Lisa Shim0:07
Hi, my name is Lisa Shim. I'm the Senior Executive Vice President and the Head of Consumer and Small Business Banking for Bank United. So I think it's really important to be here in Miami for a couple of reasons, which I would probably focus on. Diversity: when you have a business like we do that caters to a diverse set of customers and businesses, you want to be in a city that embraces that, and Miami is that city. We are a bank that offers our products and services to a diverse set of customers and industries, from small businesses to corporates. So coming to Miami, which is a growing metropolitan city, was a must, and we've been here for a while. It's also a gateway to many other cities, not only in the country but around the world. So if you want the access and the influence, you want to be here in 305. So Bank United, we are super excited at what is happening here in the Miami Tech scene. We want to embrace the growth that is happening, and I think the tech growth has benefited us in a couple of ways. First, with more people and businesses calling Miami home, we've been able to wrap our arms around them with our products and services and welcome them to La Familia. And we think, as a relationship bank, we have the right balance of touch and tech. So we believe that companies need the confidence of a trusted financial advisor as well as the convenience of products and services so that they can go about and run their own business. I also think that there's a halo effect with more businesses, especially notably the tech business here in Miami coming and rooting themselves here, which is talent. As more people come to know Miami as a place where they can both live and work, it draws more talent. And for employers like us who are looking for this type of talent, it's provided a great ecosystem for us to be hiring, whether it's in fields of data or technology. And I think finally, for banks that are leaning into technology like we are, there's a unique opportunity that exists between us and fintechs that are in the space to be able to forge partnerships to be able to provide better services and better products for our customers.
So my opinion, DEI is not just a catchphrase. It's something that is in the fabric of what we do every day in our company. And we believe that if you're catering to a diverse set of customers, your workforce needs to be equally as diverse to be empathetic to the needs of your customers. And so DEI has been in our DNA since the beginning of our time, and we'll continue to do that, whether it's investing capital or talent management or sponsorships or grants to underserved communities, to women and minority-owned businesses. We're providing those services to them. We've also more recently taken a focus on mentorships and internships locally here with high schools as well as colleges and universities, and we're really proud of that. We think it's important to invest in our future generations and build a pipeline here in Miami of future bankers, technologists, entrepreneurs, and just overall contributors to society.
Five years seems like a long time. I think the pace of change has accelerated a lot, and I think Miami is benefiting from that. I think with technology and the way that we are thinking about how it's going to progress, in five years we're going to see a lot of healthy innovation and disruption in a lot of the sectors, actually probably all the sectors that you can think of, including education and the public and private markets. I think that's going to provide a positive benefit for businesses as well as the community. I also think as more people come to know Miami as that tech hub, you're going to see that people are going to want to stay here. So if I think in five years, I think of the high school seniors today and college freshmen who are going to be graduating, and in five years we want to have Miami as a viable option to build a career here, especially if you're thinking about technology. I think Miami is having a special moment, and it has been for a couple of years, and we need to capitalize on it and build a sustainable program to drive this growth organically. And I think that's going to take certainly tech as an accelerator and enabler, but I think it's going to take the entire business community, the public sector, all of us together to make sure that Miami continues to thrive.
