WEBVTT - Jonathan Viard, Northwestern Mutual 0:00:00.400 --> 0:00:02.400 We are in the final weeks of the year, and 0:00:02.640 --> 0:00:05.840 if you are a small business owner, an entrepreneur, a 0:00:05.880 --> 0:00:09.400 startup founder, I highly suggest you listen to my recent 0:00:09.480 --> 0:00:12.640 episode Evaluating your Tech Stack because at the end of 0:00:12.640 --> 0:00:15.560 the year, you want to start thinking about what systems 0:00:15.600 --> 0:00:18.520 have you been using that no longer serve you? Because 0:00:18.560 --> 0:00:22.320 on January one, for many people and for many processes, 0:00:22.520 --> 0:00:25.040 you need to clean break, and a fresh calendar allows 0:00:25.079 --> 0:00:26.920 you that clean break so that you can go in 0:00:27.000 --> 0:00:30.720 the year and do things more efficiently, more effectively with 0:00:30.840 --> 0:00:34.360 better tools that suit your needs. That's episode one forty 0:00:34.440 --> 0:00:38.680 three Evaluating your Tech Stack. I highly recommend it for you. You, yes, you, 0:00:39.040 --> 0:00:41.480 I highly recommend it for you as you close out 0:00:41.520 --> 0:00:43.559 twenty twenty three. Did you know you can get your 0:00:43.640 --> 0:00:47.360 daily dose of black tech news at afrotech dot com. Well, 0:00:47.400 --> 0:00:50.160 you can like this new story up about Terrence Howard, 0:00:50.159 --> 0:00:54.240 who is suing caa creative artists agency, claiming he received 0:00:54.240 --> 0:00:56.240 thirty to fifty percent less than what he should have 0:00:56.280 --> 0:00:57.840 per episode of Empires. 0:00:57.880 --> 0:01:00.760 As everything always about business with check class out of 0:01:00.760 --> 0:01:02.160 your voice when you're talking to me. 0:01:02.320 --> 0:01:04.000 That story's up and it's brand new right now on 0:01:04.080 --> 0:01:07.320 afrotech dot com or this story former NBA player. 0:01:07.080 --> 0:01:09.559 Paul Pierce settles with the SEC. 0:01:09.160 --> 0:01:13.120 For one point four million dollars over unlawful promotion of 0:01:13.200 --> 0:01:16.360 crypto securities. You gotta be careful out here with these things, 0:01:16.400 --> 0:01:20.680 dope technology, risky proposition. Find these stories in more at 0:01:20.720 --> 0:01:25.160 afrotech dot com, bookmarket in your web browser. I'm well, 0:01:25.240 --> 0:01:28.320 lucas Black Tech Green Money were here with another episode. 0:01:28.319 --> 0:01:30.880 I'm so excited for this one because this one actually 0:01:30.920 --> 0:01:35.760 recorded live in person in my studio back at toe House, 0:01:35.800 --> 0:01:38.760 and so you're actually gonna see the video of this recording. 0:01:39.120 --> 0:01:41.280 I believe it drops next week on YouTube. So makes 0:01:41.400 --> 0:01:44.880 you subscribe to Black Tech Green Money on YouTube. But 0:01:45.360 --> 0:01:48.080 John Villard is programmed. 0:01:47.680 --> 0:01:50.880 Lead of this SAYRE task Force at. 0:01:50.720 --> 0:01:55.760 Northwestern Mutual, which stands for Sustained Action for Racial Equity 0:01:56.120 --> 0:02:02.320 Sarah Sarah encompasses an accelerator in Northmester Mutuals ongoing commitment 0:02:02.360 --> 0:02:07.000 to fight racism, prejudice, and social injustice in all forms 0:02:07.160 --> 0:02:11.400 and focuses on making BOWLD long term positive impact within 0:02:11.520 --> 0:02:15.960 Black communities. Through SAYRE, they're focusing and supporting black entrepreneurship, 0:02:16.480 --> 0:02:20.280 black small business supplier diversity accessibilities for clients and other 0:02:20.360 --> 0:02:25.600 important enterprises initiatives. So prior to Sayer, John was senior 0:02:25.639 --> 0:02:30.880 director of Centralized Supervision at Northwestern Mutual. And Northwestern Mutual 0:02:30.919 --> 0:02:34.160 actually recently committed one hundred and seventy five million dollars 0:02:34.520 --> 0:02:37.920 to reduce the wealth gap and support businesses and entrepreneurs 0:02:37.960 --> 0:02:41.480 as they continue to grow and create positive economic momentum 0:02:41.520 --> 0:02:46.640 within local communities. And as we reported in October, they've 0:02:46.639 --> 0:02:51.600 made a total of sixteen investments nationally and local to Milwaukee, 0:02:51.960 --> 0:02:54.600 which has led to further investments of nearly fifty five 0:02:54.639 --> 0:02:59.120 diverse businesses, the majority of which are black owned. Enjoyed 0:02:59.120 --> 0:03:03.120 this conversation with John Vard. John's good to have you here. 0:03:03.360 --> 0:03:05.120 Willis an honor pleasure to be with you. 0:03:05.320 --> 0:03:09.480 Absolutely. So you are program lead for Sustained Action for 0:03:09.600 --> 0:03:13.720 Racial Equity task Force at Northwestern Mutual, and I want 0:03:13.720 --> 0:03:15.880 you to talk a little bit about how you came 0:03:15.919 --> 0:03:18.400 into that role, a little bit about your personal story. 0:03:18.600 --> 0:03:21.639 Sure for sure. So I am a first generation American. 0:03:21.760 --> 0:03:25.600 My parents both immigrated from Haiti in the late seventies 0:03:26.000 --> 0:03:29.400 and met in Chicago, and so I grew up in 0:03:29.440 --> 0:03:33.600 a small household of five but with a deep, deep 0:03:33.639 --> 0:03:35.920 connection to a Haitian community that was based in Emison. 0:03:35.920 --> 0:03:39.160 So titaned Haitian family all about kind of uplifting each 0:03:39.160 --> 0:03:41.280 other and making a way for ourselves in the country. 0:03:41.720 --> 0:03:44.640 So fast forward, I started working at Northwestern Mutual and 0:03:45.920 --> 0:03:48.560 have had an amazing journey throughout my thirteen years with 0:03:48.600 --> 0:03:51.560 the company. But in the summer of twenty twenty, was 0:03:51.600 --> 0:03:55.320 finding myself really sort of having an identity crisis around 0:03:55.920 --> 0:03:57.720 you know, what am I doing in this kind of 0:03:57.760 --> 0:04:00.880 corporate space, not really being as much part of the solution, 0:04:01.320 --> 0:04:03.520 you know, certainly post George Floyd and everything that happened 0:04:03.720 --> 0:04:06.120 that summer, and I was thinking about my wife was 0:04:06.280 --> 0:04:08.440 that was nine months pregnant at the time, and I 0:04:08.480 --> 0:04:12.040 was thinking about what would I tell my son about 0:04:12.080 --> 0:04:15.080 our roles to play, you know, during this really trying 0:04:15.120 --> 0:04:17.640 time for the country, and like what do we do 0:04:17.720 --> 0:04:18.320 about anything? 0:04:18.440 --> 0:04:18.680 Right? 0:04:18.839 --> 0:04:21.840 And this Sareah role came up in terms of like 0:04:21.880 --> 0:04:24.640 how do you align the mission and objectives of a 0:04:24.720 --> 0:04:28.640 corporate entity with actionable impact. 0:04:28.560 --> 0:04:29.600 Outside our walls. 0:04:29.680 --> 0:04:31.440 And so I went from very much being on the 0:04:31.480 --> 0:04:34.239 brink of like I don't think this is this corporate 0:04:34.279 --> 0:04:36.000 thing is for me anymore. I think I need to 0:04:36.000 --> 0:04:38.560 like really step out to now. Not only can I 0:04:38.600 --> 0:04:40.080 have a meaningful career here, but I. 0:04:40.000 --> 0:04:41.960 Can drive like real impact. 0:04:42.200 --> 0:04:43.920 And I would argue, maybe even more so than some 0:04:44.000 --> 0:04:45.920 local politicians or what have you can when you can 0:04:46.000 --> 0:04:49.440 channel millions of dollars of corporate resources to moving the needle. 0:04:50.000 --> 0:04:53.760 So yeah, yeah, so I'm interested. Twenty twenty was a 0:04:53.839 --> 0:04:57.359 year that a lot of corporations were making promises, you know, 0:04:57.560 --> 0:05:00.760 around what I want to talk about impact funds and 0:05:00.800 --> 0:05:03.800 why it's important to Northwestern Mutual because you know, you 0:05:03.839 --> 0:05:06.080 guys committed a hundred and seventy five million last I 0:05:06.120 --> 0:05:11.840 looked to your impact fund designed to you know, help neighborhoods, 0:05:12.000 --> 0:05:16.479 to small business owners and et cetera. There's ultimately no 0:05:16.760 --> 0:05:19.880 entity outside holding people accountable. So how do you guys 0:05:19.920 --> 0:05:23.080 hold yourself accountable to the promises that you guys have 0:05:23.200 --> 0:05:24.880 made to you know, these communities. 