as well as
their spend. We also coach on, a weekly basis, actually moving
those numbers, so the level of transparency is very high. And
we are incepting other databases that are accessible to
leadership from director and above to actually access their
data at any point in time so that they can really use that
information in real time and change behavior.
Ms. Dean. Are people paying attention to the data that you
are sharing?
Ms. Domingo. They are, yes.
Ms. Dean. And yet, I want to contrast something. The report
by the committee found that there has been little progress made
in the insurance industry as a whole over the last 5 years, if
you take a look at some of the very top lines from this report.
And we have been talking about this for more than 5 years, and
this committee, under this leadership, has just been doing
extraordinary work, with very little movement.
We are all talking about it. We all think it is the right
way to go. What progress has Allstate made--and you did lift
the bond, so beyond that, what progress have you made? Where do
you see you have absolute barriers? Where are you not being
successful?
Ms. Domingo. Right now, we are proud that 71 percent of our
directors and above identify as female or people of color.
Where we see a lot of opportunity is what we call the frozen
middle, so our middle management. This is where our women and
people-of-color numbers are below where we want them to be. We
have a lot of diversity on either side of the spectrum.
What we are really doing is making sure that we pay
attention to our pipelining, we pay attention to more of our
retention efforts, working more and synthesizing a lot of our
systems. A lot of our systems are kind of siloed at this point
around diversity. So, a lot of people are doing a lot of great
things, but they are not optimized to really focus on some of
our goals like this, so that is what we are really going to be
focusing on.
Ms. Dean. Thank you to all our witnesses.
Thank you, Madam Chairwoman. I yield back.
Chairwoman Beatty. Thank you.
The gentleman from Ohio, my colleague and friend, Mr.
Gonzalez, is now recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. Gonzalez of Ohio. Thank you, Chairwoman Beatty, for
holding this hearing, and thank you for our witnesses.
Dr. Nunery, I want to start with you. You talked about
something that I think is really hard to solve. And by way of
my own background--I have had sort of a weird background. I am
Hispanic--Gonzalez--and I played professional football for a
couple of years, went to business school, and have a bunch of
friends in private equity, hedge funds, all of that, and in the
insurance industries. And so, I have seen these different
networks.
And you mentioned how in many instances, you need a
personal contact or a friend. You need real sponsorship,
mentorship. It almost has to come from inside the community to
pull people into these industries. I couldn't agree more. And
when I think of my experiences in those different networks, it
is amazing how they feed off one another and they push people
into certain paths, right?
The question is, how do we solve this issue? What is the
best way to make sure that we are providing the mentorship, the
sponsorship necessary to pull diverse communities into these
industries, into the insurance industry, and financial services
generally? What have the best strategies been that you have
seen?
Mr. Nunery. Speaking not only as someone who has consulted
the industry, but I started my career out after business school
as a banker. And nobody in my family was a banker. In fact, my
father thought I was going to be a teller.
The fact is that you need individuals who are currently
involved in the business, maybe even incentivized to go out and
promote the opportunities within the industry, and there are
several, especially as insurance becomes more digitally
transformed. As we move into different fields, where technology
is going to be a driver, you don't have to have an insurance
background or any type of designation, quite frankly, to
succeed.
I think some of it is building awareness, promoting it as
an opportunity that can be lucrative, by the way, but also
understanding that insurance as a product and a historical lift
for the communities of color, going back into the early 1700s,
as a matter of fact, with mutual benefit societies, has always
been there, but it is thought of as an afterthought. And I
think if we can move it forward as an opportunity for growth
and for economic development, we have a better shot at
impelling more people to check it out.
Mr. Gonzalez of Ohio. No, I agree, and I think it is
frankly a call to those who are diverse in positions of
leadership to really take it upon themselves to exert even more
leadership and pull more people along. When I think of my own
life, the people who have really helped accelerate my career,
frankly, a lot of it is my Cuban friends and family who--we
kind of look after our own in different ways, and, boy, am I
grateful for that, and I plan to pay it forward in my own ways.
