Ad Agencies Making Progress on Hiring Minorities, After All

Many people aren't satisfied with Madison Avenue's progress on the diversity front, but Patricia Gatling, head of the New York City Human Rights Commission, today said she is "cautiously optimistic" that ad agencies will ramp up the numbers of minority executives in their ranks. Gatling was speaking at a public hearing at City Hall called by New York City Councilman and Civil Rights Committee Chairman Larry B. Seabrook. The goal of the hearing was to discuss the progress (and lack thereof, in some cases) of the agencies that two years ago signed a pact to boost minority hiring and set individual goals. As part of her testimony, Ms. Gatling reiterated statistics released this spring that found that five of the 16 ad agencies that signed on have not met all their minority-hiring goals in the first year of their diversity pact with the New York City Commission on Human Rights. However, the remaining agencies either met or exceeded all their 2007 goals.