Profile of a Visionary DEI Leader

Quentin Strode, the president and CEO of NEW Community Investments, is a visionary leader who for decades has truly embraced diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Throughout his career, Strode has applied DE&I principles to support internal and external business decisions achieving tangible business results and positively impacting disadvantaged communities of color.

As regional president and top producing banker at Bank of America and U.S. Bank, Strode drove record sales, revenue, and expanded market share by understanding his clients’ financial challenges and providing solutions. He has also strategized, led, and executed corporate social responsibility initiatives that made great in-roads for LA’s low-income communities and beyond. With his keen business sense and respectful approach to all people, he has especially earned the trust of the Black and Brown communities of LA.

During his banking tenure, Strode was also exceptional in supporting internal DE&I efforts. For example, to promote DE&I at U.S. Bank, he established the 1st organization-wide DE&I Strategy for its 60,000 employees, increasing visibility and advancement especially for its well-qualified diverse colleagues. This DE&I Strategy contributed to enhancing U.S. Bank’s diverse talent pipeline ensuring equitable career advancement and bank competitiveness.

After realizing goals few bankers are able to achieve, Strode went on to help establish NEW Community Investments (NCI) as the financial arm for the nonprofit New Economics or Women (NEW) to further support capacity building for LA’s disenfranchised small businesses of color. Strode took the helm as CEO dedicating to offering equitable financial solutions to help women and minority entrepreneurs in underserved communities bridge the capital access gap and build long-term wealth.

Leveraging his extensive banking experience and financial network, and in tandem with the parent nonprofit NEW, Strode scaled up his support for LA’s underrepresented small business communities by establishing new centers and programs to provide comprehensive support. Despite COVID restrictions, Strode was instrumental in launching two business centers with government partners such as the US Small Business Administration (SBA), State of California, and Los Angeles City. He also partnered with USC and other local universities to create college-level incubator programs even writing a technical assistance curriculum which was adopted for SBA’s PLUM (Partnership for Lending in Underserved Markets) Initiative. He also founded the local South LA CDFI consortium to boost lending opportunities, and launched alternate financing solution platforms. But what made all of this happen was his vision, leadership and strategically employing DE&I principles into his business decisions.

An example of DE&I in action with business results is NEW’s Women Business Center. Strode worked with SBA and GO-Biz California to launch the center in April 2020. Mindful of the target clientele, Strode chose and trusted a Latina small business expert to run the center, giving her full autonomy to develop and administer technical assistance programs. As a result, the center has become one of the top producing women’s business centers in California for the last two years. Another example of DE&I resulting in good business is the Kiva partnership. Strode launched Kiva LA in March 2022 selecting one of his African American woman executives with contract program experience to lead efforts. As a result, despite being one of the newest Kiva hubs, Kiva LA is currently the #1 producing hub in the US with more than 60% women and 90% minority borrowers. Another example is NCI’s proprietary crowdfunding platform called Impresario. As part of Strode’s roadmap to support disadvantaged women, women of color, and veteran entrepreneurs, Impresario was launched late Summer 2022. Strode made a deliberate effort to have this platform led by a team of diverse managers to ensure client’s unique campaign needs were met. This platform has already attracted 40+ clients of which 75% are women and 70% are minority borrowers.

Strode understands that creating a company culture rich in DE&I is key to moving the organization forward and to better serve clients and their communities. Strode fully appreciates the unique talents and skillsets his diverse team members brings to the table and takes an inclusive approach in providing them with full autonomy in making important decisions. This creates individual and team engagement, and brings successful business outcomes, strengthening the impact of the organization.

Strode is a true champion for DE&I who shows exemplary leadership in creating an inclusive environment that enables diversity and equity to thrive.

Strode understands that creating a company culture rich in DE&I is key to moving the organization forward.