Aryeh Lehrer

Aryeh Lehrer is the Vice President, Talent Management and Acquisition, DEI&B at Comcast Technology Solutions.

Jamie Fiore Higgins

Jamie Fiore Higgins became one of the few women at the highest ranks of Goldman Sachs. Spurred on by the obligation she felt to her working-class immigrant family, she rose through the ranks and saw it all: out-of-control, lavish parties flowing with never-ending drinks; affairs flouted in the office; rampant drug use; and most pervasively, a discriminatory culture that seemed designed to hold back the few women and people of color employed at the company.

Despite Goldman Sachs having the right talking points and statistics, Fiore Higgins soon realized that these provided a veneer to cover up what she found to be an abusive culture. Her account is one filled with shocking stories of harassment and jaw-dropping tales of exclusionary behavior: when she was told she only got promoted because she is a woman; when her coworkers mooed at her after she pumped for her fourth child, defying the superior who had advised her not to breastfeed; or when a male boss used a
racial epithet in front of her, other colleagues, and clients without any repercussions.

DK Bartley

DK Bartley’s career has been effectively characterized as a subject matter expert for Diversity, Inclusion and Talent Acquisition. As an executive, public speaker and influencer, DK Bartley has been very effective inspiring global audiences. With a career that has been exemplifiable through his career versatility and success on many corporate “streets,” Wall Street, Madison Avenue, and Seventh-Fashion Avenue. Mr. Bartley has created a brand emblematic of “Best-in-Class” Talent Acquisition and Diversity & Inclusion practices for some of the world’s most influential companies.

He is currently CDO – Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer at Moody’s, the global integrated risk assessment company. He is keenly responsible for Moody’s acceleration of DE&I as a business imperative and the international Diversity and Inclusion strategy for its internal and external framework. Mr. Bartley’s leadership has arguably disrupted Moody’s day-to-day function as a business to become even more inclusive, more progressive and a leader among its competitors. Moody’s has received numerous DE&I awards and recognition within the past two years under his leadership.

Prior to Moody’s, DK was previously Senior Vice President & Head of Diversity and Inclusion for Dentsu International, where he managed talent solutions for Dentsu’s largest clients, such as Microsoft, American Express, Facebook, and LVMH. He successfully managed and reengineered the Dentsu Americas talent acquisition team and created a Center of Excellence focused on talent, leading Dentsu to become an employer of choice globally. One of his biggest successes was managing the strategic hiring of four hundred-plus diverse advertising professionals for Microsoft. This resulted in a sixty-six-million-dollar growth of Multicultural revenue for Microsoft products.

He has also functioned as a Senior Executive for the global consulting firm Diversity Talent International (DTI), managing a roster of clients that included some of the world’s most influential brands, Polo Ralph Lauren, Mercedes-Benz, Colgate-Palmolive, Huawei Technologies, and WPP. Prior to DTI, Mr. Bartley held other senior level roles including Director of Human Resources at News corporations HarperCollins.

He is a board member of the AAF, The American Advertising Federation, and also Urban Word, home of America’s youngest Black Poet Laureate.

Mr. Bartley is certified in Diversity & Inclusion Management from Cornell University ILR, holds a master’s degree in communications from the New York Institute of Technology, and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from SUNY Stony Brook.

Millette Granville

Millette Granville, CDP is the Vice President of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for 2U, Inc., a global education technology company that partners with over 75 top-tier, non-profit universities to build, deliver, and support high-quality online degrees, certificates, boot camps, and short courses. In this role, Millette is responsible for providing strategic leadership on all global equity, diversity, and inclusion policies, programs, and practices. Millette is a trusted partner to senior leaders, Business Resource Networks, and Mosaic, the DEI council. She also partners with the business, human resources, and communications teams on strategy, program launch, and implementing initiatives to ensure the optimal attraction, development, and retention of diverse talent while infusing DEI principles and practices into 2U’s products, outreach, and philanthropy.

Prior to joining 2U, Millette was the Vice President of Talent, Diversity & Inclusion and Organizational Development for Food Lion LLC, an Ahold Delhaize Company. In that role, Millette was responsible for the strategic implementation of diversity and inclusion, talent acquisition, as well as learning and organizational development strategies for Food Lion. Millette served on the Global Talent Network and the Associate Engagement Global Network.  She provided oversight for nine BRGs and two Business Diversity Councils. And in 2019, Millette completed the “Leadership Journey from Purpose to Legacy” at Harvard School of Business.

Millette’s previous roles also include VP of Diversity & Inclusion for Time Warner Cable, VP of Diversity & College Recruiting with Wells Fargo, and President/CEO of Granville & Webb HR Connections, Inc.

