Business as Usual: PPG's $20M Commitment to Equity and Inclusion

So good afternoon, everyone. This is Audrey Russo, President and CEO of the Pittsburgh Technology Council. I'm very happy to be here. It's a Friday. And we have a great guest set of guests here today. And I'm just thrilled that we're able to continue to highlight some of the people who are doing amazing things all across our region, and today is no exception. I would like to thank Huntington bank for the work that they've done in supporting us right from the onset, they've been tremendous partners. And also 40 by 80. You see that up on the screen. That's the wholly owned subsidiary of the Pittsburgh Technology Council. It stands, it's the longitude of Pittsburgh. And in that organization is focused on workforce development, as well as entrepreneurship. You'll hear a lot more I'm doing there a month ahead. So we're pretty excited about that. That's why I always give them a shout out on the show. So today, my special partner is Marie Pelloni. She is on our team, and she is director of talent and stem development. And she's going to be keeping her eyes on the chat and maybe jumping in. So really thank thank you, Marie, for being with us today. We have a chat, the chat is to be used for you to ask our guests questions, and he's going to keep your eye on that. As well as we've muted you. You've muted you with the intent of not hearing things in the background today. And I don't think you'll hear my dogs today at all. So on that note, right now I want to introduce is Marvin here are we is Marvin Mendoza with us today. If not, I'm very happy to jump in with Malesia Dunn. And Marvin Mendoza was was to be on the program. And he probably will just join in it might be a little late. But I'm totally great with having Malesiawith us. And this is Malesia Dunn, she is the executive director of the PPG foundation. And someone said I am here and it's gretta marvins name is coming up as gretta. So if someone would like to make Taylor, if you'd like to bring Marvin to the forefront, or just continue to have Gregor there, that would be awesome. So I let's you know, PPG announced a major commitment this week to help advance racial equity. But before we talk about that, what I always like to do is to check in with our guests and to see how they are actually doing And who are they just a little bit about them. So I'm going to start with Malesia, you've been leading the PPG foundation for I think it's almost three years now. And you can correct me if I'm wrong. Can you talk about your own career path, like how you got to where you are right now? And a little bit about the foundation?

Absolutely. So first of all, thank you so much, Audrey, for having us on. And we're really excited to be here and share with you our great news this week. But yeah, a little bit about me, I am returning to Pittsburgh, I've been here previously in another capacity. In my world, I have a communications background. So I actually come from the world of corporate communications. early early on in my career, I actually was in journalism. I did television journalism for a while. But then I took the path of corporate communications, I worked for a number of global multinational companies. Here in Pittsburgh, it was with GSK GlaxoSmithKline, which is a global health care company. We had an office here in Pittsburgh, our North American headquarters is here. So I spent actually about 15 years with GSK in Pittsburgh. also spent a stint over in the headquarters office in the UK for about a year and a half as well. And then GSK decided to move the office to

Okay, Malesia is frozen right now. Okay, I'm gonna go let's go to Marvin. Because I think Malesiathere was a lock out

community engagement and had done community engagement in various aspects throughout my career. And so this opportunity to take on the world of community engagement.

Okay, I am going to jump now to Marvin Mendoza, because I think we're having a little bit of a hiccup there. So Marvin, how are you?

I am great Audrey. So thanks so much for having us on. So just a little bit About me so I am dialing in from a town called evergreen, Colorado. So I've been here for about six weeks. It's about I see some head nods. Some people know the area. So I moved here six weeks ago from Houston, Texas. I was there for 10 years with my husband, he's a Texan. I grew up in New Jersey. So I've kind of been all over the place. So our son turned 18 started college, virtually, of course, he stayed in Houston, US empty nesters now, but built a home in evergreen. And so you know, we're live in the more rural life these days very different from living right outside New York City. Yeah.

So you're new at TPG relatively new,

and I am new, I am new. So I was I joined in November. And thank you. Thank you, Michelle, for the welcome. So I joined after 22 years at PricewaterhouseCoopers. And I was there in various forms of HR consulting and internal HR work. And for the past 11 years, I've been focused on diversity, equity and inclusion work at PwC. About half of that time was spent internally leading our strategy efforts for PwC. Half of that time was consulting with companies across all clients and sectors, helping them to build a strategy build a vision for DNI, which includes what we do for the communities through foundations. So now I'm thrilled to be at PPG to help do the same for them.

And so what about their headquarters in Pittsburgh? You're lucky you're there in Colorado? What does that mean for your presence in Pittsburgh?

