A lesson in allyship: an interview with Greg Keller

Intro: As a part of NetApp's commitment to DI&B, we are highlighting and celebrating NetApp employees who are working to build belonging every day and foster a greater understanding about the importance of diversity, inclusion, and belonging throughout the NetApp community.

Greg Keller is Vice President of Engineering for ONTAP SAN and Systems Group at NetApp. Greg is also heavily involved in NetApp's Global Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging efforts, primarily hiring diverse talent and establishing connections with HBCUs. This includes a relationship with NC A&Ts Cybersecurity program within their Department of Computer Science. He is a member of the Board of Directors of AMIE (Advancing Minorities Interests in Engineering.)

This conversation was recorded on August 19, 2021. It has been edited for clarity and length.

Tammi Harris: Greg, you are such a diversity champion! Can you please discuss some of the diversity initiatives that Hybrid Cloud Engineering has led under your leadership?

Greg Keller: My primary focus has been primarily on establishing strong multilevel relationships with the Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). That has been extremely rewarding. We started off with North Carolina's A&T University, where we established a relationship with the dean of engineering.  Now we offer scholarships, and we participate in regular hackathons and design challenges. We've had great participation from NetApp employees in all these events.

We've had our talent on campus and now we have virtual (hopefully back to physical in the future) interaction with the students. We see the NetApp brand grow at A&T. To me, that's very rewarding because we're helping students, we're hiring engineers from N.C. A&T, and they're all really energized by our relationship. Recently we provided scholarships to four engineers, and we have two more scholarships to be distributed through our participation with AMIE.

We're moving forward now to add two more universities, Morgan State and Hampton University, to the HBCUs we have relationships with. We want to start slowly by building up the portfolio of events that we participate in, providing scholarships, and eventually having a broad multilevel program. I think these new relationships are going to be equally rewarding and valuable for NetApp.

Tammi: It's so nice to see the fruits of your labor as we build the pipeline. We no longer see these people as students but as employees at NetApp! And I want to add that you lead the winning team for the design challenge as well.

Greg: That's true! We've participated for 3 years in the design challenge with AMIE and won the last 2. We have a team of engineers, Joseph Brown and Rodney Scurlock, who are in high demand with the AMIE universities and HBCUs.

Tammi: All the work that you've done on scholarships and with AMIE is so impressive. What fuels you for doing this?

Greg: You know, it's interesting. I look at my background and the great lessons from my parents.  They've always been very colorblind. And I remember some stories of my grandfather. I recall some things he had said that father pointed out to were not accurate and certainly not polite. They taught me at a young age to value diversity. I was born and grew up in Arizona, so I've lived in a lot of Hispanic environments. I've lived in Alabama and there were several black students in the schools (but not many in those days). I spent 2 years in Thailand and was immersed in Asian culture, and so on. For me, it's always been natural.

And then I get into environments where I see more homogeneity. NetApp is still a very white-male-dominated company. However, I see the interest in the company to drive diversity. So that's what keeps me moving forward. There is a need, and a desire, and a lot of energy behind it. 

Tammi: Thank you for sharing your story. You have rich cultural experiences based on your childhood and work experiences in Alabama, Arizona, and Thailand. For those who may not be as culturally aware as you, or who haven't had the opportunity to immerse themselves in different environments, what advice would you provide? How can we be better champions at work and value differences?

Greg: I would always say start small and let that lead you into other areas. I would take something that's meaningful to you, or maybe something that you know you're not strong at - a weakness of yours, something you want to enhance. I've heard stories about people who have gotten involved with a number of the different Employee Business Resource Groups. The reason they got involved was that they felt they were not strong in that area. They weren't able to connect to the LBGTQ community, for example, and so they said, "That's an area that I don't feel comfortable in and so I'm going to go work in that space." So pick something, get involved, educate yourself, learn about a particular area, and then make a difference. Understand that learning is a journey, and that you're going to grow in different directions.

Jennifer Brown wrote a book about diversity, Inclusive Leadership. There's a phenomenal amount of information in her book that I learned so much from. One of the things you need to understand is the importance of starting small and moving in different directions. Diversity is a multidimensional arena. You can't do it all at once, right? You have to get better and better. Then you'll go into a different area and improve there as well.  I feel that in some areas I'm still nascent in my involvement and in my capability to do things, but I'm trying to move in different directions.

Tammi: Inclusive Leadership by Jennifer Brown is great.  What is your biggest lesson from the book?

Greg: I think my biggest lesson lines up perfectly [with the book]. You have to have somebody that you model yourself after, somebody that you see doing great things, who has a great vision, has the right heart. And the person I look at, who actually gives me energy and drives me, is Kathy Coencas. I've learned so much from her. I don't know if she realizes it, but she pulls me along in many respects. She throws good ideas to me and I run with those ideas. That is my biggest lesson. Find somebody who is already passionate and energized by tackling some diversity challenges. Watch what they do and have them work with you to teach you and push you along.

Tammi: Kathy inspires us all. She really is a champion. I'm blessed to work with her, and with you as well. You truly are a trailblazer and an exemplar. We wish we had more people like you. What would you want your legacy to be when you leave NetApp?

Greg: I guess the legacy is to build upon our enduring foundation. We have a set of leaders who are all equally engaged and involved in making this happen. I have seen some leaders who get involved but don't stay involved or are only peripherally involved. I also see some leaders who have such great energy. It would be great if, as a company, we can embrace this across all of our leadership and all of our employees. That would be the ultimate legacy, to see us grow that way as a company. And it's not easy, right? There's work, energy, and beliefs that have to be overcome or recreated. That is going to be really hard, but I think the ultimate statement is that we have a diverse population that wants and embraces diversity.

Tammi: That's right. And that's what fuels us. We can't change all hearts and minds, but we have quite a large constituency that are all in like you. Thank you. I really appreciate your time and all the work that you do.