0:05:25.000 --> 0:05:27.080 Yeah, that's a great question. It's a really important one. 0:05:27.120 --> 0:05:29.400 And so what I love about the way our CEO, 0:05:29.480 --> 0:05:31.520 John Schlisky has kind of set this all up is 0:05:32.040 --> 0:05:35.120 we treat this as though it's any other business imperative. Right, 0:05:35.160 --> 0:05:37.880 This is not like a nice side project. We have 0:05:38.080 --> 0:05:42.880 a budget with oversight, executive oversight. We have you know, 0:05:43.160 --> 0:05:46.800 regular cadence of meetings with our CEO at the table 0:05:47.160 --> 0:05:50.080 saying where is this and why isn't this moving fast enough? 0:05:50.360 --> 0:05:53.680 What are the impediments unless clear them? And we've had 0:05:53.680 --> 0:05:55.880 that really since its inception. And the other thing that 0:05:55.880 --> 0:05:57.960 I think is really cool is we have very specific 0:05:58.000 --> 0:06:01.520 measurements again like you would any other say, sales strategy 0:06:01.839 --> 0:06:04.719 or growth measure right, and we're held accountable littles on 0:06:04.760 --> 0:06:07.160 a monthly basis. So stuff is not looking right or 0:06:07.200 --> 0:06:10.480 moving at the pace that folks think it should, believe 0:06:10.520 --> 0:06:12.640 you'll have to answer to that at the literally senior 0:06:12.680 --> 0:06:14.680 most level of the company. And that's what makes it 0:06:14.720 --> 0:06:18.839 a game changer is that you have CEO investment in 0:06:18.920 --> 0:06:21.640 presence basically day in and day out for the last 0:06:21.640 --> 0:06:22.599 three plus years on this. 0:06:23.240 --> 0:06:25.240 One of the things I love about what you guys 0:06:25.240 --> 0:06:28.520 are working on not only funding you know, things externally, 0:06:28.600 --> 0:06:32.800 but also incorporating small businesses, minority owned businesses, black owned businesses, 0:06:32.839 --> 0:06:36.480 and your vendor profile and so often you know, because 0:06:36.480 --> 0:06:40.000 I've have small businesses and you hear this term about 0:06:40.080 --> 0:06:42.440 capacity a lot. You know, we don't work with them 0:06:42.480 --> 0:06:44.919 because they don't have the capacity, And so how do 0:06:45.000 --> 0:06:49.640 you clear that hurdle and what kind of responsibility might 0:06:49.760 --> 0:06:52.640 you feel to help people build the capacity so that 0:06:52.680 --> 0:06:53.719 they can do more stuff? 0:06:53.839 --> 0:06:54.839 Yeah, I love that question. 0:06:54.920 --> 0:06:56.640 So one of the things that I love about what 0:06:56.680 --> 0:07:01.120 we did with the supplier diversity or business diversity spaces. Okay, uh, 0:07:01.440 --> 0:07:04.560 the large, tried and true suppliers that we that just 0:07:04.680 --> 0:07:07.280 maybe do have the capacity that we've relied on for years. 0:07:07.839 --> 0:07:10.720 It's holding them accountable to as the experts in that 0:07:10.760 --> 0:07:14.000 particular field, how are you building up other small like 0:07:14.080 --> 0:07:17.480 smaller businesses or more nascent businesses. And so we changed 0:07:17.480 --> 0:07:20.520 our contract language and our expectations of the those bigger 0:07:20.600 --> 0:07:22.160 vendors that we are in a position to kind of 0:07:22.240 --> 0:07:25.200 jump away from right away to how are they building 0:07:25.240 --> 0:07:28.440 up others and certain targets within our spend with them 0:07:28.760 --> 0:07:31.960 that need to go to those smaller, newer businesses. In addition, 0:07:32.000 --> 0:07:35.880 we're doing things like a mentor protege relationship where Okay, 0:07:36.080 --> 0:07:38.560 your business may not be ready for a fortune one 0:07:38.600 --> 0:07:41.840 hundred supply chain today, but how can we dig in 0:07:41.880 --> 0:07:44.240 your books, dig in your pitches, dig into how you 0:07:44.280 --> 0:07:48.440 present you know your business, proposition your value, and help 0:07:48.520 --> 0:07:50.720 coach you up so that you're ready and we'll go 0:07:50.840 --> 0:07:53.160 first and bring you into our portfolio. But then not 0:07:53.200 --> 0:07:55.520 only that, you're ready to go compete for others, and 0:07:55.560 --> 0:07:58.320 so recognizing that there's there's a heavy front investment to 0:07:58.360 --> 0:08:00.800 get people to that point of maturation. Everybody's not ready 0:08:00.840 --> 0:08:03.160 for this for fortunate one hundred and what comes with that? 0:08:03.240 --> 0:08:03.400 Right? 0:08:03.720 --> 0:08:06.040 Do you feel like it's your responsibility to help people 0:08:06.320 --> 0:08:09.120 not only get them in and vet them to see 0:08:09.120 --> 0:08:11.600 if they can do their work, but also to help 0:08:11.640 --> 0:08:14.000 them Do you feel like that's your responsibility one percent? 0:08:14.160 --> 0:08:14.760 Hundred percent? 0:08:14.840 --> 0:08:16.760 I think specifically as it relates to like a place 0:08:16.800 --> 0:08:18.800 like Milwaukee, which has been our home for oh, I 0:08:18.800 --> 0:08:21.920 don't know, one hundred and fifty plus years, there's definitely 0:08:21.960 --> 0:08:25.160 this this this ownership of what are we doing as 0:08:25.200 --> 0:08:27.360 a huge corporate citizen, as one of the biggest corporate 0:08:27.360 --> 0:08:30.320 citizens to uplift others and invest in others in our 0:08:30.320 --> 0:08:33.400 own backyard first and foremost. So you'll see, even as 0:08:33.440 --> 0:08:35.560 you talk about like the Impact Investing Fund, we have 0:08:35.600 --> 0:08:38.640 a whole sleeve that is just dedicated to what's going 0:08:38.679 --> 0:08:40.640 on in our backyard at Milwaukee. Right, So we can 0:08:40.640 --> 0:08:42.160 be doing all these things on the national sleep, but 0:08:42.200 --> 0:08:44.160 if we're not making those investments in our community to 0:08:44.480 --> 0:08:47.040 build those businesses up down the street, yeah, that's not 0:08:47.120 --> 0:08:48.160 really worthwhile. 0:08:48.520 --> 0:08:51.920 You know, I was doing some research on the Grow 0:08:52.280 --> 0:08:54.560 Gather Against the Gap conference and I found this quote 0:08:54.600 --> 0:08:56.680 from you, and you had said, you know, we have 0:08:56.720 --> 0:09:01.480 a small army dedicated unapologetically to accelerating progress and not 0:09:01.600 --> 0:09:04.200 just with today in mind. Everything we do at NM 0:09:04.600 --> 0:09:06.840 is with the next one hundred years in mind, not 0:09:07.040 --> 0:09:10.480 just the next quarter. So like, talk up because you 0:09:10.480 --> 0:09:12.440 mentioned some of the those that you guys hold yourself 0:09:12.440 --> 0:09:15.400 accountable to talk about some of those goals that you're 0:09:15.480 --> 0:09:17.880 measuring against to see if you're actually making progress. 0:09:18.000 --> 0:09:18.960 Yeah, absolutely so. 0:09:19.120 --> 0:09:21.200 I think if you can think about our work in 0:09:21.280 --> 0:09:24.000 say as sort of being like within our house, get 0:09:24.040 --> 0:09:26.800 our own house in order first and foremost. So it's 0:09:27.000 --> 0:09:30.480 what's the representation look like across all levels of the organization, 0:09:30.559 --> 0:09:33.120 So not just frontline you know kind of folks answering 0:09:33.160 --> 0:09:34.400 the phones, but what do we look like in the 0:09:34.440 --> 0:09:37.679 executive ranks. And I think our best sort of barometer 0:09:37.760 --> 0:09:40.560 for our measurement for successes, Does. 0:09:40.440 --> 0:09:42.440 It look like the nation that we operate in? Right? 0:09:42.480 --> 0:09:45.160 If we're a national company and let's just say black folks, 0:09:45.200 --> 0:09:48.800 for example, are thirteen and a half percent roughly, well, 0:09:48.840 --> 0:09:51.679 we should at least be reflective of that thirteen and 0:09:51.679 --> 0:09:53.880 a half percent, Not that it's a quota per se, 0:09:54.000 --> 0:09:56.200 but that's a good starting point to say, do we 0:09:56.240 --> 0:09:58.000 even look like the nation we're trying to serve? 