Women in Leadership: No, Horace Mann CEO is not working the coat check

Today, March 8, is International Women's Day, and to mark the occasion we're bringing you the latest in our special series of the ESG Insider podcast focused on women in leadership. We're talking to Marita Zuraitis, CEO of Horace Mann, a financial services and insurance company that serves U.S. public educators. Marita tells us how she handles the unconscious bias she has encountered on her path to the C-suite. "I can't tell you how many times somebody handed me their coat," she says. "Now we call it unconscious bias, and we talk about making people aware of their unconscious biases. I didn't have a label for it until a lot of the corporate social responsibility and ESG push that we see today." Marita also discusses how her company works to promote diversity, equity and inclusion for its workforce and for its customer base, which is 75% women. "We work really hard to support our very heavily concentrated female customer base," she says. "Females in our customer base are often the head of household, often working on and controlling the finances in the household, and many of those people are women of color. So concentrating our efforts on financial wellness and financial planning for our sector was something that we thought we could do to get right to the issue of helping females protect what they have today and secure their long-term financial future." Diversity in leadership has received increasing attention in recent years from stakeholders in the sustainability world. Investors have pushed for diversity on company boards and management teams, and in some parts of the world, that push has extended to laws and regulations. But the number of women in top roles remains low. Read recent research from S&P Global on women in leadership here: https://www.spglobal.com/esg/insights/featured/special-editorial/women-ceos-leadership-for-a-diverse-future And here: https://www.spglobal.com/esg/insights/featured/special-editorial/the-path-to-gender-parity You can listen to previous episodes in our Women in Leadership series here: https://www.spglobal.com/esg/podcasts/women-in-leadership-seventh-generation-ceo-on-importance-of-being-radically-human- And here: https://www.spglobal.com/esg/podcasts/women-in-leadership-how-norwegian-industrial-ceo-puts-diversity-on-the-agenda We'd love to hear from you. To give us feedback on this episode or share ideas for future episodes, please contact hosts Lindsey Hall ( lindsey.hall@spglobal.com ) and Esther Whieldon ( esther.whieldon@spglobal.com ). Photo source: Horace Mann Copyright ©2023 by S&P Global DISCLAIMER This piece was published by S&P Global Sustainable1, a part of S&P Global. By accessing this Podcast, I acknowledge that S&P GLOBAL makes no warranty, guarantee, or representation as to the accuracy or sufficiency of the information featured in this Podcast. The information, opinions, and recommendations presented in this Podcast are for general information only and any reliance on the information provided in this Podcast is done at your own risk. This Podcast should not be considered professional advice. Unless specifically stated otherwise, S&P GLOBAL does not endorse, approve, recommend, or certify any information, product, process, service, or organization presented or mentioned in this Podcast, and information from this Podcast should not be referenced in any way to imply such approval or endorsement. The third party materials or content of any third party site referenced in this Podcast do not necessarily reflect the opinions, standards or policies of S&P GLOBAL. S&P GLOBAL assumes no responsibility or liability for the accuracy or completeness of the content contained in third party materials or on third party sites referenced in this Podcast or the compliance with applicable laws of such materials and/or links referenced herein. Moreover, S&P GLOBAL makes no warranty that this Podcast, or the server that makes it available, is free of viruses, worms, or other elements or codes that manifest contaminating or destructive properties. S&P GLOBAL EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL LIABILITY OR RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR OTHER DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF ANY INDIVIDUAL'S USE OF, REFERENCE TO, RELIANCE ON, OR INABILITY TO USE, THIS PODCAST OR THE INFORMATION PRESENTED IN THIS PODCAST.