Inclusion is the paradigm shift in a culture that embraces the welcomed invitation, engagement, and connectivity of individuals, organizations, and communities to an environment that allows for the most effective leveraging and use of diversity within its boundaries and encourages globally filtered best practices that drive economic bottom line impact.
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Speakers Biographies
Freada Kapor Klein, Ph.D, (Morning Keynote)
Founder and Board Chair, Level Playing Field Institute
Freada Kapor Klein is a pioneer in the field of organizational development, human resources, and diversity consulting, as co-founder of the first organization in the US to offer comprehensive services, training, and consultation about sexual harassment to both the private and public sectors in 1976.
Klein founded her own consulting firm, Klein Associates, in 1987. The boutique firm specializes in employee surveys, training, and consulting on all forms of bias, harassment, and discrimination in the workplace. Klein’s consulting and training client base includes (among others) top tier international law firms, Wall Street financial services firms, and Silicon Valley start-ups.
Klein currently devotes the majority of her time to work in the non-profit world. In 2001 she founded the Level Playing Field Institute, which promotes innovative approaches to fairness in higher education and workplaces by removing barriers to full participation. In addition to studying and mitigating bias in the workplace, the Institute operates two academic programs: The Summer Math and Science Honors (SMASH) Academy, a residential program for high school students of color; and the Initiative for Diversity in Education and Leadership (IDEAL), a four-year scholarship for students of color at the University of California at Berkeley.
Klein is a board member of the University of California Berkeley Foundation and of California ALL, a collaborative partnership among business, education, government, and the professions to ensure a pipeline of individuals prepared to successfully lead California's economic and political future. She is also a trustee of the Mitchell Kapor Foundation, a private foundation with the mission to ensure fairness and equity, especially in low-income communities of color.
Klein is the author of Giving Notice: Why the Best and the Brightest Leave the Workplace and How You Can Help Them Stay (Jossey-Bass, October 2007). Giving Notice combines groundbreaking quantitative research on who leaves corporate America and why; along with stories of the day-to-day experiences of professionals and managers; and accessible solutions to the problems of hidden bias, hidden barriers, and the unwanted turnover that they trigger.
In addition to her ongoing consulting work and her involvement with Level Playing Field Institute, Klein has been has been interviewed for numerous publications, including: Business Week, the Chicago Tribune, Forbes, Fortune, the Harvard Business Review, the Los Angeles Times, the National Law Journal, Newsweek, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post. Television appearances include: "The Today Show," "NBC Nightly News" with Tom Brokaw, "Prime Time Live," "Nightline," "The MacNeil-Lehrer Newshour," "20/20," "CBS This Morning," and "Good Morning, America."
Andres Tapia, (Luncheon Keynote)
Chief Diversity Officer/Emerging Workforce Solutions Leader,
Hewitt Associates
Andrés Tapia is Hewitt’s Chief Diversity Officer and Emerging Workforce Solutions Leader, responsible for leading the company’s internal and external diversity vision and strategies.
Andrés is a published writer and prominent speaker. He is the author of The Inclusion Paradox: The Obama Era and the Transformation of Global Diversity (2009).
As a journalist, he covered social trends in the U.S. and Latin America via articles appearing in publications such as the Baltimore Sun, the Chicago Tribune, the San Francisco Chronicle, VOCÊ (Brazil), Benefits Quarterly, and Hemispheres magazine. He has been interviewed by major media outlets such as the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Business Week, CNN en Español, and FORTUNE magazine in the U.S., La Nación and El Clarín in Argentina, El Mercurio in Chile, VOCÊ, Valor, and Revista Amanhã in Brazil, and HR industry publications such as HR Magazine, Benefit News, and Benefits Canada Magazine.
His experiences in the U.S., Canada, the UK, Spain, India, Kenya, and throughout Latin America and his native Perú have equipped him with a true global perspective. By working with Hewitt, and with dozens of its FORTUNE 500 multinational clients, as well as with public schools, arts organizations, and law enforcement agencies, Andrés knows how to generate a diverse, high performing workforce across industries. He has also developed actionable insights into how varying worldviews can impact health, wealth, learning, safety, and workplace performance.
Andrés’ innovative approaches in fostering inclusive work environments include shifting paradigms based on tolerance and sensitivity to cross-cultural competence and from programmatic diversity to sustainable diversity. Andrés has created several groundbreaking and high-impact diversity learning and multicultural marketing programs and was the catalyst for a groundbreaking Hewitt/Ariel study on retirement savings that found that race/ethnicity is a greater determinant of differences in savings behaviors than income. He is also one of the founders of Hewitt’s Latino and Hispanic employee network group.
