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V O L . X X V I I I N O. X I C O R P O R AT E R E S P O N S I B I L I T Y Laura Shen, chief diversity and inclusion officer at WEX Inc., likens employee- resource groups at the Portland-based financial technology firm to "little businesses." There are nine groups in total, including WEX Pride and LatinX. A s WEX Inc.'s first chief diversity and inclusion officer, Laura Shen is in uncharted territory, working closely with Melanie Tinto, the head of human resources. "You don't have the luxury of sitting back and seeing what others do, but the really fun part of my job is to be able to create something new," she says at the financial technology provider's Portland waterfront headquarters. "ere's no real playbook for DEI, it's about doing the right things." In the same way at Bar Harbor- based Jackson Laboratory, Moses Davis spent his first year as DEI director evolving into his role. "I was very clear that I am not a diversity police officer. I am here because I want to get to know you and really be a team builder with folks," he says. "When people are afraid to speak up, they don't show up, and things will start to fester. My approach is to be in a spirit and space of listening, engaging and building community." Until a few years ago, a chief diversity officer was an anomaly in corporate America. Today, under pressure from employees, customers and shareholders in the wake of 2020's social injustice protests nationwide, new hires of chief diversity officers have soared on Wall Street and beyond, including in Maine. The business rationale for diversity Nationwide, an estimated 52% of companies in the Standard & Poor's 500 index have a chief diversity offi- cer, up from 47% in 2018. At least 60 publicly traded firms have appointed their first diversity leader in the past year, according to Russell Reynolds Associates, a Boston-based manage- ment consulting firm. e role is still fairly new at many Maine companies. e case for stepping up diversity goes beyond altruism. e business logic for doing so is documented in a May 2020 report by McKinsey & Co., using publicly available data from 1,039 companies across 15 countries. e research shows that the likelihood of diverse companies outperforming industry peers on profitability has shot up significantly since 2015. F O C U S M AY 3 0 , 2 0 2 2 12 P H O T O / T I M G R E E N WAY There's no real playbook for DEI, it's about doing the right things. — Laura Shen WEX Inc. WEX Inc. Publicly traded financial technology service provider based in Portland Workforce: More than 5,600 employees in 16 countries (including 4,800 in the U.S.) Chief D&I Officer: Laura Shen in the How four large Maine employers are tackling diversity, equity and inclusion B y R e n e e C o r d e s

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