Social Responsibility

Diversity, equity and inclusion is a business imperative for Intuit, not just a mindset or a grassroots effort

Earlier this week, we published our 2021 Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Report showcasing Intuit’s committment and progress to long-term change so that we can deliver a more equitable society for all. Here is my letter introducing the report. Ensuring equity for all people isn’t a new challenge. However, this past year has been especially difficult

Written by Sheldon Cummings
Published Sep 30, 2021
2 min read

Earlier this week, we published our 2021 Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Report showcasing Intuit’s committment and progress to long-term change so that we can deliver a more equitable society for all. Here is my letter introducing the report.

Ensuring equity for all people isn’t a new challenge. However, this past year has been especially difficult for many of our employees, our customers and the communities we serve. It brought into focus the urgent action needed to address disparities within our society. Change must happen everywhere, including in the workplace.

Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) has always been a part of our DNA. It’s a top priority for the company with full support from leadership and our Board of Directors. DEI is a business imperative for Intuit, not just a mindset or a grassroots effort. We know diversity drives innovation and we work hard to ensure employees can come to work as their whole selves and do the best work of their lives. This is foundational to our business and an essential component of our ability to execute on our mission to power prosperity for all.

I stepped into the role of Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer in January 2021 to lead the important work of creating a more equitable and inclusive experience for our most important stakeholders. While my career until that point was focused primarily across Marketing, Sales, Strategy and Operations, I was excited to step into this new role to cultivate and evolve our DEI strategy to drive more innovation and growth across the company.

Starting with a foundation that was built at Intuit over the years, we’ve formed a cross-functional team to help us accelerate outcomes for our employees, our customers and the communities we serve. We are rigorously embedding our DEI work across the company and working to deliver against our overall diversity and inclusion goals, including specific representation goals for women in our technology roles and underrepresented minorities in our workforce. We are also taking a hard look at the employee experience across demographics to ensure our practices from hiring and retention to career growth and development are more equitably implemented. Outside of our company walls, we’re making DEI a priority for the ways we engage with our customers and the communities we serve to deliver a more equitable society for all.

The challenges we face today, though not new, require a collective commitment to long-term change because together, we prosper. I am encouraged by the progress we have made so far. I have confidence that through the hard work of the team, and with a company-wide focus, Intuit will become even more equitable and inclusive.

Sheldon Cummings is our Chief Operating Officer for Mailchimp. Before stepping into his leadership role at Mailchimp, he had a dual role as a leader within Intuit’s sales organization and served as our Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer (CDEIO). Since joining Intuit in 2017, has led a number of leadership positions across our Sales, Marketing, Global Partnerships, and Global Operations teams.

Sheldon grew up in New York City, graduated from Wesleyan University with a BA in Sociology and African-American Studies, and received his MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management with concentrations in Marketing, Finance, and Strategy.