Andrés has received the following recognitions: Hewitt Exemplary Leader Award (2005), Chicago United’s Business Leader of Color Award (2007), CDO Exemplary List published by Diversity Best Practices in FORTUNE magazine (2006), Hispanic Alliance for Career Enhancement Éxito Award (2008), the Corporate Diversity Program and Diversity Ad Campaign of the Year granted by the Minorities in Advertising Foundation (2006).He is a Leadership Greater Chicago Fellow (Class of 2008). He is also on the Board of Luna Negra Dance Theatre.
Prior to this role, Andrés worked as a performance and knowledge management leader for several of Hewitt’s lines of business. Andrés has worked at CSC and Andersen Consulting (now Accenture) doing performance consulting, instructional design, and technical writing. He holds a B.A. in History with an emphasis in journalism and political science from Northwestern University.
Mayor, Stephanie A. Miner
City of Syracuse
Stephanie A. Miner is the 53rd Mayor of the City of Syracuse. Born on April 30, 1970, she became involved in politics at an early age, stuffing envelopes for local candidates at her Grandmother Cooney’s kitchen table in the Eastwood neighborhood.
She attended Syracuse University, graduating Magna Cum Laude with a B.A. in Political Science and Journalism in 1992. After college, she worked as the Assistant Upstate Coordinator for Geraldine Ferraro for U.S. Senate and then served as Central New York Regional Representative to Gov. Mario Cuomo in 1994.
In 1999, Miner earned her J.D. from SUNY Buffalo and began working at Blitman & King, LLP as a labor lawyer, representing unions and employees.
Already deeply involved in politics, Mayor Miner became a Syracuse Common Councilor-at-Large in 2002 after winning city-wide election in 2001 when she was 31 years old. Re-elected to the Council in 2005, Mayor Miner received the most votes of any candidate on the ballot, including the incumbent Mayor. As a Councilor, she championed and helped pass legislation that gave $1 million in initial funding to Say Yes to Education, a program that provides necessary support services for Syracuse City School District students and promises free or reduced tuition to students who graduate from City high schools.
During her tenure on the Council, Mayor Miner established a reputation as a principled leader who asks tough questions. This led the Syracuse Post-Standard to endorse Mayor Miner’s 2009 candidacy for Mayor, calling her “principled,” “intelligent,” “energetic,” and a “passionate advocate.”
Mayor Miner was elected on November 3, 2009 in a three-way race, receiving 50.1% of the vote. She became the first woman elected Mayor of any of the “Big 5” cities in New York State.
Dr. Nancy Cantor
Chancellor and President, Syracuse University
As the eleventh Chancellor and President of Syracuse University, Nancy Cantor is helping forge a new understanding of the role of universities in society as SU pursues its vision, Scholarship in Action. This entails a view of the university not as a traditional "ivory tower," but as a public good, an anchor institution that collaborates with partners from all sectors of the economy to more effectively serve the needs of society.
Under Chancellor Cantor's leadership, Syracuse University is building on its historical strengths, pursuing cross-sector collaborations in the City of Syracuse that simultaneously enrich scholarship and education, and change the face of this older industrial city. Meanwhile, these local engagements in key areas—such as environmental sustainability; art, technology, and design; and urban school reform—resonate nationally and globally and demonstrate the inter-connectedness of the pressing issues of our world.
The breadth, depth, and success of these efforts earned SU the distinction of being among the first institutions to earn the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching's classification as a university committed to Community Engagement. They also earned Chancellor Cantor the 2008 Carnegie Corporation Academic Leadership Award.
An author of numerous books, chapters, and scientific journal articles, Chancellor Cantor holds an A.B. from Sarah Lawrence College and a Ph.D. in Psychology from Stanford University. She is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, and a member of the National Academies Roundtable on Science and Technology for Sustainability. She also has received the Distinguished Scientific Award for an Early Career Contribution to Psychology from the American Psychological Association, the Woman of Achievement Award from the Anti-Defamation League, the Making a Difference for Women Award from the National Council for Research on Women, and the Frank W. Hale, Jr. Diversity Leadership Award from the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education.
