Few of us who lived through these times will ever forget the names of those whose lives were taken from them. Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, among many others, have sparked a needed focus and dialogue on racism that reaches into every corner of our society.

Part of that dialogue is around diversity and inclusion in the workforce. At Reservoir, we have been talking about these issues as well as taking action. And while our words and actions may be imperfect, we nonetheless recognize the need for an ongoing commitment to diversity, inclusion and equity across the company and our community.

Reservoir has always valued diversity in who we hire, employ and partner with, and we remain committed to cultivating and preserving an inclusive environment for all. We recognize that our employees are our most valuable asset, so the more diverse backgrounds we represent, and unique capabilities we bring, the stronger we are as an organization. This summer our team formalized our commitment.

Our focus is three-pronged and aims to:

• Recruit a more diverse workforce, striving to exceed industry benchmarks;

• Promote and foster inclusion so that employees and prospects recognize Reservoir as an equitable, inclusive company; and

• Leverage Reservoir employees’ skills and resources to help advance underserved communities.

Importantly, promoting diversity and inclusion deeply aligns with our five company values. For example, to “strive to be the best” and “be substantive” require diverse backgrounds to be most effective. And if we are to “act as one team,” everyone’s voice and contributions have value. To “be respectful” and “operate with candor and integrity,” necessitates appreciating differences, while being fair and equitable.

We embrace and encourage our employees’ differences, which we believe comprise a broad range of traditional (e.g., gender, ethnicity) and atypical (e.g., life experiences, ideology) characteristics that make our employees unique. We commit to measuring our diversity and inclusion efforts and evaluating along the way, to support our vision of exemplifying a diverse, inclusive and equitable company.