feature BEN Salt Lake Refinery “doing it B.I.G.”

group of employees at a Black Employee Networking event

Black Utah: Stories from a Thriving Community

Black History month was created to focus attention on the contributions of African Americans to the United States. It honors black people from all periods of U.S. history. And the local black employee network at the Salt Lake Refinery took an active role in this commemoration in February.

This is year two of the black employee network existence in Salt Lake City due to the efforts of Shawn Davis, Operations Assistant in Richmond. Since his relocation, a new appointed BEN leadership team was appointed with Jessica Terry (Commercial Fuels Business Consultant) being Site Lead, Timothy Ivory (Piping Designer II), Co-Site Lead, and Ishmail Dowridge (Operations and Maintenance Division Analyst), Treasurer. Global BEN President, Gia Lott communicated to all leadership teams to focus our goals on, “…doing it B.I.G.”. Building our legacy. Investing in yourself. Growing our sense of community.

Salt Lake City’s BEN leadership championed this call to action by having a Black History Awareness Celebration (BHAC) on Black Utah: Stories from a Thriving Community. The leadership team was able to put together a historic event by gathering some of Utah’s finest:

Moderator: James Jackson III, Founder of the Utah Black Chamber

Panelists:

Dr. Richard Ferguson, MD – President, Black Physicians of Utah
Dr. Sidni Shorter - President & CEO, Utah Black Chamber
Nikki Walker – Director of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion of Domo
Emma Houston - Chief Diversity Officer, University of Utah
Shawn Newell - Vice President of Salt Lake Branch, NAACP

During the event the moderator asked these questions to our panelists:

Sidni: What excited her about coming to Utah? What is her vision for Black small businesses?
Nikki: How do we attract and retain talent in industries that are predominantly white? What brought her to Utah and why did she stay?
Shawn: What challenges do you see in education? What changes have you seen since you arrived in Utah?
Emma: What are you most hopeful about DEI? What still brings you pause, and what keeps you going?
Richard: How can we be better DEI allies regarding disparities in healthcare? What challenges still exist that you are working on?

The responses from the panellists intrigued those in attendance. Some were asking if Chevron is already ahead of other companies when it comes to diversity and inclusion. And the response is a resounding yes! Chevron does not settle for the bare minimum when it comes to diversity, equity, and inclusion, but rather their employees are celebrating it with enthusiasm each day. During the BHAC event, keynote speaker, Dr. Michael Lomax, President and CEO of the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) said, “Dr. King’s hard work and legacy is not just for black people but for all people to have a better and more integrated country.” We must continue to strive to be inclusive, not exclusive.