Renowned advocate Chely Wright joins our team as Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer
Introducing Chely Wright, our first Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer. Chely brings a wealth of experience working with global businesses, learning institutions and non-profit organisations to create inclusive environments, with a professional background that fuses advocacy, business, real estate and communications.
Chely will be leading our global Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) programme, helping us identify and utilise minority-owned businesses across our entire supply chain. She will drive our outreach to support local non-profits, community organisations and advocacy groups across each market – we’ve already begun formalising partnerships with:
- Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC)
- National LGBT Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC)
- National Minority Supplier Diversity Council (NMSDC)
- Minority Supplier Development United Kingdom (MSDUK)
- Supply Nation
- WEConnect International
As our CEO Steve Quick explains, “It’s the year 2021, and yet the global workplace still struggles with a lack of diversity, and bias – unconscious or otherwise. We’re dedicated to putting in the work and leading our industry with action. Addressing DE&I in the workplace is a moral and business imperative, which is why I’m delighted that Chely is joining us. With Chely to guide our team, we will be best-placed to achieve an impact that transcends our development of world-class workplaces.”
Over the course of her career, Chely has worked with businesses including Procter & Gamble, Southeastern Grocers and Morgan Stanley to advance their DE&I programmes. She also holds deep established relationships with GLSEN, GLAAD, Human Rights Campaign and Interfaith Alliance, and is a long-time media contributor on LGBTQ+ issues for outlets such as MSNBC and CNN.
Chely is pleased to be playing a foundational role in developing our DE&I programme, creating a framework for our initiatives to be universally accessible and a map for how we’ll hold ourselves accountable.
Our DE&I programme is inclusive of all areas of the organisation from community engagement and partnerships to mindful recruitment. We have a shared commitment with our clients to achieve supplier diversity in the built environment, with a programme that prioritises the utilisation of minority-owned businesses on the thousands of workplace projects we deliver around the globe.
"We must meet the moment and make Unispace a more diverse, equitable and inclusive place for our people, for our clients and for the communities in which we operate"
“The world has changed. We must meet the moment and make Unispace a more diverse, equitable and inclusive place for our people, for our clients and for the communities in which we operate,” Chely explains. “Diverse teams are created through intentional, inclusive environments where all employees have equal opportunities during their lifecycle – from hiring to training, compensation, managing, promoting and beyond. It’s incumbent upon us as an entire organisation to tee everyone up for success.”
We couldn’t be happier to have Chely on board and our team is already benefitting from her leadership. We’re excited about driving transformative change across our industry.
Learn more about DE&I at Unispace.