0:09:58.640 --> 0:10:00.559 Right? So we have that, So that's kind of getting 0:10:00.559 --> 0:10:01.560 our own house in order. 0:10:01.840 --> 0:10:03.760 And then one of the things that we're doing externally, 0:10:05.080 --> 0:10:07.360 it's all about the goals of you know, one, helping 0:10:07.360 --> 0:10:09.120 to close the wealth gap. So how are we putting 0:10:09.600 --> 0:10:11.839 the hundreds of billions of dollars that we, as an 0:10:12.000 --> 0:10:16.240 enormous institutional investor have putting it to work in building 0:10:16.280 --> 0:10:20.760 small business, building black businesses of varying sizes, right, narrowing 0:10:20.760 --> 0:10:23.679 that wealth gap through investment, access to capital, et cetera. 0:10:24.080 --> 0:10:26.920 And then the last piece is what our company does 0:10:27.480 --> 0:10:29.960 is leave people off better off than we found them 0:10:30.000 --> 0:10:34.200 with financial plans, you know, risk mitigation strategies, right, things 0:10:34.240 --> 0:10:36.800 like life insurance that black folks folks may not know, 0:10:37.040 --> 0:10:39.680 have a higher propensity, they have a higher desire for 0:10:39.760 --> 0:10:42.680 life insurance than any other segment in the country. There's 0:10:42.679 --> 0:10:45.000 this like this, this notion of legacy and paying it 0:10:45.120 --> 0:10:47.840 for it. How are we reaching more black households to 0:10:47.880 --> 0:10:51.440 help give them access to that, to those critical products 0:10:51.440 --> 0:10:54.480 and strategies to help protect their family for generations. So 0:10:54.640 --> 0:10:57.160 we talk about more black households, We talk about putting 0:10:57.160 --> 0:11:00.440 more billions of dollars to work. We talk about, you know, 0:11:00.679 --> 0:11:03.280 diversifying our supplier pipelines and things of that nature, and 0:11:03.320 --> 0:11:05.760 then of course getting our own house in order. Uh. 0:11:06.000 --> 0:11:08.679 You previously mentioned Milwaukee, which I love. So a lot 0:11:08.720 --> 0:11:11.160 of the work I'm passionate about is about the middle 0:11:11.280 --> 0:11:14.280 is because I recognize that most of us who are 0:11:14.280 --> 0:11:17.600 interested in tech and et cetera don't live in New 0:11:17.679 --> 0:11:20.600 York at LA. We live in these other cities. And 0:11:20.679 --> 0:11:25.280 so what is unique or important or an advantage of 0:11:25.280 --> 0:11:29.320 being based in Milwaukee? Then a lot of other places 0:11:29.360 --> 0:11:32.559 that you guys could be Yeah, yeah, are their advantages? 0:11:32.640 --> 0:11:33.680 Yeah? I think so. 0:11:33.880 --> 0:11:36.480 I think as somebody that is raising us his son 0:11:36.679 --> 0:11:39.520 in Milwaukee, I definitely think so. I think when I 0:11:39.520 --> 0:11:41.599 think about Milwaukee, I first and foremost think about like 0:11:41.600 --> 0:11:44.320 the value proposition to like live and just have a 0:11:44.360 --> 0:11:46.520 wonderful life. And actually I was talking about this with 0:11:46.559 --> 0:11:51.520 a colleague of mind even today. The accessibility, the the 0:11:51.520 --> 0:11:55.480 the access to to culture, to to just good hard 0:11:55.559 --> 0:11:57.400 working people, like there's just all the things that you 0:11:57.440 --> 0:11:59.520 would want in a place to sort of raise a family. 0:11:59.559 --> 0:12:00.640 So that check there. 0:12:01.120 --> 0:12:03.800 I think that there is tremendous opportunity as you think 0:12:03.840 --> 0:12:07.920 about Milwaukee being a destination for talent, that we might 0:12:07.960 --> 0:12:10.040 have some work to do in terms of the external image, 0:12:10.080 --> 0:12:12.920 but once you actually come and experience it, it is 0:12:13.280 --> 0:12:15.920 a really special place with I would argue world class 0:12:15.960 --> 0:12:18.760 amenities that are kind of a best kept secret, if 0:12:18.800 --> 0:12:20.400 you will, so that when people get there it's. 0:12:20.280 --> 0:12:22.360 Like, oh, wow, this is dope. Milwaukee's dope. 0:12:22.360 --> 0:12:24.280 Come people walking into summer, come in the winter, coming 0:12:24.320 --> 0:12:27.520 this summer, and you'll say, wow, I never would have 0:12:27.640 --> 0:12:31.280 envisioned this about you know, Wisconsin or specifically Milwaukee. 