Diversity, Equality and Inclusion

At Bryant Miller Olive P.A., diversity, equality & inclusion are authentic parts of our culture and identity. Diversity connects us to our clients & communities. We believe that equality creates an environment where everyone can do their best work and we are committed to building an inclusive culture that encourages, supports and celebrates the diverse voices of our employees. Even though the Firm enjoys a high degree of diversity, the Firm aspires to achieve more in the area of diversity. The Firm continually seeks new opportunities to employ persons of diverse race, creed, color, national origin and sex.

• More than 63 percent of the members of the firm are African American, Hispanic, Asian or women. JoLinda Herring, BMO’s CEO and Managing Shareholder, is African American and Misty Taylor, Shareholder, is a member of the Board of Directors. Eight additional women are shareholders of BMO, three of whom are African American. In addition, approximately 32 percent of the firm’s support staff is comprised of minorities, and approximately 71 percent of the support staff are women. BMO is proud of its efforts to make public finance a more diverse practice area. 
• BMO is proud to be a shining example of how it should work. We subscribe to Vernā Myers’s observation: "Diversity is being invited to the party. Inclusion is being asked to dance." We are a testament that actions do speak louder than words. BMO is a diverse group which is 16% African American in terms of lawyers (according to the ABA National Lawyer Population Survey, 5% of lawyers in the U.S. are African American and, also, 12% of the American population is African American), and 50% female in terms of lawyers (according to the ABA National Lawyer Population Survey, 37% of lawyers in the U.S. are female).We do even better in senior management, which is really what sets us apart. Many of the leaders and senior managers at BMO and in the public finance practice come from diverse backgrounds. JoLinda Herring, an African American female bond lawyer, is the CEO/Managing Shareholder of the Firm and is one of the very few female and/or African American Managing Shareholders in the country of a firm of at least our size. Kareem Spratling, an African American male public finance attorney and shareholder, is the Managing Shareholder of the Firm's Tampa Office, and is the former chair of the Diversity Committee for NABL. Rhonda Bond-Collins, an African American female public finance attorney and shareholder, is the Managing Shareholder of the Firm's Orlando Office. Keirston Woods, an African American female public finance attorney and shareholder, is the Managing Shareholder of the Firm's Washington D.C. Office. That is minority leadership of 50% of the Firm’s 6 full-service offices. Further, BMO’s Board of Directors is 40% African American and 40% Female. In addition, in our 23 person Public Finance Group, we have 12 female attorneys, 5 African American attorneys, 1 Hispanic attorney and 1 Asian American attorney.
• The Firm has successfully implemented the Firm's equal employment opportunity program and continues to seek new opportunities to employ persons of diverse race, creed, color, national origin and sex. Even though the Firm enjoys a high degree of diversity, the Firm aspires to achieve more in the area of diversity, female and minority utilization. BMO has in the past, and is willing to do so in the future, team with co-minority counsel.
• BMO goes beyond preaching diversity; we practice diversity. Our CEO/Managing Shareholder is an African American and female. Three of our six Office Managing Shareholders are African American shareholders in public finance-a male in Tampa, a female in Orlando and a female in Washington D.C. In 2017, a female African American Associate joined our Tallahassee office and in 2018, a female African American Associate joined our Orlando office. This demonstrates that BMO takes affirmative action seriously and at a senior level to ensure equal employment opportunities for all employees and applicants for employment in accordance with applicable federal, state, and local laws. BMO complies with all applicable state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment in every location in which the company has offices. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfers, leave of absence, compensation and training.
• Further highlights include the activities of our individual lawyers, many of whom are members of minority bar associations and volunteer for other diverse organizations. For example, Ms. Herring served for many years on the Board of Directors of Florida Memorial University, South Florida’s only Historically Black College and University, eventually rising to the position of Chairperson. As another example, Mr. Spratling is an active member in the George Edgecomb Bar Association (GEBA), which has been Tampa’s largest predominately African-American Bar Association since 1982. BMO has supported GEBA’s annual scholarship banquet for nearly two decades. Mr. Spratling also served two terms as the Chair of the National Association of Bond Lawyer’s (NABL) Diversity Committee. In his role as Chair, Mr. Spratling, along with his wife, Tammy Briant Spratling, Esq., created a diversity and implicit bias seminar, a first for NABL, which continues to be presented. BMO routinely presents such training to all of its attorneys at firm-wide meetings. BMO also remains very open and attentive to opportunities to promote diversity and inclusion in the broader community. For example: 
  • BMO participates annually in the Hook and Slice Golf Tournament that raises funds for the George Edgecomb Society at Moffitt Cancer Center which was created to help promote more equitable health outcomes and the elimination of cancer health disparities among Blacks/African Americans.
  • BMO co-sponsored a film festival premier of the feature film, Before the Law Was Equal: The Desegregation of the Hillsborough County Legal Community.
  • Mrs. Spratling is the CEO of a Tampa Bay based non-profit called Community Tampa Bay, whose core mission is to "end discrimination in all of its forms."
  • BMO sponsored a November 2020 CLE program by The Florida Bar (course 4293) featuring Gilbert King, author of Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America (2012).
  • BMO, along with a number of its individual attorneys, have very recently sponsored the Florida State University College of Law’s Racial Justice Advocacy Fund.
  • Duane Draper was a founding member and BMO is a recurring sponsor of the First Tee Golf Tournament each year at Avila Golf & Country Club in Tampa to raise funds for underprivileged children and to promote diversity and inclusion through the game of golf, which event is held annually on Martin Luther King Day, so that the kids who benefit can attend and participate in the event and the junior clinic before the tournament starts.