American Express has been training its managers on diversity issues for more than a decade.

Founded in 1850, this major financial and travel firm always manages to stay several steps ahead of the competition, while laying the groundwork for those who follow. Intent on creating a new generation of multicultural leaders, it recently launched its External Hiring Champion program to aggressively recruit women and people of color with an eye toward filling top positions. To support it, each American Express business unit has a designated “diversity ambassador” who establishes specific hiring goals and works with senior partners to strengthen recruitment efforts. Multicultural women who join the firm have access to a wealth of career development opportunities, most notably the Leader Interview program, which arranges personal meetings with managers and officers who share their suggestions for achieving professional success.

Multicultural Women: 24%

Multicultural Women Managers/Execs: 14%

Chief Diversity Officer: Kerrie Periano

Hires who are multicultural women: 29%

Hires who are multicultural men: 13%

Multicultural women managers/execs: 14%

Multicultural men managers/execs: 12%

Top 20% earners who are multicultural women: 13%

Top 20% earners who are multicultural men: 15%

Multicultural women on board of directors: 8%

Offers formal compensation program to reward managers who specifically help multicultural women advance: YES

Rates managers on the number of multicultural women employees advancing: YES

Uses outside recruiter to focus on finding multicultural women candidates: YES

Offers support groups specifically for multicultural women: NO

Offers mentoring programs specifically geared toward multicultural women early in their careers: YES

Offers sponsorship program specifically geared toward multicultural women early in their careers: NO