The Times and 'Opportunity Now' Recognise BNY Mellon for Diversity and Inclusion Leadership

NEW YORK and LONDON, April 19, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- BNY Mellon, the global leader in investment management and investment services, announced that it has garnered high honours for gender equality in the workplace for a second consecutive year from The Times of London and 'Opportunity Now', the gender campaign from Business in the Community. With more than 5,500 UK-based employees, BNY Mellon features prominently in The Times' annual list of the UK's Top 50 Employers for Women, as both a corporate entity and for the extraordinary leadership of Sheena Wilson, the company's global head of talent strategy, who earned the "Directing Diverse Talent" award at a ceremony in central London last night.

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Kathryn Nawrockyi, director of Opportunity Now, said: "Sheena impressed us with her personal drive to challenge the status quo and because she was able to hard wire diversity and inclusion into the company's leadership agenda. By successfully integrating diversity and inclusion into the personal development plans for every BNY Mellon employee around the globe, Sheena has ensured real accountability across the organisation. With Sheena, strategic action and results are complemented by a deep personal commitment to advance diversity and inclusion as a business imperative. Accordingly, at BNY Mellon, Sheena capitalises on her global remit to share best practices in support of excellent talent wherever she goes, which makes her an authentic, passionate and influential role model."

For nearly two decades, the Opportunity Now Awards have highlighted the industry leadership, outperformance and influence of top performing businesses throughout the UK that also strive for gender equity in the workplace. The elite group of companies selected to the list demonstrates a commitment to actively recruiting, retaining and progressing female talent.

Karen Peetz, president of BNY Mellon, said: "Companies that embrace diversity enjoy greater success and have higher levels of employee satisfaction and performance. That's why it is a top priority at BNY Mellon. We know the diversity of our workforce helps us to deliver the best, most innovative solutions to our clients. And our focus on diversity helps ensure that each employee has every opportunity to contribute his or her best work — and to be recognised and rewarded for that performance."

According to Lisa Peters, the company's chief human resources officer, "Sheena is a tireless advocate for diversity and inclusion and we are thrilled that she is being recognized for so successfully shaping and driving BNY Mellon's diversity and inclusion programs."

According to Opportunity Now, Wilson distinguished herself for introducing best practices. For example, she ensured a diversity goal was included in every employee's annual appraisal process. She also has played a an important role in the extraordinary growth of the company's four employee resource groups, including BNY Mellon's Women's Initiatives Network (WIN), which grew from 39 chapters in 6 countries to 106 chapters in 17 countries. During this same period, the number of women serving on BNY Mellon's three senior most leadership bodies increased nearly 60%.

As the global head of Talent Strategy for BNY Mellon, Wilson works on a wide range of global talent management priorities, including talent acquisition, diversity and inclusion and talent management.

BNY Mellon is a global investments company dedicated to helping its clients manage and service their financial assets throughout the investment lifecycle. Whether providing financial services for institutions, corporations or individual investors, BNY Mellon delivers informed investment management and investment services in 36 countries and more than 100 markets. As of March 31, 2013, BNY Mellon had $26.3 trillion in assets under custody and/or administration, and $1.4 trillion in assets under management. BNY Mellon can act as a single point of contact for clients looking to create, trade, hold, manage, service, distribute or restructure investments. BNY Mellon is the corporate brand of The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (NYSE: BK). Additional information is available on www.bnymellon.com, or follow us on Twitter @BNYMellon.

About The Times Top 50 process: Opportunity Now managed The Times Top 50 Employers for Women list and judging process. Entry was by self nomination and open to any employer with a UK presence. Employers supplied detailed information on what their organisation does internally as a top employer for women as well as what it does externally to promote gender equality, diversity and inclusion and to create opportunities for women in a wider context. Organisations were required to supply two case study stories of specific initiatives/programmes which demonstrated the work they were doing to create culture change. All entries were stringently marked against a framework of best practice and assessed on an anonymous basis by a team of gender experts within Opportunity Now.

About Opportunity Now and Business in the Community: Opportunity Now is the workplace gender campaign from Business in the Community. For information about Opportunity Now's work on diversity and inclusion, please see www.bitcdiversity.org.uk. Business in the Community stands for responsible business. With a membership of over 850 companies, engagement in 10,700 organisations internationally and an employee reach of 14.7 million, Business in the Community is raising the benchmark for responsible business practice. We offer our members practical support to help them transform their businesses and integrate responsible practices into their operations. And we ask our members to work in partnership with us to help transform communities and tackle serious social issues where business can make a real difference. Business in the Community is one of the Prince's Charities, a group of not-for-profit organisations of which The Prince of Wales is President. www.bitc.org.uk.   

SOURCE BNY Mellon