Historically, people of color and women have more difficulty accessing capital, says Nicole Elam, president and CEO, National Bankers Association – an association of minority-owned and operated banks across the country.
WorkingNation sat down with Elam at the Milken Institute Global Conference 2022 in Beverly Hills.
With just over 140 minority depository institutions (MDIs) around the country, Elam says access is available for people regardless of where they live. “The good news is that people are becoming more and more engaged with mobile banking and technology. You’re able to access minority banks even if one isn’t down the street, but the distinguishing factor about minority banks is that they are sitting in and serving your communities. Even though there may not be one next door to you, we are certainly focused on making sure that they have the technology so that they are accessible,” says Elam.
She says such institutions are key to helping create drivers of wealth, noting access to financial services, home ownership, and small business ownership.
Elam says there are several ways that mainstream financial institutions can support MDIs, “The first is around financial support whether it is a direct equity investment, investing in an equity fund that is investing in minority depository institutions, grant funding.”
“The second way is revenue generating business opportunities. The third is around digitization. Technology is expensive. And as a small bank, technology costs are just too big.”
Learn more about the National Bankers Association.
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Dana Beth Ardi, PhD, Executive Committee, is a thought leader and expert in the fields of executive search, talent management, organizational design, assessment, leadership and coaching. As an innovator in the human capital movement, Ardi creates enhanced value in companies by matching the most sought after talent with the best opportunities. Ardi coaches boards and investors on the art and science of building high caliber management teams. She provides them with the necessary skills to seek out and attract top-level management, to design the ideal organizational architectures and to deploy people against strategy. Ardi unearths the way a business works and the most effective way for people to work in them.
Ardi is an experienced business executive and senior consultant who leverages business organizational transformation through talent strategies. She uses her knowledge and experience to develop talent strategies to enhance revenue and profit contributions. She has a deep expertise in change management and organizational effectiveness and has designed and built high performance cultures. Ardi has significant experience in mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, IPO’s and turnarounds.
Ardi is an expert on the multi-generational workforce. She understands the four intersecting generations of workers coming together in contemporary companies, each with their own mindsets, leadership and communications styles, values and motivations. Ardi is sought after to assist companies manage and thrive by bringing the generations together. Her book, Fall of the Alphas: How Beta Leaders Win Through Connection, Collaboration and Influence, will be published by St. Martin’s Press. The book reflects Ardi’s deep expertise in understanding organizations and our changing society. It focuses on building a winning culture, how companies must grow and evolve, and how talent influences and shapes communities of work. This is what she has coined “Corporate Anthropology.” It is a playbook on how modern companies must meet challenges – culturally, globally, digitally, across genders and generations.
Ardi is currently the Managing Director and Founder of Corporate Anthropology Advisors, LLC, a consulting company that provides human capital advisory and innovative solutions to companies building value through people. Corporate Anthropology works with organizations, their cultures, the way they grow and develop, and the people who are responsible for forming their communities of work.
Prior to her position at Corporate Anthropology Advisors, Ardi served as a Partner/Managing Director at the private equity firms CCMP Capital and JPMorgan Partners. She was a partner at Flatiron Partners, a venture capital firm working with early state companies where she pioneered the human capital role within an investment portfolio.
Ardi holds a BS from the State University of New York at Buffalo as well as a Masters degree and PhD from Boston College. She started her career as professor at the Graduate Center at Fordham University in New York.