Chancellor Cantor is the past chair of the board of directors of the American Association for Higher Education and former chair of the board of the American Council on Education. She serves on the board of the American Institutes for Research and the advisory board of Future of Minority Studies, the Board of the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities, the Board of Governors for the New York Academy of Sciences, the Paul Taylor Dance Foundation Board of Directors, and is an Honorary Trustee of the American Psychological Foundation. Chancellor Cantor is also national co—chair of Imagining America's Tenure Team Initiative.
Chancellor Cantor is married to Steven R. Brechin, an environmental sociologist who holds a dual faculty appointment at Syracuse University in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and the College of Arts and Sciences. They have two children, Maddy and Archie.
Meera Adya, J.D., Ph.D.
Director of Research
Meera Adya, J.D., Ph.D., is Director of Research at BBI and affiliated faculty with the Psychology Department at SU. Her interdisciplinary research focuses on identifying and remediating social problems through empirical exploration of social issues and efficacious remedies, fitting within an existing legal framework.
Dr. Adya earned her law degree and doctorate in social psychology from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, which is among the foremost interdisciplinary programs. She used the literature of disability discrimination in employment to lay the foundation for a new direction in employment and disability discrimination research. Her dissertation findings suggest potential for discrimination based on perceived disability due to a positive family history or a positive genetic test for a disorder.
Dr. Adya has extensive experience with funded research and has developed multiple research projects, including an experimental field study of employer attitudes. She is well-qualified to oversee multiple areas of staff coordination, research design, data collection, data analysis, and research result writings. Dr. Adya is a board member for Onondaga Community Living, an organization committed to the support of persons with disabilities.
Christian Baldia
Co-Founder, World Diversity Leadership Summit
Christian Baldia specializes in Organizational Network Analysis, collaboration, employee engagement and management strategy. He is also a co-founder/co-organizer of the World Diversity Leadership Summit and teaches undergraduate courses on business strategy and business ethics at Medgar Evers College (City University of New York).
Prior to Virtcom, Christian Baldia served at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York as a Senior Financial/Economic Analyst in the Policy and Analysis division of the Bank Supervision Group. Immediately before that, Christian worked as an investment banker in mergers and acquisitions at Butler, Chapman & Co. and in municipal finance at PaineWebber (now part of UBS). Christian also served for four years in the Clinton Administration as a Senior Policy Analyst at the U.S. Department of the Treasury and as a staff member for the White House in the Office of Presidential Personnel. He is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh’s University Honors College and earned a masters degree from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.
Mike Davis
Co-Founder, Global i365
Mr. Davis spent 17 years consulting and working in-house in the areas of diversity and inclusion, change management and organization development. He began his career as part of the global diversity and change management practices at Towers Perrin and continued as one of the founding members of The FutureWork Institute. Mr. Davis has also designed and implemented comprehensive and strategic diversity and inclusion initiatives in-house at several global organizations.
Mr. Davis has worked on engagements in the U.S., Latin America, Europe and Asia designing corporate diversity strategy (particularly strategies that integrate diversity into talent management and organization development strategies), conducting organization assessments, designing and delivering a myriad of diversity education sessions, developing and launching diversity councils and affinity groups, coaching executives and much more.
Mr. Davis has authored articles on various diversity and inclusion issues in publications like Profiles In Diversity Journal. He is a member of the Association of Law Firm Diversity Professionals, SHRM and The Conference Board and actively supports many diversity related organizations like The National Association of Women Lawyers, Corporate Council Women of Color, PALS, Students for Educational Opportunity, The Anti-Defamation League’s A World of Difference Institute, The National Black Law Students Association, The National Hispanic Law Students Association and the National Asian Pacific Islander Association. He also serves on several Boards including the Executive Board of the Tri-State Diversity & Inclusion Council and Georgetown University’s Chief Diversity Officer’s Advisory Board helping to guide the development of the nation’s first full Masters concentration in diversity & inclusion management.
Some of the companies Mr. Davis has worked with include JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Sodexho, Starbucks, Tyco International, Time Warner, DLA Piper LLP, Skadden Arps LLP, Boehringer-Ingelheim, Genentech, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Johnson & Johnson and American Express. Mike is also asked to speak at diversity & inclusion related conferences and in-house events. Some recent presentations were given at The World Diversity Leadership Summit in NYC, the “Diversity Pays” conference in Madrid, The Global Women’s Leadership Forum in London, the launch of The Black European Women’s Council (BEWC) in Brussels and the recent celebration of International Women’s Day at the United Nations.
