I have been at SVB for almost 4 years and have seen our management attempt to understand the lack of diversity at the bank but they are clearly doing it because they have to and not because they get it.
Recent reorgs have no direct reports that are women to the new president. Women on the board are not in revenue generating roles and the long time SVB woman who led the commercial bank was slowly squeezed out and it unclear what she is working on now. SVB hires senior women but doesn't think about developing who they already have.
Our management has used terms like "not lowering the bar" and at a townhall our CEO flubbed an answer about whether there was a diversity problem at the bank. SVB follows the herd. I f VCs care about women in tech and public opinion is there, SVB will too. If VCs start to talk about race, maybe SVB will too but for now it barely knows how to talk about women in the workplace.
Diversity and inclusion teams are not effective because there is no desire by the majority to shake up the status quo that has worked for them. Diversity and Inclusion teams are led by HR which does not hold credibility at the bank because HR is there to protect SVB and not advocate for employees.
To be clear, there are well meaning men and women at SVB who support diversity and inclusion but that isnt enough.
Lately there has also been tension between those brought in to help the bank "go pro" and old timers who are feeling unappreciated. Also going pro has been used in a menacing way/veiled threat/corporate jargon to hide behind unpopular choices.
Additionally, I read some of the other reviews and it is totally true that IT is a mess and the technological debt for a tech client serving bank is enormous. Maybe the lenders are doing ok but most divisions are going through changes.
