Marlin Wilson-Threatt: “looking closely at the organization.”

Since 1973, Compuware has provided software products and professional services to maximize the business productivity of individual developers, testers and analysts as well as IT teams. This includes products for development and integration, QA, testing and performance and fault management.

In 2002, Compuware founder Peter Karmonos and his executive team launched a new diversity initiative. Marlin Wilson-Threatt was appointed director of diversity and business development, and charged with spearheading the initiative.

“Peter Karmonos gave me the marching orders,” says Wilson-Threatt. “The company has always felt that diversity was important, and he wanted to put an exclamation point on that! We wanted to explore how the promotion of diversity can positively affect our company’s bottom line.

“We started looking closely at the organization to see where things could be improved internally. We began by analyzing where the company was and researching best practices. It was very important that we tailor this initiative to fit Compuware,” Wilson-Threatt says.

The first focus was revising the corporate mission statement, business objectives and guiding principles to include diversity. “The changes reinforce the point that Compuware doesn’t view diversity as a program or a nice thing to do – it’s just who we are,” Wilson-Threatt says.

www.compuware.com Headquarters: Detroit, MI Employees: 10,000 worldwide Revenues: $1.7 billion Business: Business solutions for applications in distributed, enterprise and Web-based environments

The next step was a series of business strategy sessions on managing inclusion for all employees. Sessions were held for the executive team early in 2003, and, “Now we are rolling it out to the employee population.

“Our executives have made the commitment that every Compuware employee will attend the sessions. We understand that people are continuously learning and continuously improving to hit the targets that Compuware has in place.”

By this June, the company expects to be completely moved into its new HQ in downtown Detroit. Almost 4,000 of the company’s 10,000 employees will be housed there, and hopefully joined by a good number of new hires – developers, consultants and tech service employees. Wilson-Threatt notes that Compuware is always looking for good people, and actively recruits through a variety of diversity-focused organizations.

The downtown HQ will have a lot to offer. There’s a child development center with room for 400 children, a wellness center, a workout facility, cafeteria, credit union and even an onsite dry cleaner’s.

Employees were actively involved in planning the new facility. “We had a lot of employee input on this project from the very beginning,” Wilson-Threatt says.

Compuware also places great emphasis on community involvement. Its Community Action Network (Compuware CAN) coordinates all volunteer efforts for the corporation. Employees may build houses for Habitat for Humanity, staff a local domestic abuse center, or help with computer training at local schools. The company also hosts a holiday party each year for a local youth program.

“We want to make sure that there is no question in anyone’s mind regarding our level of commitment. This is the right thing to do for our employees and our business,” Wilson-Threatt declares.

D/C