NEW YORK: Citi Group said on Friday that it hired Erika Irish Brown from rival Goldman Sachs Group Inc to lead its global diversity strategy, according to an announcement on the bank's website.

Brown joins Citi as its chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer from Goldman Sachs, where she had led that bank's diversity and inclusion efforts since mid-2018. Brown previously worked at Bloomberg in the same role.

Goldman named Megan Hogan to replace Brown, according to a memo sent to staff and seen by Reuters.

The role of chief diversity officer has taken on renewed prominence as corporations work to address inequality and systemic racism roughly one year after George Floyd's death in Minnesota.

Wall Street banks have taken steps to increase recruitment, hiring and retention of diverse employees in recent years, but diverse and female employees still comprise a small percentage of the workforce.

Under Brown, Goldman set a goal that 11% of all new analysts and entry-level associates hired in the United States and 9% hired in the U.K. be Black professionals, for 14% to be Latino professionals and half to be women.

And last summer, Goldman's investment bank formed the Council for Advancement of Racial Equity to increase recruitment, hiring and career development for Black professionals.

Hogan, who joined Goldman in 2014, also played a key role in the development and implementation of some of those initiatives and others, according to a memo sent by Goldman's head of human resources Bentley de Beyer on Friday announcing her hire.

Hogan will continue in her job as chief operating officer of Goldman's internal Global Inclusion and Diversity Committee, de Beyer wrote.