Ms. Domingo, I have a specific question for you. You talked
about the frozen middle, and you talked about how at the intro
level, you get a lot of diverse candidates, at the upper
management you get them, and then this frozen middle. When you
talk about the candidates in upper management, do you have a
sense of what percentage of them were internally promoted
versus externally recruited? Is it that people are hitting the
frozen middle and dropping out, and then you are recruiting
more people in, or is it something else? Does that make sense
as a question?
Ms. Domingo. The question does make sense. I don't know,
Mr. Gonzalez, if I have that information readily available. I
can certainly get that and turn it in for the record.
Mr. Gonzalez of Ohio. Yes, I just think it would be
interesting, because I think it could highlight maybe where the
fallouts are.
And in staying with you, Ms. Domingo, in your testimony you
said Allstate has launched recruiting strategies with twelve
HBCUs and twelve Hispanic-Serving Institutions. I think it is a
great idea. While it is in its early stages, how has this
partnership played out so far, as sort of a status update?
Ms. Domingo. Sure. You are right, this is really in the
infancy. We actually relaunched some of these partnerships. As
I mentioned earlier, when I joined Allstate, we had a lot of
great things that were going on, but they were kind of all over
the place. So, inventorizing them in my first year was one of
the things, and then optimizing what it is that we are doing.
Currently, we are looking at what undergraduate and
graduate programs the HBCUs offer, and tying them with where
some of our deficit areas are, like tech or data, for example.
One of the things that we are really proud of is we just
partnered with William Blair, and we have an asset management
diversity program where we are taking eight graduates from
HBCUs and circulating them throughout Allstate with the intent
of bringing them on after they intern with us.
Mr. Gonzalez of Ohio. That is great. I spent time in
technology as well, and this was a strategy we used to get more
diverse candidates in our pipeline. It worked incredibly well,
and so I commend you for it.
And with that, I yield back.
Chairwoman Beatty. Thank you, Mr. Gonzalez.
The Chair now recognizes the gentlewoman from Texas, Ms.
Garcia, who is also the Vice Chair of this subcommittee, for 5
minutes.
Ms. Garcia of Texas. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman, and thank
you for bringing this very important topic to the table. After
being on this committee now for almost 2 terms, I thought that
we had a lot of work to do in the financial services, the
banking industry, but after I read your report--and thank you
for that work together with Chairwoman Waters, of course--I
just thought, I didn't know it could be worse, and I think it
is.
And I think enough people have probably already focused on
the employment numbers that I just want to kind of change the
tone a little bit, and first, just say that you all have a lot
of work to do. And I hope that we can get together today to
look at some concrete actionable changes, because I think that
is what it is going to take, not just coming from us but from
you, with a commitment to really do it.
I want to start by highlighting the lack of Latino
leadership in the insurance industry. As we have seen laid out
in the report, Latinos make up 8.8 percent of the insurance
workforce, which is less than 10 percent. That, frankly, is
pathetic. But alarmingly, Latinos represent 3.1 percent of
executive leaders among the insurance companies surveyed, and
the job category in which Latinos are most highly represented
is administrative support. Again, much work needs to be done.
There should be no reason that Latinos are not better-
represented across the ranks. Then, I looked at the investment
of assets, and when we looked at those, the numbers just get
even worse. And I want to focus on investments, because as
Chairwoman Waters said, it is all about wealth building. It is
about ownership. It is about making sure that there is
meaningful inclusion and meaningful diversity.
So, Ms. Domingo, I wanted to ask you first, since it looks
like Allstate, from what I can tell, is probably doing more
than others, although you, too, have a lot of work to do. What
commitment do you have in making sure your investment bankers
and your investors and investor relations and all of the asset
management for Allstate that you do includes minorities and
women and the full spectrum?
Ms. Domingo. Absolutely. Thank you for that question, Ms.
