WOKE FAILURE: Silicon Valley Bank Invested In LGBTQ Programs Months Before Collapse

Prior to the dramatic collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, Jay Ersapah, who was in charge of financial risk management, took a lead in launching and spearheading LGBTQ campaigns for the company, including a “safe space catch up.”

These campaigns included a month-long pride initiative, creating a platform for staff to share their coming-out stories, and co-chairing the European LGBTQ Employee Resource Group, all while the bank was on the verge of collapse.

Head of Financial Risk at SVB Jay Ersapah might’ve been busy with more important projects at the bank, such as LGBTQ issues, rather than assessing risk $SIVB pic.twitter.com/LTYWph50Uc

— The_Real_Fly (@The_Real_Fly) March 10, 2023

Ersapah, who labels herself as “a queer person of color and a first generation immigrant from a working class background,” was included on SVB’s “Outstanding LGBT+ Role Models List 2022.”

Her bio reads:

As Co-Chair of EMEA Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) LGBTQ+ network, Jay is a leading figure for the bank’s awareness activities including being an panelist at the SVB’s Global Pride townhall to share her experiences as a lesbian of color, moderating SVB’s EMEA Pride townhall and was instrumental in initiating the organization’s first ever global “safe space catch-up“, supporting employees in sharing their experiences of coming out.

Jay created the first month-long SVB EMEA Pride campaign, involving an awareness video with representatives of the firm’s LGTBQ+ communities and allies across the Executive, Board, Stonewall, and SVB UK’s LGBTQ+ charity partner. She volunteered to be a panelist on SVB India’s first Pride session, highlighting the challenges of Asians across LGBTQ+ communities.

She authored numerous articles to promote LGBTQ+ awareness, such as Lesbian Visibility Day, Trans Awareness Week and recently an external blog, on Youth Mental Health Day to highlight mental health issues among young LGBTQ+ people, especially from ethnic backgrounds. To promote LGBTQ+ best practices for SVB’s external clients, she hosted an exclusive fireside chat with Suki Sandhu OBE, Founder and CEO of Audeliss and Involve. She is a trustee for Diversity Role Models, who promote LGBTQ+ education and inclusion in schools.

Jay Ersapah – HEAD OF FINANCIAL RISK MANAGEMENT – #SiliconValley Bank

Jay even had LGBTQ+ and ERG in her profile! ☠️

She was a Silicon Valley talent recruiters dream!! 🤣🤣#SVBCollapse | #BankCrash | #USDCrash pic.twitter.com/1CoTeVHUT3

— JDO X 🇺🇸 (@JDOPost) March 12, 2023

In 2022, Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) suffered heavy losses due to rising interest rates and a slowdown in tech industry growth, where the bank’s liabilities were concentrated. By December 31, 2022, the bank had over $15 billion in unrealized losses for securities held to maturity. These factors, along with poor risk management and a bank run fueled by tech investors, led to the bank’s collapse in March 2023.