Trans CEO is asking employers to 'walk the walk' when it comes to inclusivity

Wynne Nowland, CEO of financial services firm Bradley and Parker, was 56-years-old when she sent a company-wide email sharing her identity as a trans woman. Her team immediately embraced her, and five years later, Nowland is more than confident she made the right call.

"When I came out, I had just become CEO of our company," says Nowland. "I was certainly nervous. As it turns out, I didn't really have any reason to because the acceptance here from my team was just spectacular."

Would your company have the same response? 

In 2023 alone, state legislators introduced 574 anti-trans bills, 83 of which have passed. Right-wing rhetoric has painted transgender people as a threat to public safety, yet this population is  over four times more likely than cisgender people to be victims of violent crime, according to the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law. As the dialogue around trans people becomes increasingly polarized, company leaders may need to reflect on their own ignorance and how it shapes their work culture, says Nowland.

Read more: How anti-LGBTQ legislation is impacting employees and their families

"Many companies have never had an experience with a transgender person," she says. "My company certainly hadn't until I was around. That's where a lot of the trouble comes from. It doesn't come from a position of maliciousness, but often from a position of naivete."

Wynne Nowland

Making up less than 2% of the U.S. population, many Americans may have never knowingly interacted with a transgender person. But while a small portion of the population, transgender people have become a huge political scapegoat, and, as a result, have lost the few protections they've had in states like Florida, Wyoming and Arizona. Today, employers cannot afford to remain uninformed on these issues, underlines Nowland. 

EBN spoke with Nowland to further dive into her journey as a trans CEO, and how company leaders from all identities and backgrounds can come together and build an inclusive workplace.

When did you realize your identity differed from what others expected of you?
For me, it was a gradual discovery. I come from a significantly different era than we're in now. When I was growing up in the mid to late 1960s and 1970s, this was something that wasn't really well known. And if it was, it was talked about in very hushed tones. 

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I always knew that I was different, and didn't fit in, but I really didn't know quite how to characterize it until I got a little older. But as time went on, I was able to get more information and discovered that I really wasn't alone. But I didn't feel that I could survive in society and in my career at that point if I did anything about it. So as many trans people have done, we compartmentalize that part of our life, move on and try to do the best we can.

What finally pushed you to come out to your company?
This is a little amusing because this person that I'm going to refer to is not really well regarded in the trans community. But for a lot of Americans at a certain age, the Caitlyn Jenner story became a major thing because it really illuminated what some people were going through. This person was a tremendously successful sports star, and she was able to change her life and live authentically. For some trans people of a certain age, that gave us an opportunity to think that we could do the same thing. However, she's not a great trans advocate — she's really pretty far to the right on most trans issues, even though she's a trans person. But when she came out, we didn't know that she wasn't going to be a great trans advocate. 

How has coming out impacted your identity as a leader at Bradley and Parker?
It was always a very good culture here, so I'm not sure my style changed all that much. I've been with this company for a very long time, and one of the things I always liked is that they are very progressive. For example, 20 or 30 years ago, when it really wasn't common to give women time off for child-rearing and to assist them with childcare, we were all doing that. 

Read more: Data shows LGBTQ-friendly workplaces are more profitable — here's why

I was the subject of a fairly substantial piece in The Wall Street Journal, and one of the things that the reporter who wrote that story did was talk to multiple employees here. Several people said the same thing: I really haven't changed too much. But for some reason, women found me more approachable and were more comfortable talking to me about things than they had been before. 

How can other companies strive for diversity and inclusivity despite the current political landscape? 
Most companies have these policies and practices, but the problem is they really don't walk the walk. They'll have a diversity policy for hiring, but if you look at their workforce, it's not diverse at all. And if you ask them about that, they'll say something like, 'Well we have a diversity policy, it's just that the people don't apply.'  Whereas companies who are really looking to diversify their workforce, we'll take another step. They will use employment agencies that are specialized in diversity, or advertise in colleges or communities that may be more diverse. We spend too much time talking about the policies, and not what they do with them.

Read more: The workplace as a safe space: 5 ways to help LGBTQ employees thrive

It really boils down to leadership — they have to consistently lead by example. If you have an employee that's going through a tough time, because some of their co-workers are not accepting of them, you can't turn a blind eye to that. Managers have to be trained to be tuned in to these kinds of things, so if they see it happening, they can shut it down. Because a lot of times, people in underrepresented groups are fearful of coming forward. There's a fear that if they open their mouth better, it's going to get worse.

So managers need to have their ears close to the ground and make sure that the people on their teams are being treated fairly. Microaggressions or [behaviors] that make people feel very uncomfortable at the workplace or anywhere else for that matter shouldn't be tolerated.