24 Jul 5 Minutes with Lori Spicer Robertson

Advocating and Preparing for Change

Photo by Tammy Zurak www.zphotog.net.

A chance meeting led then–communications executive Lori Spicer Robertson to make a major career pivot. “I met a chief HR officer for a regional bank and he said, ‘You seem perfect for the people-development space. I’d love for you to join my team,’” Robertson recalls. That moment, which she describes as “divine intervention,” catapulted her down the path of a rewarding career in diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Today she advocates for equity in the delivery of health care as vice president and chief diversity officer for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. Prior to this role, she served as vice president of diversity, equity, and inclusion for Saks Fifth Avenue and also launched Wundher, a membership community that supports women and mothers. Robertson spoke to Diversity Woman about advancing women in leadership and the political headwinds DEI professionals face.

Diversity Woman: What do you love about the DEI space?

Lori Spicer Robertson: I am a natural problem-solver. If you tell me something’s going on in your life, the problem-solver in me will try to figure out how to fix it. I am also very involved in social justice. I am a natural change agent in that space. So DEI was a professional progression for me in what I enjoyed doing on a personal level.

DW: St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital makes such an impact in the fight against childhood illnesses. How have diversity, equity, and inclusion played a role in its mission?

LSR: Diversity, equity, and inclusion have been part of the foundation of our existence. They were birthed in the dream of [founder] Danny Thomas of creating an institution where every child suffering from catastrophic illness would have a place to come and be treated regardless of their race or their social or economic status. We just celebrated 60 years last year, so that [founding] was in the height of the civil rights era.

DW: What are some of the DEI initiatives at St. Jude that you think are having the greatest impact?

LSR: One of our priorities was to understand how to get more women to advance on our faculty. We’ve created this program called WILL—Women in Leadership and Learning. We also had “champions”—women and men who are already faculty leaders or executive leaders to work alongside [newer hires]. We’ve had a number of promotions come out of the program. What I think is unique and intentional in the development of this program is that we also had development programs for the champions. Leadership requires that you have that relational component—that emotional intelligence to excel, but also [the ability] to be a great mentor and coach. Those are components that they took away from the program.

DW: What’s the most pressing issue DEI professionals will face in the next 18 months?

LSR: Next year is an election year, and I’ve seen the profession become politicized in a way that I haven’t seen before. We go through this cycle of people not wanting to focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion probably every 10 to 15 years. Someone will decide that it’s divisive, and companies will then follow suit and be like, “Well, maybe it is divisive. Maybe we shouldn’t focus on DEI.” I think it will be important for leaders to home in on the value proposition of DEI.