This financial-services firm built DE&I accountability into its DNA

After the social-justice protests of 2020, Synchrony Financial, which already had a foundational commitment to diversity and inclusion, and one of the most diverse workforces in its sector, knew it needed to do more. The company had a variety of DE&I efforts in place, but they were workplace-culture oriented, and in some instances provided only the appearance of progress.

So Synchrony, a $15 billion consumer-financial services firm based in Stamford, Connecticut, with 16,500 employees, decided it needed to strengthen its DE&I accountability across the board. “To succeed at driving progress over the long term, we recognized we need to treat DE&I no differently than we would any other critical business challenge,” CEO Margaret Keane told Fortune Magazine. “We elevated DE&I to one of our eight corporate strategic imperatives, with board-level accountability.”

Keane, now the outgoing CEO, was one of the few female chief executives running a top financial firm. She’ll be replaced next month by the current president, Brian Doubles.