Check out our who's moderating the 18th Annual Diversity & Leadership Conference below!
We are currently accepting suggestions for moderators! If you or someone you recommend are interested in speaking at the 18th Annual Diversity & Leadership Conference, please email Dennis Kennedy at dennis.kennedy@diversityfirst.org.
Sort A-Z by:
Dahlen
Dahlen
Camilla is the Global Vice President of Software Solution Partnerships at SAP and works with leading companies across the globe that create transformative customer solutions, building on SAP technology and integrating to SAP applications and data. She leads a global team with responsibility for growing the software partner ecosystem and ensuring it continuously innovates, thrives and creates value. She joined SAP through the acquisition of Highdeal, a startup focused on business model transformation, where she was President of the North America region. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Boston College and a bilingual International MBA from Instituto de Empresa.
Poulton
Poulton
Dr. Dionne Wright Poulton is Vice President & Chief Diversity Officer at Care New England Health System. She came to Care New England with more than 20 years of experience in diversity, equity and inclusion and having served in multiple diversity and inclusion management and educator roles for more than 10 years. She has been featured in Forbes and has presented numerous lectures and keynote speeches nationally and internationally, and is the host of the popular podcast titled, “The Dr. Dionne Show,” which focuses on diversity, inclusion and leadership in the workplace and beyond. Dionne is also author of the acclaimed book, “It’s Not Always Racist…But Sometimes It Is: Reshaping How We Think About Racism,” and she holds four professional degrees, including a bachelors of arts in kinesiology and health sciences, which she earned at Rice University in Houston, TX; a bachelors of education in social sciences and health and physical education at the University of Toronto. And she also earned her masters of arts in administration and interdisciplinary studies in education, specializing in equity and social justice in education from San Francisco State University; and In 2011, she earned her PhD in adult education at the University of Georgia where her dissertation research focused on the factors that inform teachers' expressed beliefs and reactions to incidents related to race. Dionne is originally from Toronto, Canada and is a mom of two teenaged girls.
Shim
Shim
Mayo
Mayo
Ivette Mayo is an awarding winning entrepreneur, international author and motivational business speaker. Ivette’s POWER is that she gets what is important, the bottom line – people, profits, and productivity. As the CEO of Yo Soy I AM, LLC, a professional development and consulting firm. She is known as a POWER ADVOCATE by her clients for creating POWERFUL and IMPACTFUL results. Her 27 year global career was spent working in business development, sales, marketing and training. Her focus is to incorporate cultural awareness and competencies into all her training programs to assist participants in stimulating performance and to gain more insight into themselves and others. This dynamic facilitator has worked with several Fortune 100 & 500 companies such as Shell, Direct Energy, Comcast, Nationwide, Comerica Bank, H&R Block, Nielsen, and State Farm. Her high energy style, direct approach and humor make Ivette a powerful motivational business speaker. Her message is always centered on these five key areas, leadership, confidence, change, courage and culture. These keys are certain to empower and unlock potential to lead with confidence in today’s marketplace. Most importantly, she dares her audiences to challenge limited thinking, to take bold action, to push past excuses, and move beyond complacency to be POWERFUL. From 2012 to 2016, Ivette served as a Public Diplomate for the U.S. State Department’s Office of Global Women’s Issues. In 2017, became an award winning international author by pinning her book “A 30 Day Guide to Your POWER - Powerful Outcomes through POWERFUL Words”. In June 2018, she establish POWER On Heels Fund, Inc., a 501(c)3 non-profit organization focused on the advancement of Latinas in the workplace and marketplace and minimize the impact of pay-gap inequities faced by providing unique programs, mentorship, and scholarships to accelerate their professional growth and cultivate future leaders. Most recently, Ivette was recognized by TalentLMS and made their list of "Top Female Career Coaches to Follow in 2020", and “2019 Woman Worth Watching” by the Diversity Journal, a national publication.
