Recruiting and retaining a talented pool of professionals of color is a goal of the National Association of Black Accountants’ corporate partners. It’s also a goal at the top of the agenda for Orlando Bryant, president of NABA Twin Cities chapter. A part of their vision is to create new opportunities for minority students and professionals by building a strategic and valuable relationship with corporations.
A member of NABA for more than five years, Bryant is a manager in forensic technology and discovery services at Ernst & Young LLP. He’s proud to lead the organization because as he says, “To me, NABA gives me the opportunity to connect with students and professionals of color to help them learn more about the corporate business world. I didn’t get to where I am by myself, I received help along the way and being a part of NABA allows me to give back, by helping students and professionals with their journeys.”
Read more of what he has to say.
Talk about your role as president of the local chapter of the NABA.
My role as the president for the local chapter is to connect with corporate partners and help them address issues around diversity and inclusion. NABA members, locally and across the U.S., help our corporate partners develop internal strategies to retain persons of color, help them create their business resource groups, develop professionals and leadership, and also work with professionals in finance, accounting and technology.
Can you give an example of success of partnering with a corporation? How are they able to measure growth?
For the last couple of years now, here locally in Minneapolis, we’ve been working with our corporate partners to identify professionals of color and help them implement initiatives internally … they have the Black employee network. We’ve had a lot of success with their newer campus recruits or experienced hires that are coming into their company and getting them involved with NABA events.
Tell us how technology is important now through the organization in working with some of your corporate partners.
Technology is rapidly growing. It’s a good tool to leverage, specifically for social media. Social media — the generations nowadays are very into tweeting, texting, instagramming, and snapchating and using all those different platforms so us working with the corporate partners, their Black employee research groups, and then sharing information about events that are coming up or completed, sharing benefits and the success of those events with their groups and also and externally across the U.S., across the world if you’re posting on those different public medium has been very helpful. And, it does help us spread the word at a rapid pace.
How can a business or individual get in contact with you or follow you socially?
NABAMN.org is our international website or go on Facebook, Twitter [or] Instagram and search for NABA Minnesota or NABATwin Cities and we can connect that way.
