Guest Speaker

Unpacking the state of DEI & corporate strategies

Kendall Seketa, Gravity Research

Kendall Seketa, Chief Strategy Officer at Gravity Research, will dive into their latest insights on the headwinds shaping DEI practices and how companies are navigating the pressures of the moment. This session will provide an overview of the current executive and regulatory landscape and insight into shifting and emerging activist pressures. Kendall will dig into Gravity Research’s comprehensive benchmarking on the adjustments corporations have made to their DEI efforts and where companies are continuing to invest.

Panel

Culture change management: Transforming your corporate culture from HQ to the warehouse

Jll’s Nashunda Williams, SAIA LTL Freight’s Cheralyn Champion, and Quest Diagnostics’Desyra Highsmith-Holcomb

At the root of many DEI challenges is culture. If only some employees have the psychological safety to speak candidly, ask questions, or challenge ideas, then all employees can’t perform at their best. So how are you approaching the culture changes needed to enable your entire workforce to be their best professional selves and do their best work? As a DEI leader, can you even promise psychological safety, or is workplace civility the new goal? Jll’s Nashunda Williams, SAIA LTL Freight’s Cheralyn Champion, and Quest Diagnostics’ Desyra Highsmith-Holcomb will dig into these questions and more during this panel discussion.

Following our afternoon of conversations and case studies, we’ll all go out for a fantastic dinner together. It’s a perfect opportunity to connect with your fellow members before a big day of brainstorming, discussion, and collaboration.

The conversations over coffee and eggs at this event are often more lively than any other conference’s happy hour. You’ll want to be here bright and early (and on time).

Panel

DEI 2.0: How strategies are evolving to keep up with changing times

Chick-fil-A’s Melenie Choto, MathWork’s Maya Sherr and Northwestern Mutual’s Carrie Neumann

Adaptability has been a key success factor for DEI leaders in the U.S. Following the SCOTUS decisions on Roe v. Wade and affirmative action, then the U.S. presidential election and executive orders, many organizations were pushed to reevaluate and refocus their DEI efforts. So where have companies landed? How are you thinking about and approaching DEI at this point in time? What methods are you using for recruiting and developing talent? How are you mitigating risk? And what changes are you anticipating in future years?

During lunch, the tables will be divided into industries so leaders can pick where they want to sit and connect with others who are leading DEI in the same space:

EXAMPLE TOPICS:

• ERG/BRG comms
• Self-ID
• Collaborating with HR on benefits/onboarding

EXAMPLE TOPICS:

• Diversifying candidate and panel slates
• Succession planning
• Protecting and supporting your 2SLGBTQIA+ associates

EXAMPLE TOPICS:

• DEI partners
• Neurodiversity
• Measuring the impact of your DEI initiatives

Panel

How do (and should) DEI and EX functions work together?

Moody’s Vanessa Youngs, Glanbia’s Kristin Horbinski, and M&T Bank‘s Kimberly Barker

As corporate priorities shift in response to volatile social and political landscapes, how can DEI and EX collaborate to protect employee experience? Better yet, can these functions partner to differentiate the organization by providing a distinctly improved work environment where employees can grow and thrive? Moody’s Vanessa Youngs, Glanbia’s Kristin Horbinski, and M&T Bank’s Kimberly Barker will focus on the connections between these functions, where there are differences, and how they can join forces to create wide-reaching long-term change.