[Day 1] Wall Street Project Summit: Rev. Jesse Jackson Talks Diversity with Intel and More

Tuesday, hundreds of black professionals converged on the Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel for day one of the 18^th Annual Rainbow PUSH Wall Street Project Economic Summit. Taking place this week, January 13-15, attendees marched toward the goal of diversified economic inclusion, empowerment, and knowledge. The summit’s tagline, “Where Wall Street, Main Street & Silicon Valley Converge” literally came alive on multiple floors. While one focused fully on the annual Wall Street Project Youth Summit, the third floor began its day with a one on one chat between Rainbow PUSH’s Founder and President, Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. and Intel’s CEO Brian Krzanich. The intimate discussion detailed the outlook behind Intel’s recent landmark announcement establishing a $300 million diversity investment fund. “Today, Intel has defined unequivocally and measurably what it means to ‘do better,”’ said Rev. Jackson. “They are definitively answering the question, ‘Where do we as tech companies and an industry want to be?'”

[RELATED: Full List of the 40 Best Companies for Diversity]

During the conversation with Jackson, Krzanich candidly and comfortably discussed race, even explaining why some companies still don’t acknowledge Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday as a holiday. “Microinequity,” he said, defining the oversight. “When you don’t see your ignorance to the issue. Not having the King holiday as a paid holiday like Christmas is sending a small message to African American employees that it‘s not too important. The small things add up.”

Perfectly timed to follow the talk with Intel was “The Urban Tech Boom.” Moderated by Silicon Harlem Founders, Bruce Lincoln and Clayton Banks, the panel focused on the growing faces of African Americans in the technology field and the need to collaborate with other like minds and faces.

But one of the most anticipated events of the day was Black Enterprise’s 40 Best Companies for Diversity luncheon. The crowded room of power people attended to support BE‘s eighth year of an epic annual effort to reach out to more than 1,000 companies and highlight those that make the inclusion of minorities and women a top priority.

[RELATED: Intel Bets $300 Million on Workplace Diversity]

Jackson’s opening remarks at the luncheon set the tone for why black professionals in the workforce have always been instrumental to American society. “We fought to end slavery and it made America better. We fought to end slavery and it benefited those we fought to bring those walls down,” he said. “We built the whole South and pulled the cotton curtain down.”

Black Enterprise President and CEO Earl Graves Jr. took to the podium, thanked content and research staff and attributed the partnership with PUSH to remembering Jackson’s words. “He stressed we have to work together,” Graves said. “I want to thank him for more than 50 years of advocacy.”

Graves went on to name each of the 40 companies on BE’s annual diversity list, with representatives accepting their award to rousing support and applause.

The immediate followup conversation to the luncheon was the two-part panel, “Th

inking Outside the Box to Improve Minority Hiring.” Part one began with a chat between Janice Parks, McDonald’s senior director of global inclusion and community engagement, and Robert F. Smith, chairman and CEO of Vista Equity Partners. The conversation focused on Smith’s unique efforts to find talent by giving aptitude and personality tests.

The company trains new hires for six months and boasts a low turnover rate. “I’m in the intellectual property business and my job is to find the smartest people,” he added. “Three hundred thousand didn’t take the test, [but] 125,000 did. That’s what I look at.”

Part two of the minority hiring discussion was a panel moderated by McDonald’s global chief officer, Pat Harris, and it focused on the diversity inclusive initiatives of the State of New York and corporations including Nationwide, Comcast, and Citi. “I can’t see diversity unless everybody around me in the C-suite has those same expectations,” said Gale V. King, Executive VP and Chief Administrative Officer of Nationwide, one of BE’s 40 Best Companies for Diversity. “You have to have some personal and professional credibility. And you have to have courage. You have to be intentional.  Why be in the room if you’re not going to ask, ‘Why do we not have diversity in this area?’”

When asked why more companies don’t make diversity a priority King added, “I think it’s complacency and fear. And it’s on all of us to say, ‘You need to change and have to change.’”

Bright signs of King’s point showed promise during Part 1 of the panel, “Access to Capital: How to Secure Venture Capital for Your Business.”

“I became a student of the research and then I got it, which is why I’m here all day,” said Jeanne Sullivan, who has $400 million under management as the co-founder of StarVest Partners. “Being a woman in the business, we realize gender bias starts early in the second and third grade. You want to change the game? Do what we do. Form your own tribe and invest behind women and people of color because we’re looking through a different lens.”

The Wall Street Project wrapped a strong day one with the NY Tech Meetup, featuring demonstrations of new technology. Last night’s Citizenship Education Fund Opening Reception was hosted by actor and comedian Mark Curry and honored founders of Silicon Harlem, Bruce Lincoln and Clayton Bank, along with Van Jones, co-host of CNN’s Crossfire, and president and co-Founder of Rebuild the Dream, #YesWeCode.

The Wall Street Project Economic Summit continues at the Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel today. Follow hashtag #WSPES2015 for social media updates on the event and visit us for details on panels, insights and more.