Behind-the-Scenes: Film - The Road Trip to Belonging in America
Using raw, firsthand footage and testimonials from big brands, healthcare systems, education decision makers, philanthropic leaders and other key leaders, this documentary examines the current and future state of acceptance and belonging at work in America. Where does your organization land? Hear from the director and producer of this groundbreaking project that collected 50+ hours of thought leadership on belonging from a wide cross section of America scheduled to premiere this Fall.
Cordell Carter, II, Esq
Cordell brings 20 years of experience to his leadership of the Aspen Institute Socrates Program, a global education forum for leaders and Expectant Advisory, a privately-held leadership consultancy. Previous to his current roles, Cordell held leadership roles with TechTown Foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Business Roundtable, National Alliance for Public Charter Schools and the IBM Corporation.
Honors include: an Eisenhower Fellowship to China; designation as a White House Champion of Change for Computer Science Education; designation as a “40 under 40” by business and civic organizations in Washington State and Tennessee; University of Notre Dame Law School alumni of the year awardee; selections as a Robert Bosch Foundation Fellow for Young American Leaders and a Broad Foundation Resident in Urban Education. Current board service includes the Alumni Council for Cultural Vistas, AIPAC National Council and the privately-held blockchain start-up Injii. He previously served on the Advisory Council for the Center for Democracy and Technology and the boards of the United Way of Greater Chattanooga, United Way of King County, Downtown Seattle YMCA and the Siskin Hospital for Physical Rehabilitation.
Cordell speaks at conferences, leads workshops and moderates panels and seminars all over the world. Recent appearances include: Congressional testimony before the US Congressional Commission for Security and Cooperation in Europe (December 2019); 2019 Horasis Conference (Las Vegas, NV); 2019 SmartCity Expo (Atlanta, GA); 2019 Concordia Summit (Bogota, Colombia); 2019 Young Leaders Academy of Macedonia (Skopje, Macedonia); 2018 Blockchain Trends Summit (Seoul, South Korea); 2018 The Wright (Golden, CO); 2018 SXSW Festival (Austin, TX); 2017 YSEALI Summit (Manila, Philippines); Confluence ROME (Rome, GA); Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank District’s Reinventing Community Conference (Philadelphia, PA); US News STEM Solutions Leadership Summit (Dallas, TX); ACT Board of Directors Annual Meeting (Washington, DC); Council of Chief State Schools Officers Legislative Conference (Washington, DC); and the Association for Career and Technical Education’s National Policy Seminar (Washington, DC).
Cordell earned a J.D. from the University of Notre Dame Law School, a M.Sc. in Public Policy and Management Studies from Carnegie Mellon University and a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Washington.
Simeon K. Sessley
Simeon Sessley, serves as the Founding Partner of Advisory Trail (advisorytrail.com) which is dedicated to empowering visionary leaders engage with their frontline employees through compelling storytelling. Since founding Advisory Trail, Simeon and his team have supported leaders to create unique storytelling assets on topics ranging from new baby products launched at Walmart Health and Wellness focused on excited yet exhausted parents; to stories embedded within resilience trainings for frontline healthcare workers based upon the COVID19 experiences from clinical peers across Emergency Departments in New York City.
Prior experience for Simeon includes serving as the Executive Director within the Office of Strategy at Atrium-Navicent Health, where he and his team helped over a dozen startups work alongside top clinicians to close health disparity gaps in both rural and urban populations. The seminal work at Atrium-Navicent by Simeon and his team ultimately led to the organization winning the distinguished Health Equity Award from the American Hospital Associations. Prior to working for Atrium-Navicent Health, Simeon had a long tenure at the General Electric Company (GE), where he led a global group of 420 Innovation Coaches who were chartered to change the paradigm for introducing new products to market via apply principles from The Lean Startup. Overall, Simeon is committed to introducing leaders to new ways to transform their organizations by leveraging storytelling and is sincerely honored to have Advisory Trail digitally catalog the thoughtful reflections of our nation’s top public and private sector leaders on the topics of Belonging and Thriving.