Diversity & inclusion

Our commitment to diversity and inclusion — in thought, style, experience, culture, ethnicity and sexual orientation — is helping us to create not only a great place to work, but also an environment where our employees, our customers and our communities around the world can
reach their goals and connect with each other. That commitment starts at the top with our CEO, who chairs our Global Diversity & Inclusion Council. Additionally, each business and region has its own Diversity & Inclusion Council.
With more than 200 chapters across the globe, Bank of America's Employee Networks help realize the power of our people through the development and engagement of more than 60,000 employee members, who participate in nearly 600 events each year.
We seek to attract, recruit and retain top diverse talent from around the globe. Our Diversity Executive Recruiting team identifies prospective executives and connects talent to leaders within our organization. We have increased our diversity hiring with a focus on early candidate identification and development, through partnerships with approximately 200 schools and external diversity organizations.
Managers within our Supplier Diversity and Development Program collaborate internally to ensure that we include diverse businesses across the organization. Examples of diverse suppliers include minorities, individuals with disabilities, or businesses owned by veterans, women, and individuals who are lesbian, gay, bi-sexual or transgender. In 2012, Bank of America spent nearly $2.3 billion with diverse businesses.