Corporate diversity expert Tosh Ernest, a 2021 Network Journal Influential Black Women in Business honoree, is the new Head of Access to Innovation, a newly created role at SVB Financial Group ( SVB).
Based in Santa Clara, Calif., SVB is the financial partner of the innovation economy and parent of Silicon Valley Bank, SVB Capital, and SVB Private and SVB Securities.
Ernest will lead SVB’s signature initiative to advance women, Blacks and Latinx individuals to positions of influence in the innovative sector, emphasizing greater access to capital, professional relationships and career opportunities.
She joins SVB after more than 10 years with JPMorgan Chase & Co., where she founded the wealth division of Advancing Black Pathways (ABP), a $30-billion, five-year global initiative to bridge the racial wealth gap. Here, she was a strategic advisor to senior management and community leaders on issues of economic opportunity for underserved communities.
Ernest praises SVB for extending its commitment to improve diversity, equity and inclusion “beyond its own walls to its entire sphere of influence,” noting that “the Access to Innovation team has done tremendous work to creatively leverage the company’s vast network to create and amplify educational, employment and funding pathways,”
She pledges to “continue to grow and evolve this important work.”
Prior to leading Advancing Black Pathways, Ernest led large-scale change management and transformation initiatives for JPMorgan in asset and wealth management, and investment banking. Before JPMorgan, she held roles at consulting firms Navigant, Capco and Accenture, specializing in post-merger and acquisition systems integration.
Ernest graduated from the University of Reading in England with a bachelor’s degree in accounting and management.