Millette serves on the Simmons University Institute for Inclusive Leadership Board.  She is the immediate past Chair of the Board of Directors for the Urban League of the Central Carolinas, and she serves on the Board of Advisors for BraveWorks. Millette has been recognized by the National Diversity and Leadership Conference as one of the top 100 Chief Diversity Officers in 2021.  She has been recognized by Radio One as a Top Woman of Excellence and named as a Savoy Magazine Most Influential Women in Business. Millette also received the Career Mastered National Diversity Leadership Award.  Millette is a member of the CALIBR Global Leadership Network. She is the author of the book The Exceptional Leader, a quick guide to personal branding and leadership development.

Oswaldo Grenardo

Oswaldo (Ozzie) A. Grenardo MD, MBA, MSHA is a Colorado native. After graduating from Stanford University with a degree in human biology, he moved back to Denver to work in health care administration, earning a combined MS in Health Administration and MBA from the University of Colorado. He graduated with his medical degree from the CU School of Medicine and completed his residency training in family medicine at Rose Medical Center.

Dr. Grenardo has been employed as a Centura physician since 2010 and is currently the Senior Vice President and Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer. He is also on the clinical staff at Parker Adventist Hospital. Dr. Grenardo’s work in the community includes being on the Boards of the Caring for Colorado Foundation, the Center for African American Health and the American Heart Association Colorado Chapter.

Spencer Whitney

Spencer Whitney is currently a Digital Editor for KQED News. Prior to joining KQED News, Spencer worked as the Multimedia Editor at the Oakland Post and an Assistant Editor in the Editorial department at the San Francisco Chronicle. In those positions, he was responsible for organizing and producing web-based content on a daily basis while also writing columns and reporting on local politics, community news and education around the Bay Area. He attended Howard University as an undergraduate and interned with SiriusXM. He holds a master’s degree from UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism and wrote for the hyperlocal news sites Richmond Confidential and Oakland North. He has volunteered at San Quentin Prison to help produce content for the monthly news publication San Quentin News.

Jin Ivacic

Jin Ivacic is the Global Head of Talent Acquisition at Hyatt Hotels.

Megan Ulu-Lani Boyanton

Megan Ulu-Lani Boyanton joined The Denver Post in 2022 as a business reporter, focusing her coverage on Colorado’s marijuana, real estate and airline industries. For two years, she chased after lawmakers on Capitol Hill as Bloomberg Government’s agriculture and trade policy reporter. Megan has covered the Venezuelan refugee crisis in Peru, parliamentary affairs in England, White House press briefings in Washington, D.C., and midterm elections in Arizona. During her stint at Arizona PBS, she worked two beats: borderlands and social justice.

Megan received her master’s in mass communication from Arizona State University and bachelor’s in journalism and liberal arts from the Louisiana Scholars’ College at Northwestern State University. She is a Beltz Award for Editorial Excellence winner and a past White House Correspondents’ Association scholar. She’s a member of the Overseas Press Club and a 2022 Cannabis Media Fellow at UVM.

Mona Sloane

Mona Sloane, Ph.D., is a Senior Research Scientist at the NYU Center for Responsible AI and an Adjunct Professor at NYU’s Tandon School of Engineering, as well as a Fellow with NYU’s Institute for Public Knowledge (IPK). She also is the technology editor for Public Books and a fellow of The GovLab.

Mona is currently working on new methods for AI auditing, innovating AI procurement, AI in hiring and talent acquisition, new AI tools for investigative journalism, local governance innovation on AI, and a range of other responsible AI topics. She holds a Ph.D. from the London School of Economics and Political Science and has written for the Guardian and MIT Technology Review, among many other outlets. You can follow her on Twitter @mona_sloane.

Jo Anne Hill

Jo Anne Hill has led an impactful career that has included radio, television, and Corporate America.  A nationally recognized leader in the Diversity and Inclusion, Jo Anne is an innovative agent in Corporate America.  In her employment with Piedmont Healthcare, Jo Anne has performed with distinction her responsibilities as the Executive Director for Diversity and Inclusion, where she is responsible for ensuring that Piedmont’s employment strategies and actions are reflective of its diverse marketplace. Jo Anne leads and manages the diversity and inclusion approach for the company, including the integration of diversity into core personnel and business processes, with a focus on developing, implementing, and driving best practice programs, initiatives and processes to foster Piedmont corporate commitment to diversity.

Jo Anne has been recognized by Black Enterprise’s Top Executives in Corporate Diversity, and 2016, 2017 and 2018.  She also appears on Profiles in Diversity Journal’s list of Diversity Leaders.   She is the 2017 recipient of the Atlanta SHRM Impact Award.

