Hartford Business Journal

31 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | March 28, 2022 FOCUS: DIVERSITY a top leader. Of the 65 positions that fall into that category, 46% are held by women, the health system said. Trinity Health lists its leadership positions more broadly to include managers and above; 66% of those 391 positions are currently held by women, Trinity said. Still, even with those promising percentages, both healthcare systems say much more can be done to maintain or improve the numbers. "We really like to train people within the organization, and there is no limit on who can be a leader," said Sarah Lewis, Hartford HealthCare's vice president of health, equity, diversity and inclusion. "I've seen it with my own two eyes; many men and women and people from different backgrounds here have risen through the ranks." Proactive steps Jackson Laboratory, HHC and Trinity Health said they have all undertaken major initiatives to address and encourage gender equality. All three organizations offer mentors who help guide and encourage often-younger employees. In 2020, HHC's senior leaders participated in their first-ever inclusive leadership training course. In addition, HHC offers a 12-month graduate administrative fellowship program aimed at recruiting diverse promising graduates from the top U.S. master's degree programs in public health and administration. "We are recruiting from a wide number of universities, more than before, to get a more diverse population," Lewis said. "For example, we never recruited from the University of Alabama before. That university has one of the best healthcare administrative programs in the country and we were able to get more diverse students from the south." Carolyn Alessi is the regional director of community health and well-being at St. Francis Hospital in Hartford, part of the Trinity Health network. Alessi said Trinity Health in January 2022 launched a women's inclusion network — known as WIN — that encourages women to come together for networking and professional development. In addition, Alessi said, the healthcare system has an annual unconscious bias training program that provides tools "to adjust thinking and eliminate discriminatory thoughts and behaviors" toward both women and minority groups. "[For example], you can look at hiring practices and how we look at resumes and in interviewing candidates," Alessi said. "We can look at a name and make an assumption on someone who comes from a different culture." Ballesteros said Jackson Laboratory senior leaders are part of the Million Women Mentors Connecticut chapter, a group that promotes engagement and retention of women and girls in science, technology, engineering and mathematics careers. State government diversity In addition to the Paradigm for Parity pledge, Gov. Ned Lamont also addressed the disparity issue last June when he signed legislation encouraging equitable gender and racial representation in state government. The law was developed based on recommendations from the Governor's Council on Women and Girls and it addresses barriers parents face when running for state elected office, while also promoting greater gender and racial diversity on state boards and commissions. For example, the law allows political candidates to use public campaign funds for reasonable childcare costs while they are running for office. While women make up more than half of the state's population, in 2021 they only held 27.8% of state Senate seats; 35.1% of House seats; and 33% of constitutional offices, according to Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz, who chairs the Governor's Council on Women and Girls. Carolyn Alessi Sarah Lewis Paradigm for Parity signatories Since March 2020, these eight Connecticut companies signed the Paradigm for Parity pledge, committing to have 50% of their leadership positions held by women by 2030: • Trinity Health of New England • Hartford HealthCare • The Jackson Laboratory • Yale New Haven Health • Pfizer • Avangrid • Otis Worldwide Corp. • Hubbell TOTAL PROJECT SIZE: 17,000 SF Building For Your Success LIBERTY MAZDA HARTFORD, CT Building car dealerships is a passion of ours. Having previously built their original facility in Hartford, PDS recently completed a renovation to the currently occupied Liberty Mazda building. Totaling 17,000 square feet, this project includes a new drive-in service reception area, showroom, offices, customer lounge, parts department, exterior wall panel, glass and more. PDS is no stranger to the automotive industry. Having built over a dozen dealerships in our prolific history, we work to accommodate your budget and timeline. For over 55 years, PDS has always built relationships based on trust, efficiency, and transparency to provide the highest quality end result. SPOTLIGHT ON: AUTOMOVITVE 107 Old Windsor Road, Bloomfield, CT 06002 | 860.242.8586 | pdsec.com THINK • PLAN • BUILD

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