Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging Remain Top Priorities for Ryan

Ryan’s commitment to investing in and empowering women is stronger than ever. We continue to listen and learn as we work to ensure our commitment creates opportunity for our team members in their daily lives.

In 2020, Ryan made a commitment to expand on diversity, equity, and inclusion with a renewed purpose and clarity. Our mission is to foster a global environment of respect that empowers our people to celebrate all cultures and perspectives in the workplace, recognizing that diversity and inclusion drive creativity and innovation that fuels our ability to deliver excellence. We are committed to meaningful, long-term change. 

Supporting Organizations that Support Women

In 2022, we signed on to the CREW Network and took the CREW Pledge. We are excited to partner with CREW and other industry leaders to advocate for women in commercial real estate and beyond. Our very own Michelle Pink, Principal and Regional Leader in Calgary, was appointed to the CREW Network Scholarship Committee in March 2022. “The CREW Network strongly believes in strengthening and expanding diversity, equity, and inclusion throughout the commercial real estate industry,” Michelle said. “It is an incredible honor to be appointed to the Scholarship Committee and expand my role in empowering young minds to reach their full academic potential.”

Inclusive Culture

Ryan remains committed to creating a workplace where women and other underrepresented groups feel empowered and have agency. We began an intentional culture journey in 2018 with culture workshops that covered everything from well-being and psychological safety to bias and setting boundaries. These mandatory workshops keep everyone aligned and are the foundation of an inclusive workplace culture, giving our team members the language, tools, and support to help make Ryan a great place to work for all.

We launched an incredible speaker series, and in 2022, Ryan introduced Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Office Hours—a monthly firm-wide meeting facilitated by a leader in the space of DEI. Team members joined as they were able, and the conversations included everything from name pronunciation to allyship.

In 2023, we partnered with McKinsey and Company to conduct a comprehensive inclusion survey that allowed us to measure key dimensions of inclusion and identify gaps and opportunities across and within different groups and demographics. This 2023 inclusion survey is a benchmark survey for us and something we plan to come back to every year.

Pay Equity

In 2021, we began a compensation study; however, we quickly realized that because we had more than 1,000 job profiles, this would be challenging to wrap our arms around. To ensure that we were not adding any inherited discrepancies, effective third quarter of 2021, we stopped our practice of asking for salary history from candidates with traditional compensation packages. Currently, 21 states have bans on salary history questions, and Ryan has exceeded these standards by stopping this practice globally. 

In 2022, we created the largest-ever merit pool in Ryan’s history to address salary inconsistencies. Currently, Ryan is rolling out published pay ranges for each individual with an eye toward full organizational transparency in 2024. As of July 1, 2023, team members will be able to see where their pay falls with respect to their pay range. This transparency, along with our skill and competency-based performance review, gives team members more oversight over their career development, rooted in equitable pay.

Advancing Women

In 2021, we introduced a competency-based performance system that creates a framework for our performance reviews to hone in on specific skills and abilities directly related to job responsibilities. Competencies are specific to role and department and are designed to reduce the opportunity for bias, while encouraging meaningful talent development opportunities.

In 2022, we promoted 15% of our global female team members, which was on par with our 13% of global male team members. 

Our talent acquisition team is working on expanding our base of colleges, and they have partnered with our RyanMOSAIC diversity council team members to host diversity-focused seminars and conversations at a broad cross-section of minority-serving institutions. 

In 2022, we hired, acquired, or promoted, the following women in key leadership roles:

• Lynette Stover, Senior Director, Global Clients and Markets

• Miena Joseph, Senior Director, Process and Project Management

• Khristine Espinoza, Principal, Transaction Tax Compliance

• Gina Rodriguez, Principal, Controversy Resolution

• Amanda Goody, Principal, Property Tax Compliance

• Raven Shull, Principal, Client Services

• Dana Shipes, Principal, Severance Tax/Royalty

• Sonja Roman-Molina, Principal, Abandoned and Unclaimed Property Compliance

​We are also committed to ensuring that, for executive leadership roles, each slate of candidates includes at least two diverse candidates. 

Transparency and Accountability

In 2022, we released our first-ever diversity report. It is something that we anticipate publishing annually. We know that this transparency will bring new levels of accountability.  

We have partnered with McKinsey and Company to revisit our assessment and data every year. The team of experts at McKinsey helps us strategize and plan as we move forward with our work in this space.