Great questions. So I will be what we're calling a hybrid worker. So given that, you know, we were we've been building this house in Colorado for the past couple of years, it's been a dream of ours. You know, it was nice enough that the leadership team was able to work out with me a hybrid arrangement where I'll spend part of my time in Pittsburgh, of course, when it's safe to travel part of my time, in Colorado, but since my role is global, I'll probably be in a lot of our sites globally, once once travel is a thing again.

And so is this a newly created position for PPG.

It is a newly created position. Now PPG x actually has been focused on diversity and inclusion for about 1516 years now, back in 2005, they had a minority Leadership Council. They've had what they call Employee Resource networks and a number of different activities. But this is the first time that they have kind of a concerted focus somebody's kind of at the helm, to build a strategy that's cohesive global and connects all across the business and connects to the foundation of what we're doing for the community in Pittsburgh, which I think is really important.

So what are some of your responsibilities? What do you see? I mean, I know you're new in the role, but what do you see on some of the responsibilities and and hopefully some of the outcomes?

Yeah, so it's a great question. So my first job right now is, by the end of March, I will have a vision, a set of goals, a strategy and a scorecard for diversity, equity inclusion for the company, that's the first order of business, all data driven. So looking at data like representation, looking at data, like what we are doing for the community, what could we be doing Additionally, doing some bench marking, and then out of that will come come a strategy. What I'm seeing and feeling in the organization is a lot of excitement. A lot of people who are they were ready for this, you know, I can't tell you the number of reach outs I've gotten from PPG employees internally on LinkedIn. You know, saying, welcome, we're so thrilled to have you, how can I help. And there's something really special about ppgs culture that really attracted me to them that it's just people who genuinely want to get to know you as a person. And for this topic, in particular, want to help so I'm excited about what we can do together.

That's awesome. And I see Malesia is back. excited to see her back. Sorry about those technical glitches they are but that's okay, we're gonna jump right in. And Marvin, don't go anywhere. We're just going to toggle back and forth. So Malesia, we talked a little bit about your background, let's talk about the PPG foundation. What is the PPG foundation and its historical priorities? Sure.

So I'm not sure how much of that you heard. I unfortunately, got kicked out of the meeting. But we'll try again here.

Okay, you're good now. Okay. Very good. Very good. So

yeah, the PPG foundation is a nonprofit arm, if you will, of the PPG company. The Foundation has been around for more than 60 years, providing support in the communities where PPG has a presence, including our hometown, here in Pittsburgh. We currently have a focus on organizations supporting education, and primarily STEM education. So we have a particular focus on STEM education and also workforce development, as well as community sustainability. So we look for opportunities to help provide, you know sustainable support within our communities. And again, we focus on Primarily those communities where where we have a presence. But stem is really our big focus, we've put an effort there because of the really urgent need, frankly, to fill roles in STEM, not only in our company, but companies around the world. And and we've also noticed the lag in students in particular students of color, and delve into these particular career fields.

So that is really where our focus lies. And so since you're all over the world, and we'll get to this in a moment, we'll talk about this, this new initiative, I promised that we'll get there. Your commitment is to all of PPG around the globe. What does that represent? Like? What kind of people like the number of locations or the footprint? Sure, sure. So

the foundation is focused primarily here in the US. So all of our locations in the US, we have really five key locations, including Pittsburgh, northern Ohio, including Cleveland, the Detroit area, Southern California, Huntsville, Alabama are kind of our key locations in the US. But that being said, we have a distribution centers and other facilities and packing facilities and other parts of the US as well, where we'll make sure we're making donations and supporting those local communities. Globally, we are in more than 70 countries around the world. So just about everywhere we have, we split into four regions around the world, US, Canada, Latin America, EMEA, and Asia Pacific region. So we touched just about everywhere with our giving. And so we have a team of people that I work with around the world to make sure that we are aligning our contributions and our support to some organizations were wonderful organizations really around the world.

That's great. That's great. I'm going to jump over to Marvin now and asked him, listen, Marvin, in the wake of the George Floyd, tragedy, and others PPG expanded, its focus on diversity, equity and inclusion in training. For example, can you talk about that training? Can you talk about it at all? I know, you're pretty new. But I know that it would be great to hear what it consists of, and you know, the effectiveness and any kind of wisdom that you can impart to all of us.