Felix
Felix
Solomon
Solomon
LaShaun Solomon is a marketing and business development strategist committed to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion within the media, tech, telecom industries, and her community. She has a bachelor’s degree in marketing and attained her MBA from Kennesaw State University. LaShaun has 13 years of experience successfully developing and implementing strategic initiatives that drive revenue and scalability for Fortune 50 companies and global non-profit organizations. In her current role at Comcast Advertising, LaShaun oversees employee learning & development for the Southeast Region and enterprise sales teams. LaShaun represents her department as a problem solver, innovator, and change agent that has streamlined and standardized communication workflows for her team’s internal customers and has implemented programs that contributed to an increase in employee adoption and $4 million in added annual revenue. She’s the first to hold an Executive position overseeing the creation, and deployment of all digital marketing assets for the Technology Association of Georgia, Diversity & Inclusion Society. Within her first year on the Executive Committee she grew the society’s social media presence to multiple platforms. In 2019 LaShaun became the youngest and first African American to serve as President of the Women in Cable Telecommunications (WICT) - Southeast Chapter. LaShaun is a past recipient of the WICT Global Chapter Leader of the Year award. During her Presidential term, she led one of WICT’s largest chapters supporting over 1,000 members across AL, GA, and TN with professional development programming to elevate women in the telecom and media industry. In LaShaun’s first 100 days, she implemented new initiatives to better serve the membership base and community that included Fellowship programs for members to attend the CableLabs Innovation Bootcamp; complimentary WICT memberships to college students and professionals in transition; partnerships with company employee resource groups; community outreach efforts to provide career readiness skills to underserved groups; and launched a first of its kind International mentoring program in partnership with WICT Latin America. Her management and oversight of the chapters P&L ensured the chapters best fiscal year, exceeding annual revenue 115% to budget and reducing annual expenses 11%. Under LaShaun’s leadership, WICT Southeast was awarded for operational excellence two consecutive years and for the first time in the chapters 39 years, received the Community Service Award for its outstanding commitment in giving back to the local community. Prior to joining Comcast LaShaun worked at HBO as a Sales Development Executive, where she led strategic planning and execution for telecom operators across a ten-state territory to drive distribution sales of HBO and Cinemax. LaShaun implemented innovative reward recognition programs to support her clients 3,000+ front line employees that drove HBO sales 123% above business as usual and generated over $66 million in annual revenue. Previously, LaShaun was a Marketing Coordinator at Cox Communications. She developed and executed integrated marketing programs and campaigns across the Gulf Coast and Central Florida markets focused on acquisition, loyalty, and retention. To mobilize and enhance employee’s access to industry competitor information, she launched and managed the first regional competitive intranet site and employee text message platform. To further align efforts supporting the regions competitive readiness focus, LaShaun also created and implemented the system’s first regional employee incentive program based on the gathering of competitive intelligence. LaShaun’s efforts helped the company reduce customer churn 20%.
Carty
Carty
Linnet Carty has been with the PGA of America for over four years and has over twelve years of experience working in the areas of diversity, equity and inclusion. She heads up programming for the four PGA LEAD Cohorts. The PGA LEAD two-year curriculum was structured to assist PGA Professionals who desire to ascend through the volunteer leadership ranks of the Association. Linnet has also developed the PGA LEAD curriculum, written for PGA.org, produced the ‘Beyond the Green’ event and the ‘Chambers on Course’ event during the PGA Championship and Emceed the PGA WORKS Collegiate Championship and the PGA KitchenAid Seniors Championship. She has written the ‘Inclusion Guidelines for Golf Facilities’ and implemented education training for the 29,000 PGA Professionals across the nation. Linnet also presents to other organizations including the Club Managers Association of America, the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, the Business Management Institute, the Talent Management Institute and many others. She has also developed the overwhelmingly well received ‘Pledge to Practice’ series for the PGA staff of 300 at headquarters that is a part of CEO ACTION. Prior to joining the PGA, Linnet was the Vice President of Marketing and Development for xmlElite, a PeopleSoft/Oracle based technology firm. She was directly responsible for the acquisition of new clients, negotiating contracts, analyzing opportunities for growth, strategic partnerships, promoting best practices, creating unique marketing campaigns and remaining on the cutting edge of industry trends. Linnet has also been a Television Host & Producer at NBC - WVIT Channel 30 and covered sports, civic, arts, community, entertainment and education topics. She was also the Television Host of several other local programs and a producer for MTV’s My Super Sweet 16. As the Equity and Inclusion Educator for the Connecticut State Department of Education - SERC she provided customized training and education to administrators and educators, along with initiating the video production department. This former Elementary School Teacher and Arts & Entertainment Newspaper Columnist for the Hartford Courant also wrote for the Middletown Press and the Inquiring Newspaper. Linnet was the Senior Director for the Village for Families & Children, supervising 7 Educational Centers in Hartford Public Schools. Linnet is a first-generation ‘CuMaican’ who hails from a Cuban mother and a Jamaican father. This Connecticut native is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., and was a former Language Certified International Flight Attendant with Delta Airlines. Linnet earned her B.A. from the University of Connecticut and MBA from Western New England University. She has been the Emcee for numerous events including “Paul Newman Discovery Gala’, ‘Big Climb for Leukemia’, and KitchenAid Seniors Championship. In her spare time, she enjoys writing, television roduction, traveling, the beach and multicultural cuisine. Her zest in life is in making others laugh.