Garcia. You actually hit on one of the things that Allstate
identified just this year. A lot of our focus, as you probably
have read, is primarily with our Black and African-American
employees in our leadership, as well as our female leadership.
Once we took a better look at our data, we realized that
you are right, we don't have kind of equitable practices or
equitable numbers around our Hispanic leaders and our Hispanic
employees, and so, we actually have now a focus on.
Our relationship with our investors, our board of
directors, as well as the CEO, Tom Wilson, is pretty critical.
My supervisor is the chief human resources officer (CHRO). I
have regular and ad hoc conversations with the board, the
investors, and the CEO specifically about these topics and
ensure that we have diverse candidate slates, diversity of
conversations--
Ms. Garcia of Texas. Let's get to the investments. Do you
do business with asset managers from minority- and women-owned
businesses?
Ms. Domingo. Yes, we do.
Ms. Garcia of Texas. At what level?
Ms. Domingo. I don't have that information readily
available. I can get that for you after this and provide it for
the record.
Ms. Garcia of Texas. Okay. And the number that you cited,
$470 million by 2030, that would be $470 million of what? What
was the total number? What percent of the total number does
$470 million represent?
Ms. Domingo. I don't have that information readily
available. I will have to provide that for the record.
Ms. Garcia of Texas. You don't have that either? Okay.
Ms. Ross, what other actions, concrete actions do you think
we can be taking to improve the commitment and the full,
meaningful participation of some of the insurance companies in
providing opportunities for asset managers, investment bankers,
et cetera?
Ms. Ross. Thank you for your question. There are efforts
that we can take. Some of it includes building a pipeline of
diversity, to be quite frank. We know that only 2 percent of
certified actuaries are Hispanic, and we are working with a
number of HBCUs and MSIs to build capacity to expand their
curriculum so that they can add actuarial science and risk
management to their curriculum. That is, many of our companies
also partner with HBCUs and MSIs for recruitment and retention,
and, again, that is how we intend to grow our Hispanic numbers
and increase our investments with Hispanic asset managers.
Ms. Garcia of Texas. Okay. Thank you.
Madam Chairwoman, I have run out of time. Thank you.
Chairwoman Beatty. Thank you.
The gentlewoman from Michigan, Ms. Tlaib, is now recognized
for 5 minutes.
Ms. Tlaib. Thank you so much, Chairwoman Beatty, for
highlighting the importance of diversity and inclusion in the
insurance companies across our nation. I know in Michigan, we
have seen firsthand how a lack of diversity and inclusion
commitment in leadership has directly impacted the rates that
our residents pay, especially for auto insurance.
According to the Detroit Free Press, Madam Chairwoman,
Michigan drivers pay some of the highest auto insurance rates
in the nation, with little to no pricing transparency.
Insurance companies use confidential pricing models to set
rates based on factors that have nothing to do with a person's
driving history.
Nearly all States have statutes in place right now that
prohibit rates that are unfairly discriminatory, but it is
unclear the extent to which there is any consistency across
States in terms of determining what counts as unfairly
discriminatory and what stances are used by State regulators to
make such determinations.
I do want to ask you, Mr. Webel, what can you tell us about
the level of consistency across States in interpreting and
enforcing State anti-discrimination laws?
Mr. Webel. I am not aware of any actual sort of good way to
make the comparisons. What I would say, especially on the
question of unfair discrimination, is I think it is a term of
art in the insurance realm that historically has not been used
the way, sort of, normal people would think of it in a sense
that the classical definition of unfair discrimination is
essentially discrimination on something that doesn't
essentially comport with the rate that is charged.
So if you are using a factor for one person and for
another, even if the factor treats or seems to someone from the
outside to be something that would be discriminatory, if you
can draw a relationship between that factor and the rate under
the classical definition of unfair discrimination, you can
still use that. The term, ``discrimination,'' means something
different in a classical sense. I think in the last few years,
they have changed that to now be, okay, we want to broaden that
term to include factors, some of which you were talking about,
that we just don't think should be used in insurance. I think
that is a process which is ongoing in insurance regulation, and
it is not consistent.
