16 Illinois Employers Among Best For Diversity In U.S.: Forbes

CHICAGO, IL — Chicago-based investment company Northern Trust is the best employer for diversity in the United States, according to a new set of rankings released by Forbes on Tuesday. 16 other Illinois companies made the list, including two other employers that ranked among the top ten.

To compile the rankings, Forbes worked with research firm Statista. Forbes explains that Statista surveyed 30,000 U.S. employers in August of last year, asking questions about diversity, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age and disability. Statista also looked at factors like the gender split of companies' management teams and boards and the gap in diversity perceptions at a company.

Northern Trust, which earned the top spot, has a significantly higher level of top executives that are women compared to the level observed at S&P 500 companies. According to Forbes, women make up 38 percent of the company's top executives and African-Americans make up 23 percent of the company's board.

Levy, which took the third spot, has an eight-person executive team, half of whom are women.

The Illinois employers that made the list are:

• Northern Trust, Chicago, 1
• Levy, Chicago, 3
• AbbVie, North Chicago, 10
• Health Care Service Corporation, Chicago, 14
• YMCA of the USA, Chicago, 15
• Hyatt Hotels, Chicago, 17
• Grant Thornton International, Chicago, 24
• Accenture, Chicago, 38
• Discover Financial Services, Rosewood, 97
• Boeing, Chicago, 98
• Allianz, Chicago, 146
• Conagra Brands, Chicago, 151
• Takeda Pharmaceutical, Deerfield, 154
• Zurich Insurance Group, Schaumburg, 167
• TDS (Telephone and Data Systems), Chicago, 190
• Caterpillar, Peoria, 247

According to Forbes, these are the top 10 companies for diversity in the U.S.:

1. Northern Trust, Chicago
2. The Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.
3. Levy, Chicago
4. Intuit, Mountain View, California
5. Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
6. Principal Financial Group, Des Moines, Iowa
7. Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia
8. Wegmans Food Markets, Austin, Texas
9. Keller Williams Realty, Austin, Texas
10. AbbVie, North Chicago

You can see the full list of employers that made the list here and read more via Forbes here.

Photo by Andrew Harnik/Associated Press