Senior Executive Vice President & Senior Strategic Executive, First Horizon
Search every verified David Popwell interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. In a September 2019 appearance on the podcast "Memphians on the Move," David Popwell, then president of banking at First Horizon, discussed the company's diversity and inclusion strategy. Popwell described the approach as "diversity plus affinity equals inclusion," which he said involves employees understanding their differences and valuing commonalities. He stated that First Horizon runs diversity and inclusion "like a business," with bank management meeting quarterly to review workforce data and hold leaders accountable. Popwell reported that between 2015 and 2018, the company increased the percentage of women and people of color in its top three salary levels from 33% to 41%, and increased men of color in senior management from 1.3% to 8.5%. Popwell emphasized the business rationale for diversity, saying the company wants its workforce to "look like the markets that we serve" to foster creativity and increase revenue. He noted that the biggest challenge is in customer-facing roles, and argued that "if everyone looks like me and thinks like me, nothing changes." Popwell also highlighted First Horizon's Community Reinvestment Act lending, stating the company lent $93 million to people of color and $30 million in low-to-moderate income mortgages in the prior year. He described the company's culture, which he called "First Power," as a competitive advantage, with diversity and inclusion as core components.
“We want our workforce to look like the markets that we serve so that we can connect with those markets and better grow revenue. The goal is to have a workforce that reflects the marketplace to foster creativity and increase revenue.”
“We run diversity and inclusion like a business. Our bank management team meets quarterly to work one-on-one with key leaders on their diversity strategies, providing data on workforce composition, trends, and talent pipelines to ensure accountability and collaboration.”
“The biggest challenge in diversity and inclusion is customer-facing roles. We want our workforce to mirror the communities we serve to better connect and grow revenue, because if everyone looks like me and thinks like me, nothing changes.”
“Bankers really do have the ability to impact people's lives. Many successful entrepreneurs credit their first loan from a banker as the turning point that enabled their business to grow.”
“We grew the percentage of women and people of color in our top three salary levels from 33% to 41% between 2015 and 2018, and increased men of color in senior management from 1.3% to 8.5%. These are significant improvements in talent diversity.”
“Community Reinvestment lending is a regulatory responsibility to serve all communities, especially low to moderate income and communities of color. Last year, we lent $93 million to people of color and $30 million in low-to-moderate income mortgages.”
“We believe culture is a competitive advantage. We call it First Power — the way we work, make decisions, treat customers, and engage with the community. Diversity and inclusion are core parts of this culture, leading to innovation and multiple awards.”
“Our diversity strategy is called the affinity strategy: diversity plus affinity equals inclusion. It involves all employees understanding their differences and valuing what they have in common to build inclusion.”
“We want diversity of thought to spur creativity. If everyone looks like me and shares the same background, meetings will end with agreement but no change. Diversity drives innovation and better problem solving.”
“The most impressionable lesson I've learned is that bankers have the ability to impact lives by providing credit that changes the trajectory of businesses and communities.”
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