Mike, as he prefers to be called, developed his passion for diversity at an early age in his life, which derived from his experiences in growing up in and eventually starting his own multicultural family. Mr. Davis received a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial and Labor Relations from Le Moyne College and a Masters degree in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from New York University.
Phil Harlow
Chief Diversity Officer & Director Business Ethics and Labor Relations, Xerox Corporation
Phil Harlow is Xerox Corporation’s Chief Diversity Officer & Director of Business Ethics and Labor Relations. He is responsible for directing and managing the company’s global diversity strategies, union management relations and ethics and compliance initiatives.
He was previously Vice President, Human Resources for Xerox’s Office Document Products Group. In addition to his combined thirty years with Xerox, Phil also served as a Vice President of Human Resources at Merck & Co. in New Jersey and Bausch & Lomb in Rochester, NY.
Phil is a graduate of Bishop Ludden High School and a 1973 graduate of Le Moyne College and attended the Harvard Executive Business Program in 1999. He is an inductee in the Le Moyne College and Greater Syracuse Sports Hall of Fame in recognition of his various accomplishments as an All American basketball player.
Phil has served as a board member for various civic, educational and faith-based organizations including Le Moyne College, Sidney Hillman Health Center of Rochester and the Rochester City School District (Community Employment Advisory Committee). Phil was ordained as a Pastor in 2006 and is co-founder of Bridge Builders Ministries in Rochester, NY.
Deborah L. Greene, M.A.
Senior Program Development Associate
Deborah L. Greene is one of two project coordinators assisting with the implementation of the “NY Makes Work Pay” Medicaid Infrastructure Grant. She is part of the BBI-Cornell team responsible for the development and execution of the project work plan, and coordinates upstate New York project activities..
Prior to joining BBI, Ms. Greene worked as an independent management consultant, and in New York state government, specializing in the translation of research, legislation and policy into practical application. As Deputy Director of the New York State Human Investment Subcabinet in Governor Cuomo’s administration, Ms. Greene managed the day-to-day operations of a 16-agency subcabinet charged with reengineering state and local workforce development systems and services.
She played a leadership role in the design, adoption and implementation of cross-systems workforce planning and service delivery initiatives, including the one-stop/no-wrong-door and GATEWAY systems. Subsequently, as a consultant, she offered technical assistance, facilitation and coaching services to organizations and communities across New York State, in building collaborative and innovative approaches to service delivery in the areas of workforce development, juvenile justice, child welfare, mental health and education.
Ms. Greene holds a Master of Arts degree from SUNY Albany’s School of Criminal Justice. A long-time Albany resident, Ms. Greene has recently relocated to New York’s Finger Lakes region.
Christopher J. Harrigan
Partner, Hiscock & Barclay, LLP
Mr. Harrigan is a Partner in the Firm's Syracuse Office who focuses his practice on representing employers in labor and employment matters. Mr. Harrigan has substantial experience litigating in federal and state courts and regularly represents clients in administrative proceedings with federal and state agencies, including the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the New York State Division of Human Rights, the United States and New York State Departments of Labor, and the National Labor Relations Board.
He has extensive experience counseling clients and litigating claims regarding workplace discrimination, executive employment agreements, wage and hour violations, employee theft, severance agreements, and the preparation and enforcement of restrictive covenants/non-competition agreements.
In addition to his labor and employment practice, Mr. Harrigan also represents municipalities and private businesses in disputes with Native American Indian Tribes, including land claim litigation in federal courts, land use litigation, Indian gaming issues, and the opposition of Indian Tribes’ land-to-trust applications before the U.S. Department of the Interior. Mr. Harrigan is also an active member of the Firm’s Sports & Entertainment Law Practice Area, and represents institutions of higher education, charter schools and public school districts on Education Law matters.
Dr. Edward E. Hubbard
President/CEO, Hubbard & Hubbard, Inc
Hubbard & Hubbard is a Petaluma, CA based international organization and human performance-consulting corporation that specializes in techniques for applied business performance improvement, workforce diversity measurement, instructional design and organizational development. He is the author of more than 40 books including: "Measuring Diversity Results", "How to Calculate Diversity Return-on-Investment”, “Hidden Side of Employee Resistance to Change”, “Internal Customer Care”, “How to Start Your Business with Empty Pockets”, “Managing Your Business for Profitable Results”, “Pathways to Diversity Metrics for Corporate Legal and Law Firms”, “ServiceWorks”, “The Diversity Scorecard”, “Implementing Diversity Measurement and Management”, The Diversity Discipline, and the “Manager’s Pocket Guide to Diversity Management”.