Taylor
Taylor
Arciniega
Arciniega
Luzilda Carrillo Arciniega, Ph.D. is the Executive Director of the Diversity Research Institute and the Lead Strategist of the National Diversity Council Index. As the Lead Strategist of the NDC Index, Lucy translates diversity and inclusion best practices into organizational benchmarking tools. Through managing and analyzing organizational data, she helps companies define, clarify, and set goals to establish effective diversity initiatives and inclusive cultures. Since 2015, Lucy has overseen the strategic plan for Diversity Research Institute, including the development and implementation of programs and initiatives, and the marketing campaign and outreach efforts to community partners, academic institutions, and business organizations. As a researcher she has written and edited industry demographic reports, including “Leading While Diverse: The Case for Diversity in Corporate Governance across Multinational Pharma.” Lucy also works as an independent diversity consultant, using her skills as an anthropologist to bring cultural insights into the customer service experience, management leadership strategies, and employee engagement. She has experience consulting with multinational corporations, designing and delivering diversity trainings for senior managers and professional development workshops for university students. She draws insights for consulting from her six-year dissertation research on business cultures and diversity management. Lucy Carrillo received her Ph.D. and M.A. degrees in Anthropology from the University of California, Irvine. Her doctoral research received numerous awards, including the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research Grant and an honorable mention from the National Science Foundation. She is also University of California, Berkeley undergraduate alumni. Currently, she teaches courses on culture and communication at the California State University Long Beach and lives in Los Angeles. She is also editing her dissertation into a book on business expertise, diversity management, and American race relations.
Winston
Winston
Maiya Winston of Be A Possibility is a coach, consultant and mentor in Dallas, TX. With over 15 years of corporate experience, she has seen firsthand the difference that working with PURPOSE and PASSION can make on the lives and careers of employees. Maiya’s consulting areas of focus include diversity, equity and inclusion within corporate spaces, leadership development and employee engagement. She is a National Diversity Council Certified Diversity Professional (CDP), Aspen Institute Economic Opportunity Fellow and Executive Director of the newly formed DFW Collective of Black Employee Resource Groups (BERGs). Maiya earned her Bachelor of Arts in Theatre from the University of Southern California (Fight On!) and is a member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated. She is currently pursuing her Lean Six Sigma Black Belt Certification and has a lifelong love of learning.
Garcia
Garcia
Mary Garcia serves as the Director of Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging for Hagerty. In this role, she is responsible for leading the design, development and implementation of Hagerty’s diversity, inclusion and belonging (DIB) strategy and programs. This includes enhancing employees’ D&I capability and skills, internal and external communications, metrics, benchmarking, external partnerships and the development of employee resource groups with a focus of embedding DIB principles throughout the employee lifecycle. Prior to Hagerty, Mary served in roles at Hilton, General Mills, Lockheed Martin and Oracle where she helped drive strategy and execution for talent acquisition, talent management and diversity & inclusion initiatives. She is a diversity & inclusion thought leader with extensive experience consulting to business executives to build D&I strategies focused on change management, cultural development and transformation and business growth initiatives. Mary earned both her Master of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees from Texas Woman’s University, where she majored in Political Science and Sociology. Additionally, she served as an adjunct faculty member at the University of North Texas and Texas Woman’s University.
Johnson
Johnson
Miracle Johnson is a Sr. Resource Manager at Microsoft. She is responsible to lead key projects and initiatives targeted towards evolving Resource strategy, planning, governance for Modern Work (MW) and Modern Life Gaming and Customer Service (MLGCS) SBUs. Miracle is an innovative professional with 9 years of experience with a strong background in consulting, managing strategic projects and initiatives. While in her Consulting role, she designed, developed and delivered custom workshops for people managers and C-suite level executives. She has numerous certifications, and licenses including Pearson Personality Integrator, Crucial Conversations, Series 6 Securities and Lean Six Sigma. A passionate professional, she has focused her career on leadership roles, building mutually beneficial business relationships with clients and the development of different models and planning processes. Miracle is a graduate of Louisiana State University. She holds a Bachelor of arts degree in Mass Communication with a concentration in Public Relations; a Bachelor of Science degree in Sports Administration with a concentration in Sport Commerce as well as minors in Psychology and Business Administration. She is also a graduate of the LSU E.J. Ourso College of Business Flores MBA Program with a Master of Business Administration.
