BDPA Corporate Sponsor: Vanguard Group

This is a guest post from Dean Henry, a principal in Vanguard’s Information Technology Division. Dean is responsible for Vanguard’s Security Architecture team within the IT Security Office.

The Vanguard Group is one of the world's largest investment management companies. Vanguard's mission is to help clients reach their financial goals by being the world's highest-value provider of investment products and services. Founded in 1975, Vanguard is headquartered in Malvern, Pennsylvania, with additional U.S. Offices in Charlotte, North Carolina and Scottsdale, Arizona. As of May 31, 2010, Vanguard had nearly $1.4 trillion in U.S. mutual funds under management through approximately 160 U.S. funds. About a dozen international offices were also in operation as of the end of the year.

Vanguard's commitment to diversity extends throughout our company, from senior leaders through all 12,500 crew members across the country and the globe. We know that in our mission to be the highest-value provider of investment products and services, diversity of people, ideas, and viewpoints is one of our main assets.

Our Chairman & CEO, F. William McNabb, indicates that:

“... for us truly to be great as a company in terms of both serving our clients and as a place to work, we need highly engaged and very effective crew members. Engagement happens when everyone, no matter who they are, feels deeply valued. Moreover, the broader our diversity, the greater our effectiveness will be—for there is true power in having the widest-possible array of perspectives.”

With respect to Information Technology, Vanguard employs approximately 2,500 crew members in its IT Division, and focuses most of its IT hiring at the entry professional level. Vanguard has established a number of initiatives to encourage the careers of African Americans in the IT industry, from the classroom to the boardroom.

Since 2007, Vanguard has targeted collegiate chapters of organizations such as the National Society of Black Engineers for partnership and to help identify candidates for Vanguard’s IT College to Corporate and Technology Leadership Programs. Vanguard crew members have provided on campus information sessions, participated on NSBE chapter panel discussions, and participated in local and national conferences, primarily targeting Computer Science and Computer Engineering majors at the junior and senior undergraduate levels. Vanguard also offers two scholarship programs for rising seniors, which may be leveraged by African Americans with applicable backgrounds.

In 2010, Vanguard decided to become a BDPA corporate sponsor, and to be a sponsor for the BDPA national conference technology & career fair in downtown Philadelphia. During the conference, I will deliver a workshop on “Interviewing Best Practices” in the Youth Technology Conference track, based on the standard Vanguard college workshop presentation.

Additionally, I’ll present a workshop entitled “IT Security Principles”.  This workshop will be targeted primarily to college juniors and seniors, but professionals with less than 2 years of IT experience are also welcome. IT managers, recent hires, and Human Resources will be on hand to answer any questions at our career fair booth on July 30 and 31.