Inclusion 2019: Shifting Workplace Culture

Keynote Speakers

Johnny C. Taylor, Jr., SHRM-SCP

Johnny C.
Taylor, Jr., SHRM-SCP
J
Johnny C. Taylor, Jr., SHRM-SCP, is President and Chief Executive Officer of SHRM. With nearly 340,000 members in 180 countries, SHRM impacts the lives of more than 362 million workers and their families globally.
As a global leader on the future of employment, culture and leadership, Mr. Taylor is a sought-after voice on all matters affecting work, workers and the workplace. Recognized as one of the “300 Most Influential Executives in Corporate America” for 2024 by Savoy Magazine and one of the “Most Influential People Shaping Public Policy” in our nation’s capital by Washingtonian Magazine, Mr. Taylor is frequently asked to testify before Congress on critical workforce issues and authors the weekly USA Today column, "Ask HR."
Mr. Taylor's career spans more than 20 years as a lawyer, human resources executive and CEO in both the not-for-profit and for-profit spaces. He has held senior and chief executive roles at IAC/InteractiveCorp, Viacom's Paramount Pictures, Blockbuster Entertainment Group, the McGuireWoods law firm and Compass Group USA. Most recently, Mr. Taylor was President and Chief Executive Officer of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund.
He is the author of the national bestseller, RESET: A Leader’s Guide to Work in an Age of Upheaval, which immediately upon its release in September 2021, was in the top three of The Wall Street Journal’s list of best-selling hardcover business books.
Mr. Taylor is a member of the United Way Worldwide Board of Trustees and serves on the corporate boards of XPO Logistics (NYSE: XPO), Flores & Associates, and Guild Education. He previously served on the White House American Workforce Policy Advisory Board and as chairman of the President's Advisory Board on Historically Black Colleges and Universities during the Trump Administration.
The Women Business Collaborative (WBC) named Mr. Taylor as one of its 2023 Trailblazers in Gender Equity and Diversity for his work to achieve equal position, pay and power for all women in business. In 2020, he received the Distinguished Executive of the Year Award from the Academy of Management, and he was named 2021 ALA Professional Society CEO of the Year by CEO Update.
He is a Fellow of the National Academy of Human Resources and is licensed to practice law in Florida, Illinois and Washington, D.C.

Opening General Session featuring Johnny C. Taylor, Jr., SHRM-SCP
Monday, October 28, 2019 - 9:00am to 10:00am
Drew Brees

Drew
Brees
Drew Brees is the 2009 Super Bowl MVP---winning quarterback for the New Orleans Saints. A native of Austin, TX, Brees attended Westlake High School and lettered in football, basketball, and baseball and as a senior in 1996 led his football team to a perfect 16---0 record and the 5A State Championship while garnering 5A Offensive Player of the Year honors. He attended Purdue University where he earned a bachelor's degree in Industrial Management from the prestigious Krannert School of Management while lettering in football from 1997---2000. A two---time Heisman finalist, Brees led the Boilermakers to a Big Ten Championship and Rose Bowl appearance during the 2000 season. In that same year, he won the Maxwell Award as the nation's top collegiate player as well as being named Academic All---American Player of the Year and was a recipient of the National Football Foundation's post---graduate scholarship. In Brees' five years with the San Diego Chargers and eleven years with the New Orleans Saints, he has been elected to 12 Pro Bowls while being named 2004 Comeback Player of the Year, 2006 All---Pro Team, 2006 Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year, 2008 and 2011 NFL Offensive Player of the Year, and Super Bowl XLIV Champion and MVP.
As much pride as Brees takes in his on---field performance, he takes even more pride in his community service endeavors. Drew and his wife, Brittany, established the Brees Dream Foundation in 2003 and since then have contributed over $33,000,000 to help improve the quality of life for cancer patients and provide care, education and opportunities for children and families in need. Brees has also proudly participated in five USO trips visiting Kuwait, Iraq, Afghanistan, Germany, Turkey, Djibouti, Dubai, Okinawa, and Guantanamo Bay.
Drew currently lives with his wife Brittany and children Baylen, Bowen, Callen and Rylen in New Orleans, LA.

Moderator:

Emily M. Dickens, J.D.