0:12:31.280 --> 0:12:34.360 And so I think as a place to live, it's huge. 0:12:34.360 --> 0:12:36.880 When you're talking about building tech talent and things of 0:12:36.920 --> 0:12:39.840 that nature, I think what you have are several really 0:12:39.880 --> 0:12:46.160 really strong corporate entities, strong partnerships across you know, government, 0:12:46.160 --> 0:12:47.960 and things of that nature that are really trying to 0:12:48.000 --> 0:12:52.720 create an ecosystem that fosters that kind of creative growth, 0:12:52.720 --> 0:12:54.880 if you will. So you have a bunch of leaders 0:12:54.880 --> 0:12:56.960 in the area that are really invested in making it 0:12:57.000 --> 0:12:59.240 a destination a choice for talent, for tech talent in 0:12:59.280 --> 0:13:00.360 particular of them. 0:13:01.080 --> 0:13:02.760 I want to talk about the Impact Fund again, and 0:13:02.800 --> 0:13:05.599 so I imagine I don't know this, but I imagine a 0:13:05.640 --> 0:13:08.160 lot of the bet you're making or funds that you're 0:13:09.520 --> 0:13:12.360 exporting from your bank counts to other folks, is put 0:13:12.400 --> 0:13:15.080 into organizations who are doing the work in those communities. 0:13:15.440 --> 0:13:17.080 I mean, I'm gonna let you speak to that, but 0:13:17.120 --> 0:13:20.720 I want to talk about how organizations who are doing 0:13:20.760 --> 0:13:23.520 the work reach out to you guys to say, we're 0:13:23.520 --> 0:13:26.520 doing this great work in whatever city. Can we be 0:13:26.600 --> 0:13:28.360 part of this thing? How does the fund work? 0:13:28.559 --> 0:13:28.800 Yeah? 0:13:28.840 --> 0:13:31.559 Absolutely, So I would start by saying, impact investing in 0:13:31.640 --> 0:13:33.760 Northwestern Mutual is the way to kind of, you know, 0:13:35.559 --> 0:13:38.440 reach out and download sort of what it is that 0:13:38.480 --> 0:13:40.160 we do, what it is that we offer in that 0:13:40.240 --> 0:13:42.880 particular space. And so our fund is really divided into 0:13:42.880 --> 0:13:44.880 two sleeves that I think I mentioned earlier. One is 0:13:45.240 --> 0:13:48.800 a local sleeve that is very much focused on local 0:13:48.880 --> 0:13:53.320 impact investing in Milwaukee business owners and Milwaukee businesses. And 0:13:53.400 --> 0:13:55.800 in that space, we've made some investments that we're really 0:13:55.840 --> 0:14:00.480 proud of in CDFI, so Community Development Financial Institute and 0:14:00.520 --> 0:14:01.079 what those are. 0:14:01.400 --> 0:14:02.800 Think them as like local. 0:14:02.559 --> 0:14:05.920 Community banks that have the sort of ground game to 0:14:06.040 --> 0:14:09.079 do the kind of like smaller scale lending and investing 0:14:09.160 --> 0:14:13.040 that our community needs. Right as a huge corpord entity, 0:14:13.160 --> 0:14:16.040 we're looking at money in pretty big terms, like in 0:14:16.080 --> 0:14:18.959 the millions, right, but everyone doesn't need a million dollars 0:14:18.960 --> 0:14:21.440 plus to get invested to get their business off the 0:14:21.440 --> 0:14:24.440 ground are accelerated. So these cdfives have the ground game 0:14:24.480 --> 0:14:28.000 to say, let me get really intimately familiar with Will's business, 0:14:28.080 --> 0:14:31.000 his books, et cetera, make the right sort of lending 0:14:31.000 --> 0:14:33.800 and investment decisions to help him be successful, and then 0:14:33.840 --> 0:14:36.800 also do other wrap around services to help consult on 0:14:36.840 --> 0:14:38.720 things like taxes and all these other things that you 0:14:38.760 --> 0:14:41.200 may not necessarily be familiar with starting a small business. 