On June 2nd, we went silent on social media and took down our website in solidarity and mourning over the deaths of innocent Black Americans at the hands of police. We kept our voice silent and our website dark for 8.77 days.

On May 25th, 2020, George Floyd was killed by 4 police officers in Minnesota, and this led to protests across the US and across the globe. The protests highlighted the decades of discrimination and complacency rampant in the United States. We have been too quiet for too long as a society and I feel that, for PTW, the time for inaction on the topic of police brutality and violence has ended.

Today, our website has come back online, but I want to be clear that this is not the end of the conversation around diversity, equity, and inclusion at PTW. Our actions are meaningless unless we use them as the starting point for change at PTW.

We don’t have all the answers yet, but here are a few actions we are taking:

• PTW will hire a diversity, equity, and inclusion consultant; this person will be tasked with evaluating where we are today in terms of diversity and crafting a plan for how we can improve.

• PTW will create a taskforce that will drive this change alongside me. This group is open to all employees and we want to hear from anyone who wants to be involved and make a difference in the company.

• I will host frequent discussion and events around diversity, equity, and inclusion within PTW

Black Lives Matter.

We will not stop working toward building a more inclusive and equitable society.

Deborah