Emily M.
Dickens, J.D.
Emily M. Dickens, J.D., serves as SHRM Chief of Staff, Head of Government Affairs & Corporate Secretary. She is the executive responsible for coordinating staff to implement the CEO's vision, serving as corporate secretary for the SHRM Board and subsidiary boards, as well as managing external partnerships and providing oversight for the Government Affairs division.
Dickens is an attorney with significant and progressive experience in government, higher education and the non-profit sector. She has served as a member of the leadership team at the University of North Carolina system, the Association of Governing Boards of Colleges and Universities and the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. Her prior roles include general counsel, chief relationship officer, senior vice president, vice president for public policy and assistant vice president for federal relations. Dickens has also worked at Duke University and Fayetteville State University in administrative and external affairs roles.
Emily is actively engaged in board service. She formerly served on the Fayetteville/Cumberland (NC) Chamber of Commerce (Secretary of the Board), the Cumberland County Workforce Development Board, the North Carolina Partnership for Defense Innovation Board, and the Educational Advancement Foundation. She is currently a member of the Advisory Council of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI), the Advisory Board of the College of Arts and Sciences at North Carolina Central University, and chairs the International HBCU Task Force for Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated.
She is a graduate of North Carolina Central University and North Carolina Central University School of Law.

General Session featuring Drew Brees
Tuesday, October 29, 2019 - 9:00am to 10:00am
Caroline Casey

Caroline
Casey
Caroline Casey is an award-winning social entrepreneur and founder of #valuable - a catalyst for an inclusion revolution that exists to position disability equally on the global business leadership agenda.
Committed to building a global movement on inclusive business for the 1.3 billion people in the world with a disability, over the past two decades she has set up several organisations and initiatives centred on disability business inclusion.
Her latest initiative, The Valuable 500, is an ambitious year-long campaign to get 500 businesses to commit to put disability inclusion on their leadership agendas. Launched at this year’s World Economic Forum Annual Summit, Casey succeeded in bringing disability inclusion onto the main stage at DAVOS for the first time ever with the support of global business leaders.
The Valuable 500 is supported by a host of global leaders including Sir Richard Branson, and Paul Polman, and global brands including Virgin Media and Omnicom.
Casey is also a TED speaker, Ashoka Fellow, Eisenhower Fellow, a past advisor for the Clinton Global Initiative, a One Young World Counsellor and is a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum.

General Session featuring Caroline Casey in partnership with the SHRM Foundation
Tuesday, October 29, 2019 - 3:45pm to 4:45pm
Natasha Miller Williams

Natasha Miller
Williams
Natasha leads Nielsen’s global diversity & inclusion strategy. She has held roles of increasing responsibility in Client Service, Global Operations, Product Leadership, Human Resources, and Diversity & Inclusion.

Natasha has parlayed her love of mentorship and writing into commentary on career planning and guidance. She is a contributing writer for several career and lifestyle magazines. Natasha sits on the editorial board for Training Industry Magazine and the board of directors for the Village of Oak Lawn’s Chamber of Commerce.

Natasha graduated from Northern Illinois University where she received her Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing. She has an Executive Master of Business Administration degree from the Jack Welch Management Institute. Natasha lives in the Chicago area with her husband and their sons.

Barbee Myers Oakes, Ph.D.

Barbee Myers
Oakes, Ph.D.
Barbee Myers Oakes, Ph.D. has more than 30 years of experience in higher education. She was appointed the Chief Diversity Officer at the University of Nevada Las Vegas in September 2017. Previously, Oakes was the inaugural Chief Diversity Officer and Assistant Provost for Diversity and Inclusion at Wake Forest University from 2009-2017 where she was the architect of the university’s first strategic plan for diversity and inclusion. From 1995-2009 Oakes was the director of the Office of Multicultural Affairs at Wake Forest. Under her leadership, Wake Forest was awarded a Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award by Insight into Diversity in 2012. In 2012 Oakes was also named by Diverse Issues in Higher Education Magazine as one of “25 Women Making A Difference” in higher education. Oakes earned her Bachelor of Science and Master of Arts degrees from Wake Forest. Upon completion of her PhD in Exercise Science and Nutrition from the University in Tennessee, Knoxville, she became the first Black woman with a doctoral degree in the American College of Sports Medicine. Oakes held faculty appointments at Wake Forest, Arizona State University, and Penn State University from 1985-1995 and is the co-author of seven textbooks.

Miguel Joey Aviles

Miguel Joey
Aviles
Miguel is the Chief Belonging Officer of MJA & CO, a Minority-owned consulting firm helping leaders leverage DEI as a catalyst to improve recruitment, engagement, and retention. Recognized as a LinkedIn's Top Voice in Racial Equity, Top 15 Champion of Diversity by Diversity Global Magazine, a Top 100 Executive by Diversity MBA Magazine, and featured as an Inclusion Innovator by SHRM.
Miguel served as the first civilian Chief of D&I in the history of the US Coast Guard. He started his career as diversity recruiter and for over a decade held several leadership positions in 3 major Federal Departments. Miguel is a TEDx speaker, featured at the Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, and Telemundo.
You can learn more about him by visiting www.migueljoeyaviles.com

