The Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) at DTCC foster an environment that respects and values diversity and inclusion. In addition to providing opportunities for professional development and growth, ERGs play an important role in working with senior leadership to address workforce policies and serve as a resource for innovative solutions that drive positive change.
IGNITE’s mission is to provide a platform for sharing cross-generational perspectives through which individuals spark innovative ideas, develop new skills and business knowledge, expand their networks, and advance their contributions to DTCC.
Read on to find out more about DTCC’s Marc Richardson, IGNITE’s recently appointed Co-Chair.
DC: Tell us about your role at DTCC.
I began working at DTCC in 2013 after graduating from Stevens Institute of Technology with my bachelors in pure and applied mathematics. I started as an intern for the summer and transitioned into the EDGE program where I worked as a business analyst supporting the different infrastructure platforms.
When our cloud strategy began in late 2016/early 2017 I transitioned into that space and worked as the Cloud Business Manager. Now, I lead our business management and analytics team in the Enterprise Product and Platform Engineering department within IT, taking some of those experiences and skills and broadening them.
DC: What do you consider to be your biggest business accomplishment to date?
In late 2016 I transitioned into the emerging Cloud area and started working on our “Minimal Viable Cloud” strategy. As part of this, my focus was Cloud Business Management where we had to build, from the ground up, everything from pre-allocated expense management, cost alignment and allocation models, consumption transparency, and optimization measurements.
That journey has brought us to a point where we operated under-budget for the full year of 2021, supporting teams in optimizing their business application usage of the cloud, bringing down spend by millions of dollars, all while driving forward our strategy to build and grow the new platform.
DC: Describe your ERG journey.
I began my journey within the recruitment initiative under IGNITE many years ago. I have always had a passion for supporting others and influencing their success, so helping support the team that was focused on bringing in those next levels of talent was a natural fit.
The work itself focuses on coordinating recruitment events with our Talent Acquisition and Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) teams, representing DTCC at various external recruitment events and facilitating building different external relationships with DTCC through our networks and / or college experiences. I grew from there to the co-lead of the recruitment initiative, where I continued to drive that passion for the future talent of our organization, broadening our focus to multi-generational talent.
That passion has led me to today, where I have been given the opportunity to take over as one of the Co-Chairs of IGNITE. It was such an honor to be considered, let alone selected, and I look forward to working with the entire IGNITE, ERG, and DTCC community to drive that passion for growing talent in many more aspects than ever before!
DC: What is your favorite ERG activity and why?
My favorite sets of activities are the ones where we can hear about experiences from our colleagues and leaders. Whether it is fireside chats with industry experts and DTCC leaders, the “ask a new” series IGNITE kicked off last year, or the career series we lead with college students interested in DTCC, it is always great to hear someone’s story.
Everyone has unique experiences, career events that defined them, or even current questions they are working through to get to that next step. All of this helps build both your personal career story as well as define those for others, and I find that an immensely valuable pillar of growth that ERGs help bring to the table.
DC: What are the titles of the last books you have read?
So, I recently finished a three-book series; “Star Wars: Aftermath” which tells part of the story between Episode 6 and Episode 7 of the Star Wars movies (if I haven’t said before, I am quite the nerd).
Han Solo is a large character in this series and ever since I was a kid, I dreamed of being like him. Though he is a little carefree and shoots from the hip – in the end he is there to do the right thing and work as best as he can to support his friends.
This is how I operate every day, nothing is perfect, the road to get there can have many bumps along the way, but if you are working and living with the right intentions it will work out.
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