White
White
Dr. Nika White is a national authority and fearless advocate for diversity, equity and inclusion. As an award-winning management and leadership consultant, keynote speaker, published author, and executive practitioner for DEI efforts across business, government, non-profit and education, Dr. White helps organizations break barriers and integrate diversity into their business frameworks. Her work has led to designation by Forbes as a Top10 D&I Trailblazer.
Fann
Fann
Pamela Fann serves as the Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance’s Director of Membership and Diversity Integration. She became curious about diversity at a very young age, as her family was the first black family to integrate the small town of Owasso, Oklahoma. Having endured some overt discriminations and racist rants growing up, she experienced the ultimate act of racism in April of 1988 her family home was burned down by a white supremacist group. Struggling for understanding, she became resolved in understanding that the act of one did reflect upon an entire race. Unknowingly, those formative years have guided her experience and messaging on diversity that would be reflected throughout her life and career. Pam has a degree in Marketing, a certification in Human Resource Management, and is a Certified Cultural Diversity Professional and Trainer (CDP, CDT). She also holds a certification in Understanding Diversity and Inclusion from Perdue University. Pam served on a diversity board for more than 7 years with The Coca-Cola Company and served on the Advisory Board of Georgia Tech Women’s Entrepreneurship Program, supporting women entrepreneurs in the African diaspora.
Uppal Sinha
Uppal Sinha
Pranika Uppal Sinha leads Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) at Greystone. In this role, she is responsible for introducing new DEI initiatives, including education, resources, and programming, across the entire firm as well as integrating DEI to ensure Greystone’s diversity and inclusion efforts are sustainable and progressing forward. Pranika also oversees organizational development at Greystone as well devising training, leadership programs, and creating impactful content for employees and leaders at all levels. Pranika previously worked at Occidental in Houston, Texas, where she spent nine years in various senior talent, training, and development roles, most recently as Senior Manager, Talent Development & Inclusion. While there, she led global leadership development programs, workshops, culture, and strategic diversity efforts. Prior to Occidental, Pranika held talent development, training, and diversity-focused roles at Memorial Hermann Healthcare System in Houston and 21st Century Consulting, Inc. in Chicago, IL. Pranika earned a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Engineering at Northwestern University and an MBA at Rice University and is also a graduate of Leadership Houston – Class XXXIV. She has been involved with the Texas & National Diversity Councils and the Diversity Summit in Houston for a number of years and also lectures about DEI at the Rice University, Jones School of Business. Pranika is based in Houston, TX where she resides with her husband and two daughters.
Currence
Currence
Dr. Currence has 15+ years of experience in building successful DEI recruitment, talent development and career transition programs from the ground up. She has assisted 1000s of diverse students gain admission and graduate from top-tier higher education institutions. She is a DEI educator of anti-racism, health equity, and social justice leadership, and Intergroup dialogues pedagogy. She has served as instructional designer, chief student diversity officer, executive leader, academic director for nonprofit management programs as well as workforce development strategist. Her deep bench knowledge of system-thinking approaches, innovation dynamics and business optimization allows her to develop customized strategies that help organizations and individuals accelerate the achievement of their goals. Dr. Currence is an experienced executive and career coach who helps her clients capitalize on their strengths to advance their careers. She is the lead author of the Association of American Medical College’s (AAMC) Holistic Participant Affairs Model, which aims to extend to holistic admissions approaches beyond admissions and into the way the participant affairs areas work in concert to support participants. Dr. Currence is currently the Founding Partner/Lead Consultant of Currence Solutions, LLC a business solution consulting firm; Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences and Director of Curriculum & Education at Rush Medical College at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago IL. . Dr. Currence has a doctorate in social justice, innovation, and large-scale change management practice from the University of Southern California and masters of social work in community organization and community and social systems from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.