Dr. Hubbard is an expert in Organizational Behavior, Organizational Analysis, Applied Performance Improvement and Measurement Strategies, Strategic Planning, Diversity ROI Measurement, and Organizational Change Methodologies. Dr. Hubbard is one of the first metrics authors in the field of diversity. As a result of his extensive research in the area of diversity measurement and expertise in computer programming, he is one of the first to develop automated software technologies for measuring diversity return-on-investment and performance improvements. He has performed client work in organizational change and diverse workforce integration for private Fortune 500 companies, the U.S. Government, and corporate clients in the Far East, the Netherlands, other parts of Europe, Hawaii, Samoa, and locations throughout the Pacific Rim and the Federated States of Micronesia.
Dr. Hubbard is an internationally known and respected business consultant, trainer, former professor and Director at Ohio State University, a business professional at several Fortune 100 corporations, such as Computer Systems Analyst, Xerox Corporation and the Informatics Corporation, Computer Room Operations Manager, Battelle Memorial Institute, Internal Consultant and Education Specialist, Mead Corporation, and Corporate Director, Training, Organization Development and Compensation for the 17 billion dollar McKesson Corporation.
Articles by Dr. Hubbard have appeared in magazines and newspapers such as Inc. Magazine, Fortune, Forbes, Cultural Diversity at Work, Next Step Magazine, American Society for Training and Development Journal, Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) HR Magazine, Sonoma Business Magazine, Organization Development Network Journal, The Cleveland Plain Dealer, Strategic Diversity & Inclusion Management (SDIM) magazine (where he serves as a Board Member), The Diversity Factor Magazine, DiversityInc., and many others. He has also been featured in several business films and management development videos, on radio programs, and is a regularly featured speaker, and keynote for national and international conferences, tele-conferences, seminars, and workshops. Dr. Hubbard holds a Practitioner Certification and Master Practitioner Certification in Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP) and earned Bachelors and Masters Degrees from Ohio State University and earned a Ph.D. with Honors in Business Administration.
Sherazade Langlade
Managing Director, Upwardly Global
Sherazade brings to Upwardly Global experience in program management, corporate partnerships, training and organizational development. In her previous roles as Manager of the Nonprofit Leadership Development Institute at the United Way of New York City and as Director of Volunteer Programs for Habitat for Humanity, she created new programs focused on creating community value, individual impact and engaging the corporate and academic sector to partner in solving society's challenges.
Ms. Langlade is a skilled trainer and has developed and conducted training for various institutions including JPMorgan Chase, Boston Experience Corps, Harvard Graduate School of Education and Community Service Society, NYC. Sherazade received a Master of Public Administration from Baruch College and a Bachelor's Degree in Government and Politics, Cum Laude from St. Johns University. She was a National Urban Fellow, Class of 2005. Sherazade was born in Paris, France to parents of French and Algerian heritage. She moved to the United States in 1984. Sherazade's native language is French.
Patrick A. Mannion
Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer
Unity Mutual Life Insurance Company
Since January 1998, Mr. Mannion has been the President and Chief Executive Officer of Unity Mutual Life Insurance Company, Syracuse’s oldest life insurance Company, with $250 million in assets. Appointed Chairman in May of 2008, he oversees Unity as it provides insurance protection across the country through the parent and a number of affiliated financial services companies.
Prior to assuming his current duties as President and CEO, Mr. Mannion was the Executive Vice President and Senior Vice President since 1991. Prior to that, Mr. Mannion was a partner in various real estate ventures and held various administrative positions with the General Electric Company and Syracuse City School District.
Mr. Mannion has an MBA from Syracuse University and a BA from the University of Notre Dame, is an FLMI (Fellow Life Insurance Management Institute) and an ACS (Associate Customer Service). He has received numerous awards from various groups including the ACLI Forum 500 Distinguished Service Award, Syracuse University’s Whitman School of Management Dean’s Citation, Fayetteville Fire Department (2007 Chief’s Award and Top Responder Award), Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce (Distinguished Citizen Award), and The Syracuse Teacher’s Association Professional Partnership Award. He has also been recognized by the International Fire Fighters Association, Vietnam Veterans of America, Syracuse Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors, and Catholic Charities.
