The Balance: Erin Banks

The field of Human Resources encompasses diverse specialties like recruiting, learning and development, performance management, compensation and more, but its essence is all about supporting an organization’s people, inside and outside of work.

Erin Banks, Vice President, Talent Management, always had a passion for helping people attain and maximize their strengths. Growing up, Erin was a competitive athlete, even reaching the Junior Olympics in swimming. Outside of the pool, she was obsessed with learning new skills.

It’s no wonder, when determining her professional path, she landed in HR and worked at several Fortune 500 companies along the way, including Honeywell, Grainger and Walgreens.

In 2021, Erin joined Cboe as Senior Director, HR Business Partner, and was promoted to Vice President, Talent Management, in 2022. During this time of major organizational growth and transformation, Erin and the HR team began to develop crucial new initiatives designed to cultivate and support a global, world-class associate experience.

“All of our programs are employee-centric,” Erin says. “We’re really focused on creating a world-class employee experience by driving associate engagement, development and wellbeing.”

Earlier this year, Cboe launched Success Behaviors, a framework of model behaviors for how associates can successfully execute their work. And just last month, the Talent Management team debuted “Strive for Growth Week,” which included live training sessions, panel discussions and on-demand courses designed to empower associates to learn and grow in their careers. These programs, along with a renewed emphasis on giving and receiving feedback, are all about enabling associates with the tools, training and transparency they need to develop along their professional journeys.

It’s a strategy Erin has used personally to advance in her own career.

“I never felt like there was one clear path to get ahead, but I understood the importance of investing in myself,” she says. “I was always looking for ways to expand my skills, obtain a new certification or work with new leaders.”

When she’s not developing learning programs for associates at Cboe, Erin spends her time giving back.

After wading into the world of real estate to create additional sources of personal savings and investments, Erin realized she could use her newfound interest to help members of her community struggling to find affordable housing.

“Having previously experienced housing insecurity myself, I knew this was an area where I could make a difference because I understand the challenges involved,” Erin says.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) categorizes affordable housing as requiring less than 30% of a household’s gross monthly income. Since the pandemic, more than 22 million households are paying more than 30% of their income on rent and utilities, with roughly 12 million facing housing costs of over 50% of their income, according to a report by the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University.

Although many people may qualify, there is incredible demand for affordable housing units, and very few families in need find matching resources in their area. In fact, the National Low-Income Housing Coalition reports there are only 36 affordable and available rental homes in the U.S. for every 100 extremely low-income renter households.

Erin knows that for most families experiencing this type of hardship, what they really need is a break to get back on their feet and stop the cycle of instability. That’s why she started her company, Westside Real Estate, which was recently recognized by the Center for Housing and Health for providing safe and affordable housing to more than 1,000 individuals in the Chicago area.

Investing in affordable housing requires much more than maintaining a building’s infrastructure. To make an impact and address many of the complications that accompany homelessness and housing insecurity, providers must develop trusted relationships with neighbors, social service agencies and nonprofit organizations. It’s a time consuming and resource-intense process that Erin couldn’t do without the flexibility and support of a trusted employer.

Erin has always prioritized working for a company that matches her own values. She knows firsthand how Cboe’s purpose of building trusted markets extends beyond the customer experience and propels her to make a difference in her community.

“We treat our associates with care and respect,” Erin says. “When we lead with our values, that allows our people to live theirs.”