Fostering Inclusion Through Employee Resource Groups at Alpine Investors

Alpine Investors launched its first set of Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) in 2022, with leaders from across the firm playing key roles in ensuring their success. ERGs provide necessary, cross-functional communities for our employees. Through these groups, we strive to make the firm a place where everyone, no matter their identity, can find a home for themselves in the short and long term.

To continuously improve our inclusion efforts, we ask what our smaller communities within Alpine need—each group may need something different. It’s important that each community has the autonomy and space to define the purpose of the ERG for themselves. As our firm grows, we look forward to expanding and scaling our ERGs efforts to build strong connection for all our team members.

BLACK, LATINÉ, AND INDIGENOUS ERG

This ERG supports our Black, Latiné and Indigenous (BLI) employees across all teams at the firm. In addition to being a dedicated space to foster connection and community for employees that identify within this group, this ERG gathers to identify any initiatives that they as a group want to help sponsor or lead. Additionally, BLI employees build cross-departmental mentorships from connections made in this space.

“This group has been so fun for me to watch grow. It’s very rewarding to see more faces in the room that look like me that can relate to and empathize with who I am as a person,” says Micaela Keller, the BLI ERG lead. “Meeting is integral to creating deeper connections across the firm and helps to facilitate mentorship, especially for younger team members.”

The group gets together for in-person events once per quarter, as well as during recruitment seasons to welcome any new employees that may be joining the team. The BLI ERG also has a dedicated digital space at the firm, with a Slack channel and e-mail list.

WOMEN ON INVESTING ERG

The ERG for women on the investing and investing-adjacent teams gathers on a bi-monthly basis to facilitate mentorship and strengthen relationships through discussion of various topics relating to women at the firm. The group also organizes fireside chats and professional development opportunities with women in leadership at peer firms.

“It’s important to have this shared community to build camaraderie across senior and junior women,” says Courtney Bond, a Women on Investing ERG co-lead. “It’s rewarding to have a safe space to have difficult conversations, where we can advance certain women-related initiatives at the firm.”

“This ERG helps ensure that we’re recruiting, retaining and promoting exceptional women,” says Charlotte Dillon, a Women on Investing ERG co-lead. “Doing so makes our team better and is in service of making Alpine the best place to work—one of our three North Stars as a firm.”

NEW AND EXPECTING BIRTHING PARENTS ERG

To continue to support the growing needs of parents at our firm, we created this group of individuals who are pregnant, trying to get pregnant, or postpartum. This ERG primarily exists as a digital space on Slack for new and expecting birthing parents to build community and ask questions within a group of current and soon-to-be caregivers in similar situations. Whether one is curious about maternity leave logistics, transporting breast milk during a business trip, or wants to know where the nursing room is at an off-site event, the New and Expecting Birthing Parents ERG is a safe space to hold these conversations.

“Having this ERG brings peace of mind,” says Erin Ruck, who initiated the New and Expecting Birthing Parents community. “It’s comforting to have a space where we can ask questions without worry, while navigating this exciting, but also tumultuous, time in our lives.”

ALPINE PRIDE ERG

The Alpine Pride employee resource group is committed to building a community that is welcoming, nurturing and celebratory of LGBTQ+ identities at Alpine. We strive to create an environment where all feel valued, accepted and empowered to bring their whole selves to work. Alpine Pride promotes open dialogue and fosters education and understanding of LGBTQ+ employees’ experience.

As avid advocates for LGBTQ+ rights, this ERG is committed to ensuring that respect for all identities is an integral part of Alpine’s culture. We use our collective power to counter societal bias, stereotypes and prejudice against LGBTQ+ people.

“By engaging with the broader community through volunteering, networking and mentoring, we forge lasting relationships and position Alpine as an employer of choice in the private equity industry,” says Jack Armstrong, Head of Capital Markets & Strategic Finance, and Alpine Pride ERG lead.