Mr. Mannion is on the boards of many industry and not-for-profit organizations. He serves on the American Council of Life Insurers Board of Directors, Forum 500 Board of Directors (past Chair), ACLI Services, Inc., Excellus Health Plan, Inc., The Life Insurance Council of New York Board of Directors (Past Chair), the Greater Syracuse Chamber of Commerce (2007-2008 Board Chair) and the Onondaga Environmental Institute board. He is a Trustee of Immaculate Conception Church in Fayetteville, New York. In addition, he is an active member of the Fayetteville Fire Department where he is an interior firefighter and Emergency Medical Technician. He is the Board Chair of the Fayetteville Firemen’s Association.
Mr. Mannion is married to the former Gwyn K. Heine, and have six wonderful children scattered throughout at least two continents (Brenna, John, Brigid, Wali, Kristin and Michael).
Christopher W. Mozina
Managing Director/Global Corporate Trust Operations Manager
Financial Markets and Treasury Services,
Bank of New York Mellon
As Manager of Global Corporate Trust Operations, Chris Mozina is responsible for more than 1,100 employees at a number of global locations, including NYC, Syracuse, Dallas, Los Angeles, Mexico City, London, Poole, Brussels, & Luxembourg. He serves on the Fedwire Liquidity and DTCC Liquidity Steering Committees.
A member of BNY Mellon’s Operating Committee and Diversity Council, he has been with legacy BNY since 1993 and previously held positions in Broker Dealer Services and Custody Operations.
Before joining BNY he worked for five years as a senior systems engineer at General Electric, after serving five years as a Field Artillery Officer in the US Army. Chris holds a B.S. from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, an M.S. in Industrial Engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute, and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School.
Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with nine siblings, he currently serves on the Board of the Greater Syracuse Chamber of Commerce, the Metropolitan Development Association of Central NY, and the Consortium for Children’s Services.
Laurence B. Oppenheimer
Partner and Chair, Labor & Employment Practice,
Hiscock & Barclay, LLP
Mr. Oppenheimer chairs the firm’s Labor & Employment Practice Group. He has over 20 years of experience in this field and has effectively represented employers in union elections, defended unfair labor practice charges, and negotiated union contracts.
He has defended clients successfully against age discrimination, race discrimination and sexual harassment claims as well as claims involving employment class actions, severance benefits, Executive Order 11246 and the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act.
Mr. Oppenheimer has successfully prosecuted claims involving breaches of non-competition and non-solicitation agreements, trade secrets, and other commercial torts. He has also counseled clients in employment practice audits, OSHA/safety compliance audits and he regularly conducts management training.
Karol Rose
Chief Knowledge Officer, FlexPaths
Karol Rose has worked at the forefront of the work-life effectiveness field for over 25 years. She is the author of five books, including Work-Life Strategies: Bottom Line Strategies for Today’s Workforce (WorldatWork, 2006) and was the contributing editor for the FORTUNE magazine’s annual work-life and human capital special features.
As a consultant Karol developed flexible work practices and designed educational experiences for HR and senior management to support the business goals of many Fortune 500 companies. She led the work-life practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers and Time Warner Inc., and has been at the forefront of the creation of many ‘firsts’ in the work-life field, including developing one of the first on-site back up child care centers in the country.
Karol is a former member of the Board of Directors of AWLP, the Conference Board Work-Life Leadership Council, and member and 2002 Chapter President of The International Women’s Forum. She is a frequent speaker at major conferences and is often quoted in national publications and business journals.
Karol is a partner and Chief Knowledge Officer of FlexPaths, a women-owned business that is the leading provider of web-based flexibility software and solutions that help companies like P&G, Cardinal Health, John Deere, and American Express initiate, enhance and advance flexible work practices to reduce costs and attract and engage diverse talent.
Neddy Perez
Vice President Inclusion & Diversity, National Grid
Nereida (Neddy) Perez has more than 18+ years of experience in the areas of Human Resources, Diversity and External Relationship Management. She joined National Grid as Vice President of Inclusion and Diversity in late November 2008.
Aside from her contributions in advancing the Diversity profession, she is a community minded leader who has served on the advisory boards including the Center for Accounting Excellence at Howard University, the National Hispania Leadership Institute, the Houston Technology Center, Gifts InKind International, Inc., the Asia Society, and the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities and many others. She is a strong believer in giving back to the community and views community involvement as an avenue for leadership development.
