For the third successive year, EY Ireland Partner and Global Financial Crime, Ethics & Compliance Leader Catherine Vaughan has been named on the highly prestigious OUTStanding top 100 global LGBT+ executives. The listing recognises 100 senior role models around the world who are helping to make workplaces more inclusive.
The list is compiled by INvolve, a global network championing Diversity & Inclusion in business. INvolve helps firms drive cultural change and create inclusive workplaces where any individual can succeed. The organisation also runs the EMpower Ethnic Minority Role Model Lists and the HERoes Women Role Model Lists.
The OUTStanding citation called out Catherine’s continued championing of LGBT+ inclusion both in Ireland where she is a Partner and more broadly through her global role. “Catherine continues to be a visible LGBT+ role model in the Irish market and is a driving force for LGBT+ inclusion through numerous initiatives,” the citation noted.
Interestingly, Catherine pondered her continued inclusion in the list. Had she been visible enough in what she was doing to justify her inclusion on this list again? “The process is that you get nominated and you then have to justify your inclusion on the list to an independent panel,” she explains. “Sometimes you question whether you deserve it. I haven’t had as much visibility in the past year as I had in the first two years. A small part of that has inevitably been due to COVID, but it’s mainly been down to a change in what I have been doing.”
That change has seen her shift focus from actively driving change herself, to mentoring and making space for others to come to the fore. “I am just one of between 50 and 100 LGBT+ colleagues in EY Ireland,” she points out. “My role is to help them to influence change. In a sense, I need to take a back seat to make the space for others to find their voice. Sometimes you have to take a step back to allow others to step forward. I try to help others to find a space where they feel empowered to drive change.”
The EY LGBT+ inclusion journey began 10 years ago. “It’s great to be celebrating the tenth anniversary of the establishment of Unity, our LGBT+ network in Ireland,” says Catherine. “We’ve been at this for a long time.”
As can often be the case with a new initiative, Unity and the LGBT+ agenda overall took some time and a lot of hard work to get fully off the ground, but this was followed by a period of rapid acceleration. “It suddenly started to take off in about year three and we began to have a real impact at leadership level. At that stage, EY Ireland was way ahead of the curve. Then we started thinking about the broader D&I space and the pace on LGBT+ petered off a bit. We got comfortable and we are ramping up again.”
She believes her inclusion on the first OUTStanding list three years ago was as much a result of the success of the Unity network as her own efforts. “When I was first put forward for the list, we were already riding high here at EY Ireland. We were influencing our own organisation and the wider market, and we were making change happen.”
Promoting Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) beyond the confines of EY Ireland is very important to her. “I’ve always said that we shouldn’t use listings and rankings to form the basis of competition. They shouldn’t be used to say that one person or organisation is better than another. If you’re genuinely in the D&I business, you have to be a bit selfless and share your knowledge and best practice with others. This is about people and ensuring everyone has a voice and a place within their organisation. Just because I work for EY doesn’t mean I want someone in another organisation to be marginalised, excluded or have a difficult, unfulfilling career because they work somewhere else. That’s one thing I’ve always tried to do. I’ve always talked to leaders in other professional services firms and I worked with one firm in particular to support them on their inclusion journey. When I see the progress they have made I feel great to have played a part in it.”
She is also taking the inclusion message to young accountants. “I was asked by Chartered Accountants Ireland to address their very first LGBT+ Inclusion event,” she says. “That was pretty cool. I talked to a group of young accountants about pride in both senses of the word, LGBT+ Pride and pride in being an accountant. I firmly believe the accountancy profession is ripe to become a shining example of Diversity & Inclusion. The profession is built on a Code of Ethics entrenched in fairness, equality and integrity. A commitment to leading on Diversity & Inclusion is a natural extension of our purpose.”
Her D&I work extends far beyond Ireland. “I have extended my reach on D&I and, through my global role, I work with other D&I leaders and champions to raise the topic, and the bar, throughout the EY network around the world,” she says. “This puts me in a position of privilege where I am able to see and experience D&I in so many different cultures as well as Ireland. I have also been able to work on D&I in what might be seen as more challenging countries.”
In one case, that work took her to India. “I worked with a group of EY staff in India to help them hold their first ever LGBT+ town hall session. I was told to expect 10 or 20 people to turn up and that there wouldn’t be any questions. They said things like LGBT+ just aren’t talked about in India. More than 100 turned up and we ran out of time. The group started its own Unity chapter after that and I am still in regular dialogue with them.”
And that’s just the beginning. “We need to talk to our people in many other difficult countries to help them on their D&I journeys. Ireland was perceived as a difficult country 20 years ago but we did it. We need to use that experience to help other countries.”
Back home in Ireland the journey continues. “The work is never done. We have to continue to educate people and to get better all the time. We also need to focus more on Transgender priorities – the ‘T’ in LGBT+. Diversity & Inclusion is about all of us and it’s important not to lose sight of the other aspects of it. Gender, Ability, Ethnicity, LGBT+ inclusion, they are all really important. I often get asked which aspect organisations should focus on. The answer is all of them. You might need to put more resources into one area where you are not doing so well but the challenge is that while you invest in one you are not doing so at the expense of the others.”
Looking ahead she believes the utmost care must be taken to ensure that the impact of COVID-19 isn’t allowed to set back the progress made on the D&I agenda across all organisations. “We can’t just look at getting through COVID from a purely business point of view. We have to make sure we retain our core beliefs, our values and the culture that has made our organisation exemplary in terms of D&I. If you lose your culture because you didn’t look after your people during COVID then you’ll have nothing.”
And she will continue to play her part in advancing the Diversity & Inclusion agenda both within EY Ireland and beyond. “I won’t get out of people’s faces,” she says with a smile. “Things like the OUTStanding List recognition help motivate you. It’s a recognition for all of our efforts here. Do lists matter? I think they do if people accept them in the spirit that they are put together. I could be number one or number one hundred on the list, I don’t know and it doesn’t really matter. I’m just very proud to be on it at all.”