0:14:41.240 --> 0:14:44.520 So that's kind of the local sleep. On a national level, 0:14:44.960 --> 0:14:48.080 we really partner with a number of strong financial national 0:14:48.080 --> 0:14:52.000 and global even financial institutions that have a really good 0:14:52.080 --> 0:14:56.720 pulse on a number of different sectors that advance sustainable housing, 0:14:56.760 --> 0:14:59.880 that advance educational priorities in all the sort of pillars 0:15:00.080 --> 0:15:02.200 that we have, and so they're really looking at how 0:15:02.200 --> 0:15:03.880 can they put larger swats. 0:15:03.680 --> 0:15:05.360 Of money to work on a national sleeve. 0:15:05.960 --> 0:15:08.480 So we're parted with folks like Black Rock and others 0:15:08.480 --> 0:15:10.080 that that had that sort of ground game too. 0:15:10.960 --> 0:15:13.720 You mentioned a little bit about your CEO and his involvement, 0:15:13.760 --> 0:15:17.600 and so often these efforts aren't led by somebody in 0:15:17.720 --> 0:15:21.120 senior leadership, and yours is, and I wonder can you 0:15:21.160 --> 0:15:24.760 speak more to how serious you guys take this, because 0:15:24.760 --> 0:15:28.120 at the end of the day, sustainability is what matters. 0:15:27.840 --> 0:15:30.520 One hundred percent. I will say so from day one 0:15:30.560 --> 0:15:33.600 and to this day, our CEO has been at the table. 0:15:33.640 --> 0:15:36.440 He chairs our Sustained Action for Racial Equity, the task 0:15:36.480 --> 0:15:39.840 force that we talked about. We have six of our 0:15:39.920 --> 0:15:41.560 senior leaders So think of these are folks that are 0:15:41.600 --> 0:15:45.920 responsible for huge portions of our business, that are directly 0:15:46.120 --> 0:15:50.240 accountable for the results that that that we set out 0:15:50.240 --> 0:15:54.400 to accomplish, and so we have executive oversight, we have 0:15:54.640 --> 0:16:00.960 we have rigorous reporting metrics and and real accountability in 0:16:00.960 --> 0:16:02.440 the sense that like if we don't hit some of 0:16:02.480 --> 0:16:02.920 these things. 0:16:02.960 --> 0:16:04.320 Some of this is out of our control, but the 0:16:04.360 --> 0:16:05.520 parts that are it. 0:16:05.480 --> 0:16:09.200 Will have direct impacts on people's performance and myself included 0:16:09.560 --> 0:16:13.360 performance in a very very real way. This is no different. 0:16:13.480 --> 0:16:16.040 I cannot emphasize enough. It's no different than any other 0:16:16.080 --> 0:16:18.600 growth priority that we would have as a fortune one hundred. 0:16:19.080 --> 0:16:21.680 It's it's it's treated with that same level of intensity. 0:16:22.080 --> 0:16:24.960 I would argue in some spaces even more leadership investment 0:16:26.200 --> 0:16:29.280 an investment in terms of like their physical presence, their 0:16:29.320 --> 0:16:33.080 physical they're like engagement in a meaningful way. And then again, 0:16:33.600 --> 0:16:37.000 what gets measured gets done, and you know, success is 0:16:37.040 --> 0:16:39.800 required for folks to accomplish their their personal goals and 0:16:39.840 --> 0:16:40.960 their performance goals. 0:16:41.880 --> 0:16:44.400 I want you to share some information about your Black 0:16:44.400 --> 0:16:47.720 Founders Accelerator program. You know, I think about some of 0:16:47.760 --> 0:16:52.720 the issues I've experienced and heard about through black entrepreneurs 0:16:52.760 --> 0:16:56.680 where they might get invited to expos and conferences where 0:16:56.680 --> 0:16:58.800 people want to hear about their business. And what I've 0:16:58.800 --> 0:17:02.480 heard and often many different spaces, is we come and 0:17:02.520 --> 0:17:04.960 do we do these expos that we present and it's 0:17:05.000 --> 0:17:07.000 a big it's a dog and pony show, but nobody 0:17:07.000 --> 0:17:09.400 ever walks away with a deal or they never walk 0:17:09.440 --> 0:17:12.680 away with a meeting to actually get a serious look 0:17:12.880 --> 0:17:16.440 at what they do, talk about how yours is, how 0:17:16.440 --> 0:17:20.000 yours works, and how it might be different. 