A Forum for Empathy and Understanding

On Friday, June 5, we pressed pause to unite as OneHines in solidarity of our Black and African-American colleagues and communities in America. The goal of the panel discussion was to increase empathy, understanding and awareness of how current events affect our community and what each of us can do in response.

All Hines team members, including international colleagues, were invited to participate, support and learn. The conversation was powerful and emotional.

Thank you to our panelists Bert Brown, Jesse Carrillo, LeRonica Hill and Andrew Cooke for their vulnerability and transparency in sharing their stories, and educating all of us on how we can be allies.

Employee feedback:

"I am very proud to be a part of the Hines family and the leadership of Jeffrey Hines, Laura Hines-Pierce and Stephanie Biernbaum, for creating such a platform to increase empathy, understanding and awareness of how racial injustice affects the Black community and what we can do in response."

"Thank you, Andrew Cooke, Bert Brown, Jesse Carrillo and LeRonica Hill, for having the courage and strength to share your personal experiences and insight with us. Through compassion, we can start a conversation with the various affected communities and community leaders to gain a collective understanding where we can utilize the dialogue and ideas as a conduit to lay the foundation, toward a meaningful and long-term solution, to a deeply-rooted systemic problem."

"Action is required, and it will allow us to evolve and prosper, both ethically and spiritually."

"So appreciative to be able to spend this important hour together. The panelists were so real and raw and I’m inspired by how candid and brave they were. Thank you to our wonderful firm for facilitating a bold conversation. I hope we are all getting a little better, stronger and bolder every day."

"So appreciative of the bravery and honesty of my coworkers. This was powerful and so needed right now. Thank you!"

"This was one of the most powerful conversations since I joined Hines. Really proud to be part of this firm and learn how I can be a better ally and create a better world for all of our children."

"This was so awesome!! I'm grateful to the panelists for putting themselves out there to speak candidly about their experiences. Also thank you to Hines for giving them a platform and room to speak. Proud to work for this company."

"So grateful to be part of a family/company that has always been activists in this arena and continue to take action and have the uncomfortable conversations. Thank you SO much to all the panelists for being so vulnerable. We hear you and we support you."