EY hosts ninth annual Discover EY event to support underrepresented minority students and seventh annual Campus Diversity & Inclusiveness Roundtable

Events are designed to build leadership skills, enhance diversity in the profession and teach college and business leaders innovative ways to drive diversity and inclusiveness at their respective organizations.

New York, 7 January 2015 – Today, Ernst & Young LLP kicked-off its ninth annual Discover EY event and seventh annual Campus Diversity and Inclusiveness Roundtable, two programs designed to address the underrepresentation of minorities in professional services through leadership development and the sharing of best practices. At Discover EY, more than 150 high-achieving, ethnically diverse students from across 70 US campuses will participate in a program designed to hone their leadership potential while exploring the full range of career and development opportunities EY offers throughout all stages of its people’s career journeys.

Parallel to Discover EY, an elite group of university faculty and administrators from more than 20 top undergraduate business programs across the US will gather to share best practices for the attraction, retention and development of the country’s most promising minority students in business and technology schools.

According to the 2013 AICPA Trends in the Supply of Accounting Graduates and the Demand for Public Accounting Recruits, students of the following ethnicities were enrolled in B.A. programs in accounting from 2011-2012: 67% white, 9.3% Asian/Pacific Islander, 8.4% Hispanic/Latino, 7.2% black/African American, and 0.4% American Indian/Alaskan Native. Discover EY and The Campus Diversity Roundtable aim to develop more diverse talent so that these percentages will continue to climb.

Discover EY
The three-day, all expense-paid, Discover EY event will invite participating college students to take part in interactive team-building exercises, leadership seminars, networking opportunities and conversations with some of EY’s top leaders, including Kelly Grier, EY Americas Vice Chair–Talent; Natasha Stough, EY Americas Director of Campus Recruiting; and Ken Bouyer, EY Americas Director of Inclusiveness Recruiting. The attendees, who are primarily college sophomores and juniors, will be eligible to interview for internships with Ernst & Young LLP following the conference.

Due in part to the continued success and expansion of this program since it launched in 2007, minorities now represent 36% of the US firm’s total full-time professionals coming from campuses in the US. To date, the program has reached more than 600 students and has expanded its scope beyond its initial foundation called Discover Tax, which focused solely on the firm’s tax practice.

“Discover EY is one of the many ways we seek to raise awareness of the accounting and finance profession and open doors for high-achieving talent,” said Stough. “We are seeing a tremendous demand for top talent to serve our diverse clients and our communities. This year we will hire and develop nearly 15,500 people in the US to help deliver exceptional client service and help build a better working world.”

Campus Diversity and Inclusiveness Roundtable
The annual EY Campus Diversity and Inclusiveness Roundtable will convene college and business leaders to learn about innovative ways to drive diversity and inclusiveness at their respective organizations. One such program inspired by the Roundtable is now at Cornell University, where the Cornell Men of Color seminar was instituted. This Cornell course covers networking, developing leadership presence, and explores the negative impact of stereotypes in the workplace. In addition, participants will take part in a learning session focused on best practices to help top under-represented minority students graduate. Attendees will also hear from EY leadership on the business imperative for diversity at their institutions.

“The Roundtable provides a platform where administrators of leading business programs can share best practices and learn from specific case studies where schools and companies have effectively attracted, retained and developed diverse talent,” said Bouyer. “Focusing on core concepts like diversity and inclusiveness prepares students to lead in a global marketplace and propels a diverse population of talent to the highest echelons of senior leadership and corporate boards.”

About EY
EY is a global leader in assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services. The insights and quality services we deliver help build trust and confidence in the capital markets and in economies the world over. We develop outstanding leaders who team to deliver on our promises to all of our stakeholders. In so doing, we play a critical role in building a better working world for our people, for our clients and for our communities.

EY refers to the global organization and may refer to one or more of the member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity. Ernst & Young Global Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, does not provide services to clients. For more information about our organization, please visit ey.com.

This news release has been issued by Ernst & Young LLP, a member of the global EY organization that provides services to clients in the US.

SOURCE: Ernst & Young