Meet Dennis

As a Director in the company’s Strategy team, Dennis leads some of BNY Mellon’s enterprise, cross-functional initiatives that are focused on growing the business, as well as identifying any potential opportunities and challenges for the company.

Dennis is a member of the APAC Leadership Council. He also serves as APAC executive sponsor for BNY Mellon’s PRISM Employee Resource Group, which promotes LGBT+ inclusion for the benefit of all colleagues and the firm through workplace activities and external engagement.

What excites you about working at BNY Mellon?

BNY Mellon has a proven record and ability to not only adapt to, but also lead change. Recent examples include our strategic alliances with BlackRock, Bloomberg and Amundi, our partnerships with financial technology companies to bring the best solutions to our clients and most recently, developing enterprise solutions to service digital assets. I also see a company-wide effort to continue raising the bar in everything we do, which is critical to succeed and thrive.

Being part of a team that is focused on the most impactful initiatives, that is curious, and that strives for excellence also keeps me energized.

What does Pride Month mean to you?

Pride Month should really be ‘Pride Every Day,’ because galvanizing and effecting change for a truly inclusive and fairer environment for our LGBT+ family members, colleagues and friends is something we should strive for in our everyday interactions. Pride Month is a valuable and meaningful opportunity to take stock of where we are and celebrate our successes in nurturing an environment where everyone can thrive regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression. It's also important to acknowledge where there is more work to do in recognizing and protecting the rights of LGBT+ people all over the world.

At its core, Pride Month is also about embracing our shared humanity — people coming together in love and friendship, being proud of who you are regardless of whom you love, your gender identity or gender expression, and a celebration of our diversity. I hope we all take the opportunity to enjoy the sights and sounds of the various events, even if virtually!

Tell us how you’re living our Courage to Lead value at BNY Mellon.

I am immensely proud that BNY Mellon has achieved the Gold Standard for the third consecutive year in the 2021 Hong Kong LGBT+ Inclusion Index. We also ranked in the Top 10 of employers for LGBT+ inclusion for the first time. The Index is Asia’s first benchmark on LGBT+ workplace inclusion practices and initiatives, and it enables us to assess and track our progress in creating an inclusive workplace for our LGBT+ employees, one where everyone can fully be themselves and have a sense of belonging.

In June 2020, I led a small group of employees in preparing our submission for the Index. It was important to have an open conversation about the improvements we needed to make, be attuned to feedback from our last results and share new ideas to ensure we were well positioned. Challenging each other was not easy considering team members volunteered to take this on in addition to their day jobs and none of us had prior experience. I am so proud that we all had the courage to lead, to be led and to collaborate, and in doing so, achieved this wonderful recognition for BNY Mellon.

Learn more about Diversity & Inclusion.