Ms. Tlaib. Thank you. I will ask you something about
disparate impact in a minute, but I know that 48 States require
auto insurance to drive a car, including Michigan. And in
Detroit, driving without auto insurance is a misdemeanor. The
pricing functions is really a tax on America's low-income
drivers, and especially Black and Brown drivers who pay
significantly higher insurance rates, and subsidize affluent
drivers who continue to have savings, while they continue to
get rate increases.
Ms. Domingo, I want to thank you so much for appearing
before our committee today. And one of the things I want to ask
you is, does Allstate use any of the following criterias when
determining rates for auto insurance? If so, please explain why
these factors are relevant to driving history. I know my
residents get asked about their education level, occupation,
employment status, homeownership status, credit score, gender,
and ZIP Code and census tract, including whether or not they
are married. What does that have to do with whether or not
somebody is a safe driver?
Ms. Domingo. Thank you for the question. It is a very
important topic. I can't speak with authority on that topic,
but I would be happy to connect you with the offices at
Allstate that can speak to that after this hearing.
Ms. Tlaib. It is important. And, Ms. Domingo, I will share
with you--after the hearing, I will make sure my team touches
base with you. But the University of Michigan did a study where
it showed that somebody with a higher credit score but with a
DUI, driving under the influence, was paying 3 times less than
the person with the lower credit score but no DUI violation.
And so, there is some discrepancy and you can imagine the
background of those individuals.
Going back to you, Mr. Webel, the disparate impact
standards are sometimes used to assess discrimination in the
context of key Federal civil rights laws. Have States utilized
disparate impact standards in assessing discrimination in auto
insurance, home mortgage, and business pricing?
Mr. Webel. I am not aware of States that are using that. I
don't know, perhaps the commissioner from Missouri might know
the answer to the question, but I am not aware of any States
that are using disparate impact in insurance.
Ms. Tlaib. I think it is just really important and
critically important, because as we are talking about diversity
and inclusion, I think the end result--and I can't speak for
the Chair and many on our committee--but the end result is
making sure that people are not being discriminated against
within these industries. And when I read statements like
research from the Consumer Federation of America, which finds
that Black drivers paid much more than White drivers even
though--oh, sorry, Madam Chairwoman. I yield back.
Chairwoman Beatty. I will let you finish the sentence, but
your time is up.
Ms. Tlaib. I just think it is just really important to know
that, again, many of my Black neighbors are paying a higher
rate of auto insurance, home mortgage, and so forth because
they are using non-driving factors, and also these proxies to
discriminate within these industries, and that is why I think
it is important to talk about diversity and inclusion within
these industries.
Thank you, Madam Chairwoman.
Chairwoman Beatty. Thank you.
The gentlewoman from Georgia, Ms. Williams, who is also the
Vice Chair of our Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations,
is now recognized for 5 minutes.
Ms. Williams of Georgia. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman.
Today, we are hearing loud and clear that we have work to do to
make sure that the insurance industry reflects the diversity of
our country. As the Member of Congress representing Atlanta,
where we unfortunately lead the nation in the racial wealth
gap, and as a Black working mom, I know that starts with
removing barriers to advancement for people who look like me.
This year, I passed the Care is an Economic Development
Strategy (CEDS) Act to ensure that childcare is used as a
strategy for regional economic development. When we have
adequate childcare, we break down barriers for women and people
of color to advance into executive-level positions.
Ms. Domingo, how can the insurance industry be part of
community-level efforts to increase access to care-based
services, and what impact do you see these community-level
efforts having on increasing workforce diversity and inclusion?
Ms. Domingo. Thank you, Ms. Williams. It is absolutely
critical for companies like Allstate to have strong
relationships with community organizations like the one that
you are talking about, but I think the one thing that they need
to do as well, insurance companies like Allstate--we also
ensure that our benefits are best-in-class so that our
paternity and maternity benefits are also matching that of
best-in-class or world-class organizations, and then coincide
with what community services are able to provide.