0:17:20.600 --> 0:17:22.240 Yeah. Absolutely so super proud of this. 0:17:22.320 --> 0:17:26.000 So our Blackfounder Accelerator, we choose ten businesses per year. 0:17:26.040 --> 0:17:28.800 We typically do two cohorts of five each year. And 0:17:28.840 --> 0:17:30.960 that might not sound like a lot, but it's intentionally 0:17:31.080 --> 0:17:33.480 very very selective. So I think we have upwards of 0:17:33.520 --> 0:17:36.160 seven hundred and fifty applicants that we like, thoroughly vet 0:17:36.240 --> 0:17:39.120 and go through that process with. And essentially what we're 0:17:39.160 --> 0:17:41.639 doing is we partner with a company called Generator that 0:17:41.760 --> 0:17:45.720 has a really strong sort of development game for early 0:17:45.760 --> 0:17:49.480 stage entrepreneurs and mid stage entrepreneurs as well, and we 0:17:49.680 --> 0:17:52.200 go through a twelve week program with them where we're 0:17:52.200 --> 0:17:54.520 helping them or find their pitch, their business, their you know, 0:17:54.880 --> 0:17:58.080 every aspect of their business. Really we invest one hundred 0:17:58.080 --> 0:18:00.199 thousand dollars, so this is not like a get. We 0:18:00.240 --> 0:18:02.840 are very much investors, and we also open them up 0:18:02.880 --> 0:18:05.960 to further investment in other parts of our business. And 0:18:05.960 --> 0:18:08.879 then we appoint an executive mentor to sit in with 0:18:08.920 --> 0:18:14.120 those founders and really provide particular guidances unique to their business. 0:18:14.680 --> 0:18:15.240 Excuse me. 0:18:15.280 --> 0:18:19.240 So you might have a business with some strong regulatory concerns, 0:18:19.280 --> 0:18:20.639 So we're going to try to find somebody from the 0:18:20.680 --> 0:18:24.480 Northwestern mutual ranks that's an expert in regulatory you know, 0:18:24.760 --> 0:18:28.280 fintech regulatory considerations, and try to pair that founder with 0:18:28.320 --> 0:18:31.240 them so that they could really get C suite level 0:18:31.520 --> 0:18:34.120 insights on how to build their business in a way 0:18:34.119 --> 0:18:37.880 that will ultimately be attractive to the big both further 0:18:37.960 --> 0:18:40.760 investors but companies that might want to use that service 0:18:40.800 --> 0:18:43.720 into the future. So we do that, We bring these 0:18:43.720 --> 0:18:46.399 cohorts in, we really try to build a sort of 0:18:46.400 --> 0:18:49.600 spirit of family across the cohorts and the alum and 0:18:49.640 --> 0:18:51.800 then what we do after that is try to really 0:18:51.880 --> 0:18:54.720 keep them as a part of this ecosystem and introduce 0:18:54.800 --> 0:18:58.760 them connect them to as many resources and further opportunities 0:18:58.800 --> 0:19:01.080 to raise more capital. In fact, going back to our 0:19:01.160 --> 0:19:06.080 dashboard and in our metrics for results, one of our results, 0:19:06.320 --> 0:19:09.240 one of our metrics is are we helping our founders 0:19:09.320 --> 0:19:11.639 raise a particular amount of capital? Right, So we have 0:19:11.720 --> 0:19:16.719 targets to help graduates of our program meet certain fundraising criteria, 0:19:17.119 --> 0:19:20.520 so that incentivizes us to really be diligent about how 0:19:20.560 --> 0:19:23.280 can I introduce Will to as many people in that 0:19:23.400 --> 0:19:25.920 lane that can help him further grow that business after 0:19:25.960 --> 0:19:29.399 he's left our program. So we're specifically very choose, like 0:19:29.600 --> 0:19:34.760 we're particularly picky and very very much kind of overweighted 0:19:34.760 --> 0:19:37.320 in the not overweighted, but very much leaned into how 0:19:37.320 --> 0:19:40.560 do we make this a very very thorough partnership and 0:19:41.320 --> 0:19:42.160 be close with them? 0:19:42.600 --> 0:19:45.360 And speaking about partnerships, you guys partner with Kellogg, which 0:19:45.400 --> 0:19:50.520 is like a leading business school in the world. You 0:19:50.600 --> 0:19:52.679 partner with them for Gather against the Gap a lot 0:19:52.720 --> 0:19:56.520