SVB Bank Failure Lesson Learned: Don't Do Business with Woke Companies

The head of risk management for the failed Silicon Valley Bank was also their head of wokeness. Via Zero Hedge:

While Silicon Valley Bank careened toward its spectacular collapse, the bank's head of risk management for Europe, Africa and the Middle East devoted a chunk of her time to various LGBTQ+ programs. 

Meanwhile, SVB went without a chief risk officer (CRO) from April 2022 to January 2023, the Daily Mail reports, as the bank apparently had little urgency to replace Laura Izurieta before finally tapping Kim Olson earlier this year.  

On the other hand, a few months before that long CRO vacancy began, SVB boasted, "We have a Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer, an executive-led DEI Steering Committee and Employee Resource Groups with executive sponsors focused on these objectives."  

If you’ve never talked to a woke corporate executive—someone whose title begins with “chief,” you’ll be shocked when you do.

SVB Risk Officer Jay Ursapah—also ran the bank’s “coming out” program for LGBTQ++

These modern “chiefs” possess less business acumen than your typical raccoon. They speak in woke, New Age word salads that would make Kamala Harris green with envy. They eschew the traditional responsibilities of a corporate officer, believing that enough diversity, equity, and inclusion will make all other risks and problems disappear.

Cybersecurity: “We need to invest more in underprivileged communities of color, so their members feel less threatened by institutional barriers.”

Hiring Qualified Staff: “The number-one qualification for any candidate is awareness of their identity and acceptance of the identities of others.”

Competitive Risks: “Putting cooperation first will prevent competitive risk as the market recognizes our human strengths and prioritized our mutual identities over price or feature differences.”