Making the Difference

Columbia Business School

Erika Irish Brown ’98, global head of diversity and inclusion for financial-information powerhouse Bloomberg, is working to disrupt the modern-day workplace and open its doors to the world.

The global headquarters of Bloomberg LP in midtown Manhattan can make visitors feel almost like they’ve been transported to the future. Glass walls curve upward and refract the light through airy gathering spaces where coworkers mingle over coffee or rush to meetings. On each floor, wide-open bullpens are interrupted by red-, blue-, and aquamarine–colored glass-walled offices and meeting rooms. Near the stairs, there’s a tank of brightly hued tropical fish. Erika Irish Brown ’98, the company’s first global head of diversity and inclusion, hurries past all of this, making small talk with the Bloomberg employees she encounters on her way.

Full article: columbia.edu/articles/columbia-business/making-difference