Corie Pauling

Corie
Pauling
A leader at TIAA for 13 years and also a native Detroiter, Corie Pauling became the organization’s Senior Vice President, Chief Inclusion & Diversity Officer in July 2018. Corie was instrumental in the launch of the D&I function at TIAA over ten years ago and served as a primary legal and business advisor and thought leader in this area since that time. In her prior role, Corie held the position of Senior Director, Associate General Counsel in the Employment, Benefits & Labor Law Group, in which she provided counseling, training, risk assessment and other support to TIAA’s executives, its prior CDIOs and other Human Resources leaders and also business managers on a broad range of workforce issues, and she also managed employment litigation nationally. In the D&I space, she has extensive experience in strategy development, board interface, equal employment opportunity best practices, policy development, training/learning, metrics, data analysis and reporting, external partnerships and sourcing, pay equity, global workforce compliance, talent acquisition, workforce development, employee resource groups, culture surveys, federal contractor compliance and workplace investigations. She also now leads the enterprise’s nationwide and award-winning Corporate Social Responsibility function, which last year led over 650 community service projects through 15,000 employee volunteers. Having partnered with nearly every area in the TIAA organization over her tenure, Corie also led the Culture Action Team for TIAA’s Advocacy & Oversight area from 2016 through 2018.
A former shareholder with the international employment law firm Littler Mendelson, P.C. and also Ferguson Stein Chambers in Charlotte, Corie’s experience includes counseling financial services institutions and other Fortune 500 companies as well as representing individual employees in employment and civil rights litigation. She has significant trial and appellate experience on civil rights matters. Having presented before the American Bar Association, the National Bar Association, the North Carolina Bar Association, the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education, the Practicing Law Institute, the Society of Human Resources Management and other organizations, Corie frequently speaks at programs on emerging employment law, diversity and inclusion developments.
An engaged civic leader and also a competitive 11-time marathoner, Corie was incredibly honored to be named on the list of 2019 Black Enterprise Most Powerful Women in Corporate Diversity and also to be recognized as a TIAA Working Mother of the Year in conjunction with the national magazine Working Mother and recipient of the Young Civic Leader Award by the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. She is a graduate of Charlotte’s groundbreaking Leadership Development Institute. Corie has also served on the Board of Governors of the North Carolina Bar Association (NCBA) and as chairperson of the NCBA’s 500-attorney Labor and Employment Law Section. Among other leadership posts, she also served as a committee chair of the Board of Directors for the Levine Museum of the New South, a member of Charlotte’s Arts & Science Council Advisory Committee and a co-chair of the Mecklenburg County Bar’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee. As also an avid “late bloomer” runner, she is thrilled to have run the Boston Marathon for the first time in 2018 and is training now to qualify for the 2020 running.

Moderator:

Sean T. Sullivan, SHRM-SCP

Sean
T. Sullivan, SHRM-SCP
Sean Sullivan serves as the Chief Human Resources Officer and is responsible for providing human resources leadership, vision and service delivery for SHRM, the world's largest HR professional society.
Sullivan has over 25 years of experience in human resources strategy and operations. He has built his career across multiple industries, including health care, defense, technology, IT, and manufacturing, applying his expertise to help grow and support diverse business models.
Prior to SHRM, he was Vice President, Human Resources for Tufts Medical Center, an internationally respected academic medical center in downtown Boston. He was responsible for all aspects of human capital practices and labor relations in support of the healthcare, research, and teaching mission of the oldest permanent medical facility in the country. Under his leadership, Tufts Medical Center launched innovative initiatives in workforce development and diversity and inclusion while strengthening strategic partnerships with community-based organizations and enhancing equity in patient access to healthcare.
Sullivan has held senior leadership positions for technology firms in the defense and intelligence industries, including senior vice president for human resources with Leidos, a global IT and technology firm. He led due diligence and integration efforts for international mergers and acquisitions. He helped establish the Leidos Relief Foundation and served as its first president. He played a key role in the re-design of the human resources function for SAIC when it was spun off from Leidos in 2013. Earlier in his career, Sullivan took on roles of increasing responsibility at Northrop Grumman and TRW, including the support of global business units in systems integration and manufacturing.
With a passion for workforce development, he has been a guest speaker at the Close It Summit, the Colloquium on Global Diversity, the Work Rebooted Conference and other forums. He has been a member of Innovate+Educate's Innovative Business Hiring Council and the Healthcare HR Leadership Forum. He holds an MPA from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University, from which he also earned his undergraduate degree in political science.
This speaker is a member of the SHRM Speakers Bureau.

Closing General Session featuring Inclusion Innovators
Wednesday, October 30, 2019 - 9:00am to 10:00am