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» VISIT US ONLINE @ DSNEWS.COM 75 enforcement of laws and regulations that preserve a fair and level playing field." COMING TO THE CFPB In 2012, Ishimaru joined the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau less than a year after it was established under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. He became the first and only head of its Office of Minority and Women Inclusion. In his position, he's charged with ensuring the bureau is diverse and that its hiring, management, and recruitment practices are fair and inclusive. But enforcing Section 342 starts at the top, within the bureau itself. Ishimaru says his office looks at how the CFPB hires and retains employees, and works to "create opportunities for minority and women contractors to do business with the bureau." "One way we would do this is to make sure that we're interviewing a broad and wide range of possible pieces of talent to come to work for us," Ishimaru said. "We want to recruit broadly, to ask similar questions of similar candidates, things like that." According to Hilary O. Shelton, another longtime colleague and friend of Ishimaru's, these diversification efforts at the CFPB provide an example for other financial institutions to model. "We see in many ways how diversity is handled at the CFPB as a demonstration of how it should work in banks and other financial services institutions," said Shelton, the Director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's (NAACP) Washington Bureau and the NAACP's SVP for Advocacy and Policy. But encouraging internal diversity at the CFPB is just one small piece of the puzzle. Ishimaru and his team also work with all the bureau's regulated entities to live up to the goals of Section 342—and to help them set up diversity and inclusion initiatives in their own organizations. "A lot of these regulated entities have not been under federal regulation before, so we've worked out and continue to work out a relation- ship with them, letting them know what their responsibilities are under federal law, as well as how best to comply with it," Ishimaru said. One sector that's been particularly quick in adopting 342? Ishimaru says it's the mortgage industry. "e mortgage folks that we've dealt with have welcomed us in," Ishimaru said. "ey've welcomed the conversation. We have learned from them, and hopefully, they're learning a little something from us." According to Ishimaru, parts of the mortgage sector had already done quite a bit of work in the diversity and inclusion space before his office stepped in. "We started our efforts dealing with our regulated entities with people in the mortgage industry, due in large part to the work that has been done by the industry itself in thinking about diversity and inclusion," he said. "We've been pleased seeing some of the efforts that have gone on, including those of the American Mortgage Diversity Council. Having people think about these issues, wanting to get involved to try to bring diversity and inclusion into their work is a good thing, and something that made us think the mortgage industry would be a good place to start this dialogue." In addition to his role as head of the Office of Minority and Women Inclusion, Ishimaru also manages the CFPB's Office of Equal Opportunity and Fairness—and its Office of Civil Rights, which deals with equal opportunity issues in the bureau's workplace. But no matter what title he's going by, one thing is clear: Ishimaru has already made an impact at the bureau. "I think he has been responsible for making sure that the bureau has a diverse and competent staff, and he has been involved in helping to establish the agency from its earliest days," Henderson said. "I think he's done a terrific job in building an institution that is true to its mission of work on behalf of consumers, but it also recognizes the diversity of our country and the value of having a diverse workforce." Henderson, as well as the NAACP's Shelton, played a role in the initial drafting of the Dodd-Frank Act, which subsequently created the CFPB—and the very post Ishimaru serves in. And according to Shelton, there's been no better fit for the job. "We really need someone that is as extraordinary as Stuart in that role of OMWI to continue to push forward the kind of diversity that we know we need throughout our financial services sector," Shelton said. DIVERSITY WITHOUT DODD-FRANK? ough the future of Dodd-Frank, and subsequently Section 342, may be on tenuous footing—especially with the House's recent passing of its potential replacement, the Financial CHOICE Act, the hope for diversity in the financial sector isn't lost just yet. After all, there are other laws that protect consumers and prevent discrimination, like the Fair Housing Act, the Fair Lending Act, Title 12, the Housing and Economic Recovery Act, the Equal Opportunity Act, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. And those certainly help, according to 75 "We see in many ways how diversity is handled at the CFPB as a demonstration of how it should work in banks and other financial services institutions." – Hilary O. Shelton, Director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's (NAACP) Washington Bureau and the NAACP's SVP for Advocacy and Policy COVER STORY INDUSTRY INSIGHT INDUSTRY INSIGHT INDUSTRY INSIGHT INDUSTRY INSIGHT

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