Here at Protiviti, we believe accepting and supporting each of our colleagues is vital to our success, and we encourage our people to seek opportunities to connect both inside and outside Protiviti. In this spirit, a team of Protiviti employees recently attended the Out and Equal Summit in Orlando, FL. Despite Hurricane Matthew’s best efforts to steal the show, our team had an incredible experience. Over the next few weeks, we are spotlighting individuals who attended this conference. Next up in our series is Dave!
- What was your path to Protiviti? ”I studied Computer Science at Northwestern University for my Bachelors degree. I spent many years as a developer and consultant before going back to NU for my MBA through Kellogg. Right before Protiviti, I was at a global IT consulting firm where I served as the Enterprise Microsoft Solutions Practice Manager for Chicago and then the Testing Practice Manager for the region. I started with Protiviti in September 2013 as a Senior Manager in Software Services and was promoted to Associate Director in January of 2016.”
- Since joining the firm, what has your journey been like? “My Protiviti journey has far exceeded my expectations. I joined Protiviti after my former company declined to extend healthcare benefit coverage to same-sex couples in civil unions despite several years of effort on my part (at the time, nationwide marriage equality was not yet in place). I was burnt out and angry after that, but joining Protiviti re-energized me. The Custom Development Services practice is a fantastic group of people doing incredible work for clients. I’ve had the chance to work on projects for literally all of our practices at this point, most frequently with IT Cybersecurity and Technology Strategy and Operations. When the opportunity to join proLGBTA appeared, I jumped at it! I have been having a great time working with the team to ensure LGBTQ folks feel as welcomed and safe at Protiviti as I did.”
- What was your experience at the Out and Equal conference? “This was my first time attending the Out and Equal Conference. It was a tremendous opportunity to gather information and learn best practices from Employee Resource Groups both in the US and around the world. It was also a chance to increase awareness of the Protiviti and Robert Half brands and to engage with LGBTQ talent who may someday choose to work for us. Lastly, it was a very celebratory atmosphere as this was the 20th anniversary of Out and Equal so they pulled out all the stops for this event.”
- Why was attending this conference important or meaningful to you? “Seeing the scope and magnitude of the firms represented at this conference was very inspiring. We got to hear details about multinational firms supporting their LGBTQ employees in countries that are not friendly or are even downright hostile to LGBTQ people. Also, our proLGBTA board is scattered around the country, so being together with them at the conference was a lot of fun!”
