Nancy Robles, president and CEO of Eastern Funding, sees inclusion as fairness and equity rooted in her personal moral compass. Those values have guided her throughout a successful career spanning more than 25 years in the industry. For Robles, inclusion has never been about a single action or initiative, but a consistent, deliberate way of engaging with the world every day.

“Real organizational inclusion mirrors the real world’s population and education trends,” Robles says. “If there are groups who have been traditionally underrepresented preparing for careers, then those career fields should reflect those groups.”

Robles gauges meaningful DEI progress by looking at the C-suite, believing an organization’s top leadership should be representative of its entire employee base, including entry-level positions, as well as the pool of available candidates.