Harris
Harris
Stewart
Stewart
Renee comes with over 15 years’ experience in human resources. She currently works as Assistant Vice President, Human Resources for Yang Ming America Corporation and is the CEO/Owner of Renewed Home Solutions LLC, a real estate investment company. Renee currently serves on the board of Archway Schools, Student Guidance Group and as Vice President for the Gulf Coast Diversity Council. She holds certifications as a Human Capital Strategist, Senior Human Resources Business Partner and in Relationship Intelligence. Renee graduated from the University of Phoenix with a Bachelor of Science with an emphasis on Business Management. She enjoys volunteering with organizations focused on the development of future leaders.
Bowlus
Bowlus
Ms. Bowlus is an Attorney with Rose Bowlus Law in San Diego, CA specializing in Commodities, Securities and Financial Services. Previous to establishing her own law firm, Ms. Bowlus was in-house counsel for several of the nation’s largest financial institutions and energy companies, most recently serving as Acting General Counsel for Calpine Energy Solutions. For the past 20 years, she has advised C-suite clients on legal matters ranging from evolving federal and state rules and regulations to negotiating complex transactions, forming new ventures and capital raising. Ms. Bowlus has spoken at various industry events on substantive legal and ethics issues. She has also served in various leadership roles within organizations that promote diversity and gender equality. Most recently, Ms. Bowlus served as co-Chair of the San Diego Lawyers Club’s Leadership Development Committee and on San Diego executive and steering committees for SunLaw, 50/50 Women on Boards, and Women of Renewable Industries and Sustainable Energy (WRISE). Ms. Bowlus enjoys dedicating her free time mentoring female- and minority- owned startups and entrepreneurs participating with well known San Diego incubators and accelerators.
Durazo
Durazo
Sandra current role is Manufacturing Solutions Integration Manager for Chandler Assembly Test Development where her team collaborates with package developers for product manufacturability. Sandra has been at Intel for 21 years. Sandra holds a BS in chemical Engineering from the University of Puerto Rico and an MS in Chemical engineering from ASU. Sandra believes in giving back through mentoring and advocacy. She is passionate about diversity and inclusion. She is currently doing a temporary assignment as program manager for Intel’s inclusive language in engineer steering team.
Woubshet
Woubshet
Seble Woubshet is a IDN Manager for Cardinal Health. Previously she was a Territory Sales Executive for Cardinal Health in the laboratory division supporting large hospital systems and multi-million dollar accounts. Seble also serves as a Diversity and Inclusion Ambassador, Mentor, and Laboratory President’s Advisory Council for Cardinal Health. Seble is very passionate in increasing awareness and educating colleagues that will build diversity to help move Cardinal Health culture to the next level as an inclusive, global organization. With over 20 years of laboratory and medical sales experience, Seble has achieved numerous awards including Houston Urban League 1 st Business Grant Recipient, Houston Black Chamber of Commerce Pinnacle Award Finalist, Salesperson of the Year, and Presidents Club. Seble attains a bachelor’s degree in Biology from the University of Houston and pursing an MBA in healthcare administration. As a parent, Seble’s daughter Sarai has achieved successes as the 1 st Houston Mrs. Lil Juneteenth, H.S. Homecoming Queen, National Honor Society, and Executive H.S Student Council. Sarai is attending Texas A&M University studying political science and plans to pursue a law degree.
Svarc
Svarc
Slavka M. Svarc serves as an Independent O&G COO / Advisor for GLG Group and a council member at C-Suite Network. She is a trusted thought leader, partner and advisor among the industry leaders who strive for continuous operational excellence while supporting one another to better fulfill our purpose. Ms. Svarc is a recognized operation expert by identifying the operational opportunities through process improvements and people alignment within volatile markets on the road to revenue growth, reinvigorated in-house cultures and sustainable operations with long-term value creation. Her career spans across the business value chain in energy, utilities, healthcare, retail and travel industries. She held multiple technical and global leadership roles within the energy sector. During this time, Ms. Svarc applied her business acumen to improve operations efficiency and effectiveness through processes and people alignment domestically and internationally. Ms. Svarc is a lifelong learner striving for professional and personal growth/excellence. She holds a Master of Science degree in addition to expanding her business acumen by recently graduating from the Joseph Business School as a valedictorian from the Entrepreneurship program. Ms. Svarc is expanding her public and private Board Director knowledge through NACD and Private Directors Association. She is a self-proclaimed foodie and chocoholic who enjoys traveling and winter activities, namely snow skiing, snow tubing and walks in the fresh air.
Sorry, no results found. Please try your search again.