One of the things as well is that a very large percentage
of our population is now hybrid, or primarily working from
home, which for our working mom and working dad populations,
similar to myself, makes it much more accessible to do a great
job at Allstate and continue to persevere at home.
Ms. Williams of Georgia. Thank you. And we know that we
also have a great deal of work to do to ensure that LGBTQ+
individuals have equitable opportunities throughout the
financial services industry. I have introduced the Promoting
Responsive Inclusion & Diverse Engagement (PRIDE) Act, which
requires Federal banking and finance agencies to expand the
mission of their Offices of Women and Minority Inclusion to
also support the inclusion of LGBTQ+ individuals.
Ms. Domingo, how would passing this bill ensure Federal
agencies are better positioned to collect diversity data for
LGBTQ+ individuals and take action to support the inclusion of
these individuals in the workforce?
Ms. Domingo. Thank you for the question, Ms. Williams.
While I can't speak to that bill particularly, what I can say
is that this would actually align with the things that Allstate
is actually around our LGBTQ+ population and looking at that
data. We are in the process of asking more clarifying questions
around sexual orientation and gender identity data, tracking
this, reporting this, and using this as behavior changes for
anti-organization and moving that work forward. I can only
imagine that the work that you are doing would align with our
current practices.
Ms. Williams of Georgia. Thank you. And if we hope to not
only increase diversity in the financial services sector, but
also empower diverse individuals to own successful businesses
and build wealth so that we can continue to close that racial
wealth gap, we have to be sure that insurance companies use
diverse suppliers.
So, Ms. Domingo, back to you again, what efforts have been
successful at increasing contracting with minority- or women-
owned business enterprises, and what recommendations do you
have for insurance companies to increase their partnerships
with diverse suppliers?
Ms. Domingo. Thank you again for the question, Ms.
Williams. Again, as we mentioned earlier, and I definitely
would underline what you are saying is that spend with diverse
suppliers is not just about spending the money; it is actually
about investing in their work and investing in their
businesses.
One of the best practices that we do with our procurement
team is ensuring that each of our diverse suppliers has a
mentor on the inside as well as suppliers on the outside who
are working with them, ensuring that their practices are strong
and improved. We also have equitable practices that we pull
through with our procurement teams, ensuring that we just don't
have minority suppliers that are kind of fending for
themselves.
But a lot of it, quite frankly, is actually a paradigm
shift to see that this isn't just, again, spending for diverse
suppliers but actually, as you mentioned, shifting the wealth
gap of our nation, which is a higher call.
Ms. Williams of Georgia. Thank you, Ms. Domingo.
I work on this committee every day to make sure that I am
representing the people who sent me here to serve, those people
in Georgia's Fifth Congressional District. And unfortunately,
Atlanta leads the nation in the racial wealth gap, so we all
have work to do and an obligation to make sure we are
addressing that. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman, for this hearing,
as we continue to do the work to address the racial wealth gap
in this country.
Chairwoman Beatty. Thank you--
Ms. Williams of Georgia. And I yield back.
Chairwoman Beatty. --Congresswoman Williams. Thank you so
much.
I would like to now thank the witnesses for their testimony
today. However, I would like to remind you and all those
listening about our disappointment that the insurance
companies' presidents and CEOs are not present today, that they
declined, unlike our financial institution and bank presidents
and CEOs.
The Chair notes that some Members may have additional
questions for these witnesses, which they may wish to submit in
writing. Without objection, the hearing record will remain open
for 5 legislative days for Members to submit written questions
to these witnesses and to place their responses in the record.
Also, without objection, Members will have 5 legislative days
to submit extraneous materials to the Chair for inclusion in
the record.
This hearing is now adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 4:34 p.m., the hearing was adjourned.]
A P P E N D I X
September 20, 2022
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