Your it's a great question. So I'll talk about a couple of things that I know that occurred after George Floyd's killing and the killing of other black Americans, Ahmad arbory, Briana Taylor and others. So we do have training. So the training that we have unconscious bias training, so I actually took it, it's going to be leading efforts, I want to make sure I understand what it is that we're pushing. You know, I was a little concerned, quite honestly, at first being part of other unconscious bias training sessions, that it we wouldn't have kind of the robust, real, honest dialogue that I've had, and bear in person kind of intimate settings. And I can tell you, after this session, we were able to have robust dialogue. So it was a session that kind of gives people the understanding of what diversity Equity and Inclusion are, and then goes into the topic of unconscious bias. And the concept of unconscious bias being a few things, one, everybody has them. Number two, there's no need to be ashamed by them. And number three, the work is to understand what your unconscious biases are. So that you can start basically working against the way that your brain has innately been programmed as a human being, start questioning that and acting in a different way. And it was great, because we created a space virtually a safe space where people were able to share perspectives that sometimes were in different ends of the spectrum. But because it was a safe place, and we're all part of the PPG family. We all know that we're in this, you know, for the right reasons that we're able to have a robust dialogue, change people's thinking on things, lots of aha moments individually. So I'm excited about that training and being able to scale it more than it has been to date, we've put probably around 1300 of our people managers through this training. So it's people who lead others so that they're aware of their biases. And we'll be scaling this out further as well. The other thing, which I think is, is probably just as impactful is we had what are called kind of courageous dialogues with our people. And essentially what that meant was our leaders, getting their people together virtually, of course, and having very courageous conversations about race, specifically, hearing stories about some of our black professionals in the US, and some of the things that they've gone through in their life that quite honestly a lot of our folks didn't know about. And in those stories, you know, they're heartbreaking. Some of the stories I've heard about a number of organizations doing this, I think this is probably one of the most impactful things that organizations can do is to create a safe space for their people to talk about topics that were typically before pretty taboo like race. Like sexual orientation, like gender, what that experiences was like What, what people have maybe held back and it hasn't allowed them to bring their whole selves to work, and to create that empathy among the team, so that people can feel like they can bring more themselves to work and ultimately perform better.

So there's a question out there before I leave it over to Murray to grab it, I want to say, I want to ask you a question, Marvin, did you learn anything? In that training,

I learned something in every one of those sessions. Now, quite honestly, I was, you know, probably three weeks at TPG. So a lot of what I learned was different parts of the business. And that for me, I'm building relationships. So getting to know people individually, and part of their stories, was probably one of the most impactful things for me, as well as understanding what the experience is like for people who are in parts of the business where, you know, some of our businesses, people have to show up their plants and manufacturing facilities. So understanding that difference in what they're going through, and how that, you know, has added stress to their life was really helpful for me to hear as well.

It's got to be interesting doing this during COVID. That just exacerbate much, and particularly since George Floyd Murray, what do we got?

Yeah, my hat's off to you, Marvin. And it's such fantastic work. And it's exciting to hear about, we have a question from the wonderful Ingrid cook from shih tzu. She said, How is that training translated into actual results in your organization? What have you seen? And really, she wants to know, how are you measuring the success of your training?

So excellent question. So I can tell you what I will be measuring because I'm in the process right now of doing an assessment. So it's what I did for clients over the years. It's basically looking at data sources like engagement like headcount, etc. and then seeing where there's issues or inequities and then coming up with solutions to basically close those gaps. So right now, I would say that the training is a tool or a solution, where I probably need to focus it a bit more once I do the data and the analysis and see where I need to focus it from doing this work in the past. Training effectiveness. You know, to me, it's interesting, because I think a lot of folks in the in the training space over the years, they're wonderful folks that pointed to scores how people feel right after the training session, to me, a measure of success isn't how people feel after the training session is does that carry forward into something measurable? So for me, it's about engagement scores. So in engagement scores, there's always a subset that focus on some type of inclusion or belonging set of questions, what I would want to see is some measurable change in those inclusion questions how people feel a sense of belonging, after let's say, an entire team has taken that training, and I would want to see that sustained over time.

Okay. I think that answers Dan's question as well. I want to go to Malesia now, and just talk about, you know, this week ppg, announced, you know, a $20 million initiative to advance racial equity. Can you talk about the announcement and what it means? Absolutely, sure.

