HSBC Bank, part of HSBC Group, announced the appointment of Ralph Jardine as the US Head of Inclusion and Culture, a newly created position focused on expanding the bank’s diversity and inclusion efforts. He reports directly to Michael Roberts, President and CEO, and Maureen Gillan-Myer, Head of Human Resources.

“The events that have unfolded this year – from the killing of George Floyd to the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement – have emphasized the need for change,” said Roberts. “As an organization, we need to address how we approach inclusion and the culture we are nurturing, and ensure we are fostering an environment that appropriately represents the diversity of our world today. I am excited to have Ralph step into this role and lead the charge for us. His experience, enthusiasm and perspective will help us grow as individuals and as an organization.”

This new position will support HSBC’s charge to create a more inclusive culture and drive meaningful change in the US market, which further supports the bank’s race commitments set earlier this year by Group Chief Executive, Noel Quinn. Jardine will bring transformational ideas and initiatives that will support the bank in making quicker progress on advancing opportunities for its employees, expanding its customer demographic and investing in the communities that need support the most. He will also aim to increase HSBC’s pipeline of diverse candidates for leadership roles; enhance the bank’s third-party diversity program and task it with evaluating and building better representation of minority-owned companies among HSBC’s vendors; and, enhance hiring strategies for ethnic minority candidates for graduate programs, among others.

“I am excited to step into this role and have the opportunity to make truly meaningful and lasting change, where inclusivity and equity is even more valued as an enabler of a high performance culture,” said Jardine. “There is a lot to be done, but I feel confident we have the leadership and the will to ensure we are inclusive in all that we do with our employees, clients and communities. I’m proud to be leading this effort.”

Most recently, Jardine was the Head of the Commercial Banking (CMB) People Excellence Team, which he launched in 2017. Under his leadership, the business line made significant improvement across measures related to culture, diversity, and morale. Throughout his tenure at HSBC, he has held various front and back office positions across the bank, including marketing, strategy, operations and transformation programs. He also serves as a global Co-Chair of Balance, the bank’s gender diversity Employee Resource Group (ERG) and as Vice Chair on the African Heritage ERG Advisory Board in the US.