Alaska USA Asks On Its DEI Journey, 'Can We Do Better?'
The credit union creates a new DEI Advisory Committee to spearhead equitable efforts.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) has become a tent pole for the credit union industry, especially since DEI became the eighth cooperative principle last year. The DEI momentum continued to build as Alaska USA Federal Credit Union announced it has organized a new DEI Advisory Committee for the credit union.
The Anchorage-based credit union ($10.3 billion in assets, 707,604 members) said on Monday that it had created the new DEI Advisory Committee to focus on providing opportunities for career growth for internal talent and investing financially in organizations that “improve society through recognizing differences and improving access to careers in financial services.”
According to Alaska USA, executives were inspired by the protests for racial justice in 2020, which led them to ask themselves, “Can we do better?” The answer was “yes.”
In a statement released on Monday, Alaska USA Executive Director of Retail Financial Services and Ambassador of the DEI Advisory Committee Shannon Conley said, “Our country and the world have witnessed several events involving discrimination, hate and cruelty. As an organization, we have a social responsibility to become part of the solution.”
According to Alaska USA, the credit union has made $75,000 worth of financial investments within the past 10 months to the African American Credit Union Coalition (AACUC), Global Women’s Leadership Network and Filene Research Institute’s Center of Excellence for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
Conley said, “As credit unions and the broader business community have embraced diversity, equity and inclusion in meaningful and positive ways, we too have accelerated our journey. We have seen first hand the value of cross-cultural discussions and new collaborative partnerships that will continue to guide our interactions, help us understand our commonality, and unite us in our commitment to evolving our internal and external communities.”
Of note, recently, Alaska USA SVP of Corporate Relations and DEI Advisory Committee Member Dan McCue was inducted into the AACUC’s Hall of Fame for his work over the years aimed at increasing diversity within the credit union industry.
As another part of the credit union’s newly-focused DEI efforts, Alaska USA launched a DEI resource page for employees to provide volunteer opportunities and update the employee base about broader DEI investments and goals.