Last fall, Heitman's senior management team held an off-site meeting to assess the status of inclusion and diversity at the firm and to brainstorm what should be its areas of focus. The team agreed it needed to hire an individual to help set these strategies and initiatives as well as monitor their progress.

“We are taking a full scale look at our operations,” Bixler says. This includes how the firm recruit talent, its training and development programs, the talent pipeline programs, how its employees are mentored, how it utilizes its resources “and hopefully, down the road, implementing a supplier diversity program to effect change in the firm and the industry at large,” she says.

Heitman plans to track and measure results through metrics, employee surveys, accountability standards and client service and performance, as well as evaluate areas for improvement. The company plans on regularly reporting these developments to its global management committee.

Boyce holds a Bachelor of Arts in Public Policy from Duke University and a Juris Doctorate from Howard University School of Law.