Rubyna Zito has been a staunch advocate for DE&I throughout her seven-year tenure with Finra, working to provide opportunity to more women as well as other underrepresented communities. As VP of technology operations and services, Zito strives to make Finra inclusive of everyone’s needs regardless of age, gender, color or background.
Through her efforts, women now represent 40% to 50% of the promotions within the technology organization, and 60% more women participate in leadership conferences as speaking guests than they did in the past years.
Another resounding success has been her continued partnership of the Year Up program, through which her company partners with Yupro to help underprivileged adults gain the skills, experiences and support that will empower them to reach their potential. Some 90% to 100% of the students that spent time at Finra have moved on to full-time roles either at Finra or another financial service company after the year-long program.
Zito’s also focused on racial injustice and serves as the co-chair of the Racial Justice Task Force at Finra that focuses on the workplace. The task force has launched several programs, including managing supplier diversity and equal hiring opportunities, training for internal staff to be educated on these issues, advocating for education around election day, and launching a Juneteeth campaign to provide information and access for staff to learn more about and celebrate the movement. Under Zito’s leadership, Finra has partnered with Consciously Unbiased founder Ashish Kaushal to train staff and conduct #ConsciousConversations that have helped move Finra forward in the D&I world as an organization.
Zito considers her daughters to be the impetus behind her passion for equity at work. She thrives on providing equal opportunities to everyone around. “My daughters are my driving force, and I want them to grow in a world where equal opportunities are provided to all not because someone is less, but because they deserve fairness,” she says.
2023 DE&I Influencers List