She holds a Bachelors Degree in Public Relations from the University of Florida and a Masters Degree in HR Management and International Business from Nova Southeastern University.
Dr. Emad Rahim
Principal Consultant, Global i365
Dr. Rahim is an Assistant Professor at Morrisville State College and Program Director of Venture Connect. He earned a Doctorate of Management in Organizational Development from the Institute for Advance Studies and two graduate degrees in Project Management and Business Management from Colorado Technical University, Colorado Springs. He is an alumnus of the Greater Leadership of Syracuse program (LGS), The Experiential Classroom XI at Oklahoma State University’s, Cornell University’s Executive Leadership Series, Syracuse University’s Entrepreneurship Boot Camp, Kauffman Foundation’s FASTRAC program (Certified Facilitator) and the Gamaliel Foundation’s Community Advance Leadership program (President Barack Obama, alum).
Dr. Rahim’s diverse cultural background was made into a play, written and directed by Tony Award Nominee and USA Playwrights Award Recipient, Ping Chong. The Syracuse Stage Theatre production titled “Tales From The Salt City” shared the migration stories of seven local residents living in Syracuse NY. The show received outstanding reviews and was witnessed by thousands of people. During and after the production of the show, he accepted speaking engagements at high schools, universities, community organizations, conferences, residencies and business functions to discuss diversity, immigration and cultural awareness. His work on inclusion and diversity management led him to work with the Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace where he served as Associate Editor for the Cambodian Journal of Internal Affairs (2008-2009) and as a Research Fellows, Associate Editor for The International Journal of Diversity in Organizations (2008 & 2010) and as an e-Mentor for the Syracuse University’s Entrepreneurship Sandbox in Technology Garden.
Dr. Rahim is also the Principal Consultant at Global i365 and was the previous President of the Human Service Association of CNY, PMI Syracuse Chapter and Innovative Development Incorporated. He has taught for Walden University (DBA program), Colorado Technical University, Keuka College, TUI University, DeVry University, SUNY Empire State College and Bryant & Stratton College. He has multiple research publications on topics related to business stigmas, appreciative inquiry, cooperative inquiry, entrepreneurship, nonprofit management, diversity management, Islam, project management, change management, conflict resolution, leadership and ethics, organizational development and organizational behaviors. He has presented his research at both national and international conferences.
Candi Castleberry - Singleton
Chief Inclusion & Diversity Officer, University Pittsburgh Medical Center
Candi Castleberry-Singleton is the Chief Inclusion and Diversity Officer at UPMC, an $8 billion, 20-hospital global health system and heath plan. She is responsible for developing UPMC’s inclusion strategy, including its Cultural Competency in Patient Care Initiative and the Dignity and Respect Campaign (which has been adopted by the City of Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh Foundation), as well as overseeing progress toward system-wide goals involving 50,000 employees. In 2008, she launched the Center for Inclusion in Health Care.
Candi has an exceptional record of coaching senior executives and partnering with key business process owners and community leaders to build sustainable inclusion practices for the workplace, marketplace, and workforce. Her successful initiatives have been implemented at Motorola, where she was Vice President of Global Inclusion and Diversity, and at Sun Microsystems, where she led the Global Inclusion Center of Expertise.
An experienced strategist, Candi created The Integrated Inclusion Model TM, a systems integration model that helps companies transition from compliance-driven processes led by human resources, to integrated activities that shift the responsibility for achieving an inclusive culture to every employee. The model is featured in Crossing the Divide: Intergroup Leadership in a World of Difference (Harvard Business School Press, August 2009).
Candi’s business acumen enhances her approach to inclusion. At Sun Microsystems, she led teams in operations and employee development, and she acquired extensive experience in sales, product marketing, training, and account management at Xerox Corporation.
Candi received an MBA from Pepperdine University, a bachelor’s degree in legal studies from UC Berkeley, and graduated from the Stanford University Human Resources Executive Program.
Candi has received numerous sales, customer satisfaction and diversity leadership awards. Recently she was named one of the 25 Influential Black Women by The Network Journal, Top 100 African Americans in Corporate America by Savoy Professional Magazine and a Woman of Humility by Point Park University in Pittsburgh. In 2009, Candi was one of the 50 Women of Excellence by The New Pittsburgh Courier and recognized by Diversity MBA Magazine as a Top 50 under 50 Executive Leader.
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