EVAN TAYLOR

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EVAN TAYLOR

Program Manager of Community Markets
M&T Bank

As program manager of community markets at M&T Bank, Evan Taylor is devoted to promoting equity and inclusion in banking. The best way to do that, he says, is through collaboration.

“I want every industry to offer more opportunities and better equitable access across communities,” he says. “My recommendation is to approach advocacy work as a coalition builder. The more collaboration, the more powerful your change can and will be.”

At M&T, Taylor currently spearheads the bank’s unconscious bias ideation initiative, which aims to identify internal processes that are vulnerable to bias. Through this program, Taylor has collaborated with leaders from across the bank to host conversations about how the bank can be more equitable. He has also trained and led a team of four facilitators deployed to lead the work across the bank. Taylor was recently tapped to lead the bank’s $35 million charitable foundation.

“I push the program to think about who has typically been excluded from partnerships, for example, forging relationships with organizations that don’t use English as their predominant language,” he said. “I know that if we believe the status quo is the best we can do, we are missing out, so I push forward.”

In his free time, Taylor serves on Teach for America’s Baltimore strategy and finance board. He also is an advisory board member at Urban Teachers’ Baltimore and sits on Baltimore Center Stage’s young professionals’ board.

“I hope my work will continue to sit at the intersection of effective banking and equitable access to communities,” Taylor said. “Broadening access at the bank, or with organizations like Teach for America Baltimore, is what motivates me.”

Taylor received his bachelor’s degree from Southern Methodist University. He also holds a master’s degree in both business administration and public policy from Duke University.