DFF Event Recap – ‘Boundary Breakers' Speaker Series: Fireside Chat With Keith Wetmore

Recently, I was pleased to have the opportunity to moderate a “Boundary Breakers” discussion featuring Keith Wetmore, on behalf of the Diversity in Fund Finance group.

Our conversation included a recap of Keith's professional career, a discussion of his lived experience as an openly gay man in places around the U.S. and how that experience has changed over time, and suggestions for how allied individuals and organizations can further advance diversity, equity, and inclusion of LGBTQ+ and other diverse professionals.

Some key lessons and take-aways from the conversation included:

• Ideally, the fact that someone is diverse is the fourth or fifth most interesting thing that someone can say about them.  Most diverse professionals want to be treated equally and evaluated on merit, and many would prefer that their personal diverse characteristics are a non-factor.  Keith's tenure at MoFo was remarkable for what he accomplished in terms of objective metrics (e.g.,