Berkshire Hathaway’s new diversity leader embodies inclusion

The impact of the COVID pandemic on individuals, communities and companies — lifetime in basic — has not still been entirely measured.  

“The planet was turned upside down,” reported Kevin Waugaman, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Florida Network Realty. “We had been not immune to the effect of the pandemic, but we were being outfitted to control it. We began to evaluate the modifications we wanted to make to survive and even develop all through the remarkable variations in the way organizations do organization.” 

In the course of the procedure, the company’s range was an important variable in identifying and resolving problems magnified by the pandemic. Margaret Ceaser, a human means and accounting administrator, was promoted to human sources supervisor and tapped to lead the company’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Council. 

“Berkshire Hathaway has a very simple mission assertion: Make goals occur accurate, and this applies to the company’s workers, shoppers and our neighborhood,” Waugaman claimed. “Margaret is the right man or woman to guide our team. Not only is she educated in the rules of variety, fairness and inclusion, it’s who she is.” 

It is who she is at do the job, in the neighborhood and at church.  

“I grew up in rural Georgia, and I married younger,” Ceaser stated. “When my partner Thomas joined the Navy, we traveled and we lived in Italy for a when which aided me produce an appreciation of other cultures and contributed to my passion for men and women.” 

Ceaser was functioning in a furnishings retail store in Virginia when a fellow worker recommended she consider human methods as a career simply because of her like for individuals. She investigated the profession to guarantee herself that it was a lot more than plan generation and enforcement. Dealing deal with to facial area with men and women, supporting clear up complications and making sure positive outcomes was Ceaser’s primary objective. 

Ceaser will rejoice 21 decades with Berkshire Hathaway in April. She started with the organization when it was Prudential Network Realty and quickly made a identify for herself. 

“I wanted to do more than administration and accounting,” she claimed. “I went back again to faculty and attained both my bachelor’s degree and a master’s diploma.” 

Ceaser also gained a Variety, Fairness and Inclusion-in-the-Place of work Certification from the University of South Florida that focuses on means to enhance staff diversity, embrace fairness and foster inclusivity. 

Conversation with the local community and in just the enterprise are equally essential sides of her function at Berkshire Hathaway. 

“For illustration, we walked in the River Metropolis Satisfaction parade late very last yr to rejoice the LGBTQIA local community,” she said. “Also, we started out polling our staff on their expertise in the place of work to ascertain if they sense welcomed, respected, valued and recognized. We want to make a substantial effect inside and outside our enterprise. Section of this is increasing our connections in the course of the local community, not only in offering back, but creating confident all people today have obtain to the most effective true estate information and assistance, a big component of long-term prosperity development.” 

Heather Cosgrove, a Realtor at Berkshire Hathaway, serves as president of the Society for Human Sources Management Jacksonville Chapter and cites Ceaser’s prolonged-term membership and volunteer routines as key examples of an specific devoted to building the globe a greater spot. 

Ceaser is also co-chair of SHRM’s Range Board. 

“Margaret has been a SHRM member considering that 2006 and is amid our most devoted volunteers,” Cosgrove stated. “We provide chances for human methods professionals to trade ideas, network, obtain education and learning and serve the community in partnership with other businesses and companies. Margaret is a leader and a committed volunteer.” 

Ceaser is a shiny light-weight at operate, in the group and in her church, which is also a source of that light-weight. She is an energetic member of the Very first Missionary Baptist Church in Jacksonville Seashore.