IES Launches Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Respect Initiative

At the Illuminating Engineering Society’s June Board meeting, the IES Board of Directors unanimously approved the Statement of Support that was distributed to all members of IES. The statement kicked off a cultural shift for leaders, staff, and all members of the Society. The next step is to establish a comprehensive diversity-based initiative. This initiative looks at the internal and external systems, processes, and assumptions of the organization with the lens of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Respect, and responds with a strategically aligned approach.

The IES Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Respect (DEIR) Initiative shall initially be the responsibility of the Board of Directors, who will oversee the launch of some immediate changes but more importantly will be the creation of a DEIR Committee to support and lead short and long-term changes across all levels of society. These changes will align with the Code of Ethics and Standards of Professional Conduct (to be announced shortly) previously approved by the Board, align with the new Strategic Plan, and will have quantitative and qualitative benchmarks to achieve.

This committee will be overseeing the DEIR Initiative which will impact and support committees, sections, leadership development, programs, services, and more. In addition, this initiative will include identifying resources to be made available for the membership to utilize both professionally and personally.

The DEIR Committee will be comprised of members from across the IES with a strong interest and commitment to this cause. If you want to be a part of facilitating change and improvement in society as a member of the DEIR Committee, please email Tim Licitra, IES Executive Director (tlicitra@ies.org).

While the committee and initiative are being established, smaller internal tasks are already being worked on, such as modernizing and improving inclusion within the membership join and renewal applications, refreshing the annual customer satisfaction survey questions to gather valuable volunteer information, and the creation of a webpage where resources and regular updates about this critical initiative will be housed.