Chonda Nwamu, Senior Vice President, general counsel, and secretary at Ameren, has earned a spot as a member of the Executive Leadership Council (ELC) Class of 2023. The ELC is the preeminent membership organization committed to increasing the number of Black executives in the C-suite, on corporate boards, and in global enterprises.
Nwamu's ELC membership places her among some of the most accomplished Black professionals in the world. Since its founding in 1986, the ELC has grown to include more than 800 current and former Black CEOs, corporate board members, and senior executives of Fortune 1000 and Global 500 companies, entrepreneurs at top-tier firms, and thought leaders.
Proactively implemented measures
"Chonda has been at the forefront of enhancing Ameren's enterprise-wide diversity, equity, and inclusion strategy," said Marty Lyons, President and Chief Executive Officer of Ameren.
"Through her leadership, Ameren has proactively implemented measures and metrics to recruit and retain diverse attorneys and legal staff, increase the volume of legal and related services it purchases from diverse law firms and suppliers, and facilitate increased opportunities for diverse attorneys to handle Ameren matters. She is among the best of the best and will represent Ameren well on the ELC."
Generation of diverse leaders
I hope to use this experience as an opportunity to serve as a role model and mentor to more women"
"I'm looking forward to leveraging the network and resources of the ELC to help level the playing field in the legal profession and the C-suite," Nwamu said.
"I hope to use this experience as an opportunity to serve as a role model and mentor to more women and diverse leaders. I'm passionate about using my influence to help develop and promote the next generation of diverse leaders to close the representation gap."
More diverse workforce
Ameren remains focused on building a diverse culture where leaders like Nwamu can emerge and thrive. Some of Ameren's top diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) initiatives to fulfill this vision include:
- Pledging $10 million over five years to non-profits working for racial equity and opportunity.
- Holding an annual virtual DE&I summit with community leaders and Ameren co-workers and encouraging employees to volunteer with organizations working toward equity.
- Investing in a robust supplier diversity program, which resulted in a record $900 million on projects delivered by women-owned, minority-owned, and veteran-owned companies in 2021.
- Continuing to facilitate several types of diversity training and mentorship programs for employees, including Discussions Across Differences.
- Building a more diverse workforce through intentional recruiting, such as Ameren's Hiring Our Heroes program to hire veterans and the Bright Return Program to give opportunities to mid-career professionals to return to a career after voluntarily leaving the workforce.
- Providing employee resource groups (ERGs) for women, veterans, minority groups, and LGBTQ+ employees.
- Engaging more than 1,600 Ameren co-workers in more than 7,000 hours of DE&I learning with the launch of the ConvERGing: Learning and Action program.