"We realized that our processes that were designed for efficiency, were not necessarily set up to achieve equity, " said Camille DeCicco, Director of Social Impact, Discover Financial Services.

The Corporate Coalition met at Discover's Shine Bright Community Center, call center and technology hub in Chatham. The inspiring meeting provided all who attended the opportunity to experience Business UNusual in action. Discover's Chatham facility exemplifies the positive impact that re-thinking how companies approach their most basic functions (e.g., hiring, investing, and procuring) can have impact both the company and a community. Since 2019, Discover has hired over 500 employees and is well on their way to 1000 by 2025.

Kim Rudd, President and CEO of Rudd Resources LLC moderated a fireside chat with Camille. Kim and Camille, along with Roger Hochschild, whose vision and indefatigable leadership led to the facility, shared stories and learnings from Discover's ongoing journey in Chatham. Notably, the Chatham call center is performing on par with the other call centers across the country, but this one outperforms its peers with 40% higher retention - making Chatham Discover's best performing call center. One of the goals in sharing the story of how this center came to be was the hope that everyone could take at least one lesson from this story to bring back to their organization.

"I always talk about the business case with this story first because yes it was also the right thing to do, but it was also great for business," said Roger Hochschild, Co-Chair of the Corporate Coalition.

Deputy Mayor Kenya K. Merritt shared an update on the new administration's approach to community investment and neighborhood development as well as what the corporate community can do to support these important efforts. To see a copy of the presentation, please download here.

We also welcomed new members since our last meeting, Hyatt Hotels Corporation and SomerCor.

Corporate Coalition Leadership Council members Rob McGhee of Fifth Third Bank closed out our meeting along with Ryan Green of DL3 Realty who shared information from the development perspective of opening Discover's Chatham facility. Gensler led tours of the site from the design perspective.

What a great way to see #BusinessUNusual in action!

Interested in attending our next meeting? Reach out to us at info@corpcoalition.org