So again, yeah, as you said, we did make this announcement. And yes, our focus will be on this $20 million commitment. Over the next few years between now and 2025. We've got it focused in a few different areas. So starting with advanced STEM education, and career development for college level students. So looking at sort of the University College level, and identifying programs where we can help support whether that's scholarship, mentoring, career development, we'll look at a number of different programs to help support students as they carry on and really move from college into graduation in these STEM careers, we'll put a particular focus on engineering, chemistry and data science, which is a relatively new field, but new and growing. And we want it to really kind of challenge ourselves, but also really the industry to really make some strides in those areas. We'll also focus in on K through 12 education, so it's important to get him to graduation. But it's also important to sort of build a pipeline if you will, of students coming in so you know, there is exposure programs and opportunities to get younger kids just exposed to concepts around STEM education. And then you know, Middle High School is when they're really starting to decide whether or not this is something they like or even enjoy doing and even want to consider pursuing it into college. So we'll have programs for those students at that level to really kind of engage them a bit more and what is stem and what does it really mean? What is a career in STEM even look like so that at least they have an opportunity to see what the potential might be? Yeah,

go ahead argue any any into any experience or any interest in it. apprenticeship kind of programs.

Um, you know, at this stage, we're open to looking at all types of programs, I think, you know, really, as long as is advancing this education field for students, I think we'd be open to, to what that looks like. Right? Put some focus in some social justice areas as well. So carrying on some of the work, we started this past year, following the death of George Floyd, we'll continue to look at areas focused on social justice. So some of the funding will go there as well to carry on that we have a wonderful program that's been going on now for five years called colorful communities, we actually do that program all over the world, where we are employee volunteers go into communities and work with nonprofits to do painting projects. And amazing to see the difference a coat of paint makes in a particular environment, and really brightening up that environment will take those projects and put a particular focus on minority communities and making sure we are supporting those communities with these types of projects. And then we'll be looking for for new opportunities as well. So you know, there's some programs that were already funding that will, you know, carry on as part of this, there's a great local program that we do with the Boys and Girls Club, they do a AI artificial intelligence pathway program for high school students. And we'll continue working with them to continue that program and possibly even expand it. So you know, there's programs out there, the neighborhood Academy is doing a wonderful job, they are creating, actually a female stem focused program, which I think is just great to put a focus on young girls, primarily young black girls, to get them interested in STEM careers. So we'll be working and looking for all these great programs that we can put our funding behind to really help advance as much as we can in the areas.

Those are some great programs to great to hear that you're supporting them. So what so just from a Pittsburgh selfishness perspective, how much do you think of that money will be committed to the Pittsburgh region? Sure.

So we are committing about 25% in Pittsburgh, okay. So you know, a nice amount will go into our hometown community. So we'll definitely put a focus here. And then obviously, the rest will be spread primarily in those markets that I've talked about, and where we have a presence around the country. We'll say that overall, overall funding. Also, I'm committing East will continue this commitment, really, we're already doing this, more than 50% of our overall funding will go to all diverse communities. So we will start to take a closer look at all areas of diversity, and making sure that we're supporting various aspects of that as well with our funding. So really just being a bit more focused, and also being intentional about the work that we're doing.

So if there, is there a link for people to look for information, or do you want everyone to just reach out to you?

So usually, the way that it works, we invite organizations to apply for FDA.

Okay. Okay. So

you can certainly go on our website and our community engagement section, you can learn more about the type of work that we do. But we don't necessarily have an open call. Right.

That's fine. I just, I really appreciate you setting.

You know, you're absolutely right. That's important.

Yeah, that's great. And so there's some questions that are I think, are geared towards both the on pass out over to Murray. Thank you, Malesia. for that. Yeah.

Yes, thank you. And you can see that the link there is in the chat for that exact question, if you again, excellent work. Thank you for continuing to do that work. I think Mark's question probably is more back for Marvin. But if you have anything to add, Malesia, please do. But just some specific books, training programs, videos that PPG recommends and the work that you're doing where other companies can then implement it with their staff.

Oh, I will actually make it very easy. I'm a big fan of the One Stop Shop. So we are a member of CEO action for diversity and inclusion. It's a coalition of now over 1600 companies who CEOs have signed on to commit to drive diversity, equity and inclusion in a meaningful way in their organization. I'm really proud because Michael McGarry our CEO was one of the first 150 to sign on. They have a site CEO action for diversity inclusion that actually has a set of free resources across all of these areas. They have videos, they have articles, suggested resources, there were really great starting point for organizations who are trying to start this journey have meaningful dialogues. And if you're not a signatory already, there's information to sign on. If you're if you're a signatory, you get access to a complete other set of resources that go into another level of detail.

That's great.

So there was a shout out there.

But Marsha, thank you, Alexis. Yeah, thank you, Lexi

for putting that out there. Marshall Colby just wants to give PPG a shout out for hiring one of the promise scholars when the promise is very, very unproven. She said she Kia has worked and ppgs IT department for at least five years now receive professional development opportunities. They also did. Yeah, fantastic work.

