Feb 29, 2024 | Inside Thomson Reuters

Throughout February, we celebrate Black History Month in Canada and the United States. The Thomson Reuters Black Employee Network curated an enriching lineup of sessions and learnings for our colleagues across the globe to celebrate and delve deeper into the history, achievements, and contributions of Black people, with the theme: “Unleashing the Power of Black Innovators.” Events throughout the month included a discussion with Jazz Hampton, the visionary co-founder and CEO of TurnSignl, a virtual roundtable on Generative AI with Thomson Reuters Leaders and Andrew Lindsay, Corporate Vice President for AI, Data, Industry, and Applications at Microsoft, and Elizabeth Adams, CEO, Advisor, and Keynote Speaker for EMA Advisory Services, an interactive chatbot focused on Black Innovation, as well as in-person local chapter events.

We also interviewed and shared stories from our Black Employee Network throughout the month to hear about their experience being a part of our business resource groups at Thomson Reuters which you can check out here.

Overview of the Black Employee Network

The Black Employee Network is an employee-led business resource group, with a mission to foster the inclusion and advancement of employees that self-identify as Black or of African descent at Thomson Reuters. Our aim is to partner with decision-makers and brand ambassadors to attract, retain and develop Black talent and make Thomson Reuters a great place to work.

The network has nine global chapters located in Ann Arbor, Australia/New Zealand, Brazil, Dallas, DC/Virtual, Minneapolis, New York, Toronto/Canada Virtual, and London/UKI with co-leads leading each chapter.

Darrell, a Senior Legal Writer, shared why he decided to join the Minneapolis/St. Paul chapter.

“I joined the Black Employee Network at Thomson Reuters in search of opportunities to serve as a resource in the community. What I found is that and then some. In addition to volunteering and other forms of community engagement, the Black Employee Network has proven vital to my career development and has been a catalyst for shifting my overall perspective on organizational culture.”

Activities and events across Canada and the United States

Our goal for Black History Month was to inspire, educate, and ignite a passion for diversity and innovation within Thomson Reuters. Throughout the month, teammates were able to visit our internal Black History Month page to interact with a generative AI-enabled chatbot and ask questions about Black inventors, scientists, and technologists. This chatbot was developed in partnership with TR Labs – our dedicated applied research division. Black Employee Network members and allies also contributed music tracks to our playlist “Innovating our Future” which recognized the impact of Black artists and musicians across all genres.

Early in February, we held a generative AI roundtable with technology leaders Andrew Lindsay, Elizabeth Adams, David Wong, Chief Product Officer at Thomson Reuters, Shawn Malhotra, Head of Engineering at Thomson Reuters, and Carena Crowell-Chambers, Sr. Manager, Central Content and Editorial Projects at Thomson Reuters. This event was moderated by Lora Alexander, a Senior Specialist Legal Editor at Thomson Reuters. ​In this roundtable, our technology leaders examined how large language models like GPT-4 work, what it means to have high-quality, representative data, how bias can manifest in data, and how to recognize and address the impact of biased data on AI solutions. This was also a  pivotal moment to explore how strategies that address bias and ethics in AI, shaping a future where technology serves all of humanity equitably. You can learn more about Thomson Reuters Data and AI Ethics principles that promote trustworthiness in our continuous design, development, and deployment of AI and our use of data here

A little later in the month, we held an engaging session with Vivian Gilleylen, a Senior Leader of Operational Effectiveness at Express Scripts which was moderated by Kalel Dennis, a Senior Director, Customer Experience at Thomson Reuters. Vivian shared her insights on organizational design trends in companies seeking to innovate and tips for people at all levels on how to make their organizations more effective.

In our Dallas office, the Black Employee Network hosted a Together We Dine event. Colleagues came together and engaged in courageous and safe conversations about race relations. By discussing our beliefs and differences over lunch, the Together We Dine experience continues to prove that what unites us is greater than what divides us and was a very well received event.

On February 28^th, we held an in-depth discussion with Jazz Hampton. Jazz shared the powerful story behind TurnSignl, an app revolutionizing roadside encounters by connecting motorists with real-time legal guidance during police stops.

Learn more about our business resource groups

All current Thomson Reuters employees are welcome to join the Black Employee Network. Colleagues are welcome to participate in any capacity, whether they want to be added to our email list to stay up to date on the Black Employee Network or join a committee to help bring an upcoming event to life. To learn more about our business resource groups at Thomson Reuters, check out our Inside Thomson Reuters page!