In October 2019 Jo Anne was awarded the Game Changer of the Year Award by the Columbus, Ga Urban League for her focus, impact and commitment to Diversity and Incluson.

Jo Anne retired from Aflac after 29 years.  She was the Director of Diversity and Employee Engagement.

Jo Anne, respected by many as one of the most energetic and impactful speakers in the country is often engaged to facilitate workshops, conferences, and keynote addresses.

Driven by her desire to do more, Jo Anne is the CEO for The Game Changer Foundation, a nonprofit, committed to ensuring women of all backgrounds have access to the resources they need to be impactful.

Jo Anne firmly believes in community service.   She has served on the boards of directors of the Chamber of Commerce, Columbus State University’s Community Diversity Committee and as a Board Member of the Mayor’s Commission on Diversity.  She is also a 2018 Graduate of Leadership Columbus.

Jo Anne is a graduate of the University of Georgia’s School of Journalism.  She and her husband, Morgan, have two awesome sons, Brandon and Matthew.

Singleton Beato

Singleton Beato is the Global Chief Diversity & Engagement Officer at McCann Worldgroup, where she is responsible for designing and leading strategic initiatives that increase organizational capacity, innovation and growth.  With over 25 years of experience as an accomplished executive, Singleton is recognized for her success driving large scale people and organizational change initiatives across a wide range of industries, having held talent leadership roles at J. Walter Thompson, Crunch Fitness International, and Bloomberg L.P.

Previously, Singleton was EVP, Diversity Strategy and Talent Development at the 4A’s where she provided leadership and advice to senior advertising and media agency executives working to create and activate a strategic approach to D&I.  Singleton was the visionary and architect of high-profile initiatives including The Face Of Talent symposium and the Ad industry’s only Talent Leadership Conference, Talent@2030.  She also led the transformation of the renowned Multicultural Advertising Intern Program (MAIP) and the 4A’s Foundation.  And, after assuming P&L responsibility for Talent Development and Diversity related revenue streams, Singleton consistently delivered revenue and margin growth for the organization.

Singleton received a MS from Fairleigh Dickinson University and serves on several non-profit boards for the Brand Erwin Center for Brand Communications, AdWeek’s D&I Council, the AAF’s Mosaic Council and Own The Room as well as the Advisory Board of the Brand + Integrated Communications program. She has received numerous awards and accolades from the AAF, the 4A’s, the ADCOLOR Coalition, the National Diversity Council, and the World Diversity Leadership Summit.  Additionally, Singleton was named one of 2019’s Most Influential Women In Corporate America by Savoy Magazine and most recently one of AdWeek’s 2020 Women Trailblazers.

Lizzie Wright

Lizzie Wright is the Director of Customer Success at Carrot Fertility, the leading global fertility healthcare company. In her role, Lizzie leads her team in engaging, growing, and retaining Carrot’s largest enterprise customers. A passion for health equity and fertility care access led her to Carrot and she’s thrilled to be a resource for the company’s growing customer base.

Lizzie is an experienced strategic relationship manager with a background in benefits management and go-to-market consulting. Prior to joining Carrot in 2021, she most recently served as a benefits leader for The Boeing Company and as a consulting manager at ZS Associates.

Lizzie holds a Bachelor of Science from Tulane University and a Master of Business Administration with concentrations in Strategy and Marketing from Northwestern University. In her free time, she enjoys playing with her dog, Teddy, and exploring the many fantastic restaurants Chicago has to offer.

Lydia Dishman

Lydia Dishman is Fast Company’s senior editor for growth and engagement. She has also written for CBS Moneywatch, Fortune, The Guardian, Popular Science, and the New York Times, among others.

Nicole Smith

Veronica Taylor

Veronica Taylor, CFP® is a Financial Planner at Northstar with her own personal journey of paying down debt and breaking the generational cycle of living paycheck-to-paycheck. Ever since, her mission has been to help close the racial wealth divide, by sharing her knowledge and guiding others in the Black community particularly— not just by paying down debt, but by helping to build their financial legacies. Veronica switched careers and joined Northstar to reposition her life’s work and career path in support of making that vision a reality. Veronica believes it’s one thing to help clients with their personal finances, but it’s a very different thing to help them build wealth for themselves and their families.

Britt Barney

Britt Barney is the Manager of Customer Success of Northstar, the financial wellness platform for employees. With 10 years of experience in fintech, Britt has had a hand in all areas of the space from working as a financial planner to managing financial planning and customer success teams. Inspired by mission driven startups with a focus on DEI and serving traditionally underserved communities, Britt has traveled the country giving seminars on financial wellness. Previously at LearnVest and Northwestern Mutual, Britt has always had a passion for building relationships and helping her clients drive engagement and utilization while providing education and guidance for employees to reach their personal goals.