Erickajoy Daniels, Senior Vice President Of Diversity & Inclusion

TELL US A BIT ABOUT WHO YOU ARE.

For starters, I’m a professional who has not shied away from

challenging assignments—whether that’s dealing with death row

prisoners, being a minority as a female and African-American in

the global manufacturing space, taking on a new industry, or build-

ing a transformative workplace from the ground up.

But, in truth, I feel I’m wired for this work because of an inherent

work ethic, a strong commitment to the community and an insa-

tiable curiosity that is always in pursuit of problem-solving

opportunities.

WHAT ARE THE CATALYSTS FOR THESE VALUES?

When I was very young my parents decided, quite intentionally,

to move us to the suburbs. They wanted us to learn how to deal

with difference, knowing we’d have to do this throughout our lives.

And as hard as this was for us, we figured it out. We learned to

navigate playgrounds effectively so that we can now lead board-

rooms gracefully.

WHY DO YOU DO THE WORK YOU DO?

I live in Milwaukee—the most historically segregated city in the

country. But I see opportunities here to affect change. I’d much

rather collaborate with communities than criticize them, particu-

larly across difference.

Beyond that, diversity and inclusion work drives me because

it’s a path to problem solving. I see diversity and inclusion as a

strategic enabler to advance business priorities while also elevating

culture.

WHAT ABOUT AT AURORA? WHY DO YOU CHOOSE TO

WORK THERE?

At Aurora Health Care, transformation and empowerment is

core to driving our initiatives. There are no token gestures here.

When I first engaged with the leaders at Aurora—in particu-

lar the CEO—I realized I wasn’t sitting across from a leader who

wanted to check a diversity box and move on to other things.

Instead, he had a deeply personal curiosity about how we could

make a difference. One example is a reverse mentoring program

that was started this year where a diverse group of caregivers

mentored C-Suite executives on key diversity issues.

Knowing we had that level of support and his endorsement en-

abled us to build new relationships and get people to really listen

to our message. This increased our capacity to affect change and

embed diversity and inclusion as a priority across the organiza-

tion—from internal culture to operations goals to how we engage

with the community.

HOW HAS THIS WORK HAD AN IMPACT?

Our D&I work has guided where and how we invest in our com-

munity to support more diverse segments of the population. This

past year, Aurora Health Care’s Better Together Fund gave over

$10 million to community agencies with $5 million in grants go-

ing specifically to support free clinics, sexual assault and domestic

violence agencies that expanded access in underserved populations

where disparities exist. Aurora also opened a Spanish-speaking

cancer clinic to improve access in that community.

As the largest private employer in Wisconsin, we see it as our

duty to take a leadership role in the professional community and

have hosted events like Conexiones, a networking and professional

development event for Hispanic professionals in Milwaukee and

Fusion, a networking event that brought together diverse Millen-

nial groups for the first time.

We know our efforts are making a difference for the people we

serve. And, seeing the benefits start to take effect not only validates

that we are headed in the right direction as an organization but

provides me with a level of personal and professional fulfillment.

Which is why I do what I do.