DEI Committee

Promoting Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) aligns with our value of doing the right thing, even when it’s hard. We believe each individual should be treasured and valued for their whole identity. That's why we're launching a DEI committee, to continue to build a diverse, equitable, and inclusive company.

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“As an LGBT+ individual from a working-class background, navigating a conservative, elite corporate culture in the early years of my career was a confusing and anxious experience. I felt left out, and often unsure as to what was expected of me in the social environments I found myself in. It took me years to gather the courage to be myself in the workplace, and even then I still felt that I was “the odd one out”. When starting the company, Allister and I set out to ensure that Sylverans had completely the opposite experience - no matter who they were. It is a deeply personal mission for both of us that Sylvera is an environment where everybody feels not only accepted, but genuinely celebrated for every aspect of who they are. We want every single team member to feel that they can bring 100% of themselves to work; every single day. I'm really excited that the DEI committee will be helping to make that vision a reality.” ‍

— Samuel Gill, Co-founder & COO at Sylvera.

Multiple studies have shown that endorsing diversity is in companies’ best interests, however, it isn’t often represented in their driving forces: the founders, leadership, and executive teams. While this is true for large organizations, it is also the case for startups. Silicon Valley Bank asked startups in the US, UK, and Canada about the ethnic and racial minorities in their C-suites and on their board. Less than half of the companies had at least one member of their leadership teams who were ethnically or racially diverse. The same survey also found that only a quarter of startups (26%) were actively trying to increase diversity within their leadership teams.

Promoting values of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion fully aligns with Sylvera’s mission and core value of doing the right thing, even when it’s hard. We believe each individual should be treasured and valued for their whole identity. By embedding Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in their DNAs, startups have a real opportunity to truly be vehicles of disruption, innovation, and change, in the corporate world and beyond. Whilst Sylvera is comparatively diverse when compared to other companies at a similar stage, we acknowledge that we have a long way to go and that maintaining diversity is a struggle, especially given the inequalities present in society. This is why we are launching a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion committee, to continue to build a diverse, equitable, and inclusive company while constantly learning with a humble attitude.

The committee will meet bi-weekly and will use data to calculate metrics (such as representations across the company, teams, levels, and in our talents pools) to establish a baseline and track progress over time. This will help ensure that the committee’s work achieves the intended objectives across the following strategic DEI pillars:

Recruitment: Attract great talents and increase the pool of diverse candidates at all levels.
Training: Develop a training library intended to build inclusive behaviors and DEI competency.
Lifecycle metrics: Use data and metrics to track progress across all DEI pillars.
Employee Resource Groups (ERGs): Create and support employee resources groups to foster representation, inclusion, and belonging.

Sylvera DEI Committee members

Chair: Larsen Mabika (he/him), Senior Product Manager, Product team
Committee member: Ashleigh Parsons (she/they), Research Operations Manager, Multi-Scale Lidar team
Committee member: Eloise O’Carroll (she/her), Ratings Methodology Associate, Ratings team
Committee member: Lou Robinson (he/him), QA Lead, Engineering
Committee member: Polly Thompson (she/her), Policy Intern, Policy team
Committee member: Yu Takayama (she/her), Executive Assistant, Operations team