Despite the rain and thunderstorm Tuesday evening on May 15, more than 50 people gathered over dinner and drinks at Bibiana restaurant in Washington, D.C. to learn about diversity and job opportunities at Bank of America.

Bank of America partnered with AfroTech for the recruiting event to discover black talent in tech.

Guests were provided the chance to learn about Bank of America’s diverse leadership and how the corporation is expanding its diversity efforts through its partnership with AfroTech.

Whitney Hopkins, a guest at the event, said she didn’t realize how many African-Americans held leadership positions at Bank of America, and she was pleasantly shocked to see African-Americans spread across so many different spaces working there.

Attendees learned about Bank of America’s latest innovations and the company having over 3,000 patents, which is more than any tech company, including Google and Microsoft.

Cameron Wadley, the chief operating officer for client-facing platforms technology at Bank of America, and Allyn Shaw, the managing director and chief operating officer of cybersecurity, gave a presentation on the corporation’s innovations in consumer-facing technology and cybersecurity.

Bank of America was the first company to create a digital assistant before Siri and Alexa. The company has also created tools to help consumers take their financial well-being into their own hands through education and budgeting tools.

Attendee Marcus Coleman said he hopes people of color will continue to be embraced in the tech space, not only as coders but also as policymakers, and get access to capital to start their own tech companies, too.

“I am appreciative of AfroTech because it has provided that platform for those organizations that are looking to establish partnerships and build those relationships to establish themselves,” Coleman said. “Not just in the tech space, but to bring shared value to the broader community, domestically and internationally.”

Shaw believes that having functions like the AfroTech and Bank of America event will help close the gap in recruiting more people of color to tech jobs.

“There is no shortage of talent,” Shaw said. “That’s a big misnomer. I think the opportunity ahead of us is creating events like this one where we’re bringing tech leaders, tech companies and financial services together with the tech talent and with the African-American community to create that opportunity.”

To learn more about job opportunities at Bank of America, visit http://careers.bankofamerica.com.

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