That's awesome. That's great.

That's really great. So, Marie, from your perspective on talent, and stem, is there any questions that you think you should ask that you want to ask Marvin or Malesia?

My My question is, when can we talk more, I need to talk to both of you more online, we get, we have so many great synergies and things that I would love to talk to you both about not only pick your brain, but just really get you excited about some of the work that we're doing here on both of your sides. So yeah, I've enjoyed being part of this conversation you're going to hear from me, so

feel free to reach out to me, you know, look, I'm more than happy to let's take a call or set up, email chat, whatever is easiest, feel free to reach out to me

say, cuz Luke karma lingo is actually saying he's been very active. He's an active member of the tech Council, as well as many things in the Civic community. He's asking, what's the best way to introduce themselves to the PPG foundation? If you're not familiar with the work? So just reaching out to you, Malesia? Yeah,

feel free to reach out to me and I happy to schedule some time with you. Okay,

so your question is answered. To the both of you, thank you for that. Thank you for being approachable, really appreciate that. We can tell the culture of PPG just by what you both are conveying right now. So is there anything else that you said that both of you would like to make some final comments on? Marvin, you're gonna love Pittsburgh, and you're gonna eventually buy a house in Pittsburgh? I mean, I'm waiting for that.

It's funny. So let me tell you, I have a friend who is an ex PPG. here who I'm trying to steal back actually, who told me that I'm going to love Pittsburgh. And he was right. So let me tell you, I've been there a couple of times. It is so beautiful, like the view, especially from PPG is building of all the branches and the canals and the hills. It's gorgeous. I'm a little bummed because I heard that the restaurant scene was really picking up before COVID hits. So I'm looking forward to things being opened up a little bit, being back in town and being able to explore the restaurant scene. So hopefully, I'll have the chance to meet some of you in person at some point fairly soon.

Now. Absolutely. Malesia, anything else that you'd like to address that perhaps we didn't? You know, I know, I

just I would say thank you guys for the opportunity to share some of the work we're doing super excited about, you know, this new commitment and looking forward to finding great programs or creating some great programs, frankly, just to help advance some of our kids that are in desperate need to move forward. So looking for those opportunities. So again, like I said, feel free to reach out and I'm approachable. I don't have an admin it's just me so to you directly via email, and we can set up some time for a call. But thank you guys for having me on. I'm here in Pittsburgh. I'm out in the North Hills area. So you see me around town. Of course. Now it's hard to tell because get the math and feel free to stop me if you see me.

The two of you met each other in real time.

Yeah, yeah, we met I think it was your very first day Marvin, Marvin was here. Again, we did have a chance to meet in person.

Okay, good. Well, listen, I'm glad you're both safe. I'm actually very glad to meet the both of you. And that this perspective in the work that you're doing, we're going to hear more about we're big fans of PPG. They've been an amazing citizen, corporate citizen to this community in this region. And it's thrilling to see the commitment that EPG has across everything you can see someone gave a shout out about your work and supply chain and the diversity, the commitment there. And it goes on and on. So I can't thank you both enough for taking the time. I think Marvin, what time is it there? 10 1030.

Exactly. You got it. Right.

It's 1030. Okay, so we didn't have to wake you up. But I really appreciate you joining us. It's great meeting you. I can't wait to meet and hug you both at some point in the near future. You're getting lots of shoutouts Doris Carson Williams. Everyone's saying thank you for the work that you're doing. So Marvin, it ppgs well loved here and well.

So I feel like I am I love hearing this actually because I feel it within the PPG family and now to hear from the outside just validates it for me so much more. Thank you so much for having us.

Now we will connect you to the tech community even more aggressively in the future. So thank you for your leadership. Thank you, Marie for being with us. And Jonathan, who do we someone read, you know who we have on Monday? I do. Jonathan

can remember a lot of stopping by to talk about all things public policy, maybe some idea of legalizing marijuana and so forth should be interesting. And also next week, I am interviewing our two subjects today for tech five Radio One mic stand podcasts, dive on all the great work ppgs up to so it should be super exciting.

Thank you, everyone, for joining us. Thank you, PPG and leadership with PPG for these two incredible hires on your leadership team, and everyone stay safe. And we'll see you on Monday. Thanks, Marie, for joining us. Thank you. It's

my pleasure. Wonderful to meet you,

everyone.

Thank you. Good to meet you all. Bye bye

bye.

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