60 Seconds with Christian Dow, MHI

Title: Executive Vice President, Membership and Industry Leadership

Location: Charlotte, N.C.

Experience: Dow has been in automation since 1995 and joined MHI as a member in 2007. He has been the EVP of Membership and Industry Leadership for MHI since January 2020.

Modern: This issue has our first survey of diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) in the materials handling industry. What was your take on the survey?

Dow: Our members recognize there is a need for diversity in our industry. The survey reinforces that need. The survey results also reinforce the need for diversity and inclusion in the industry.

Modern: Were there any surprises in the survey results?

Dow: The differences in demographics in leadership versus the overall organization. I didn’t expect the disparity in race and gender that were evident in the results. I expected there to be disparity between overall organizations reflected compared to the overall population, but the disparity between the makeup of leadership and the organization surprised me.

Modern: What’s your message for those companies just now launching diversity initiatives? Why is this important to our industry?

Dow: As solution providers, we have to expand our reach when we recruit and hire if we’re going to keep the industry growing. If we don’t, other industries will be further ahead of us in solving their labor challenges; and we’ll also be behind in terms of the diversity of ideas we need to move forward as an industry. There are so many benefits for organizations that are diverse.

Modern: Where do you suggest they start?

Dow: When I look at the results, non-leadership is more diverse. There are people in that group that you can draw from and develop through mentorships, or paying for their education and training. For instance, at MHI we have a budget for staff that wants to go back to school or earn a certification.

As an association, we’re reaching out to HBCUs like North Carolina A&T State University and looking for ways our members might participate. We’re also talking to chapters of the National Society of Black Engineers, the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers and the Society of Women Engineers at Northern Illinois University to develop a program where our members can give students an overview of why our industry is a place for them. That’s something we can then expand to chapters within other schools.

Modern: We’ve noticed there’s now a lot of DE&I material on the MHI website. As an association serving the industry, what’s the role MHI wants to play in these efforts?

Dow: We’re doing several things. First, we want to spotlight people from diverse backgrounds who are already successful in the industry. We also plan to create tools and resources for our members and share best practices that other organizations are doing successfully so our members aren’t starting from scratch.

And then, as I mentioned before, we’re creating ways for our members to take an active role in schools and with professional societies. And, with our internal committee, we’re going to put together diversity initiatives for members, focusing on what some of our small, medium and large organizations are doing.

Modern: Any final thoughts?

Dow: Since we started this initiative last year, we’ve had a number of members reach out to get involved and to be proactive. That interest is exciting. Our advisory committee wanted to know what our baseline is so we know where we’re at and where we want to go. The surveys that we’ve done, including this one with Modern, lets us know where we are.