2015 Diversity Summit

Session Schedule

 

 

Time

Event

Location

 

 

7:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.

Registration

Conference Center Foyer

 

 

7:30 a.m. – 8:30 a.m.

Diversity Cafe

Magnolia I-III

 

Facilitator:        Elizabeth Campbell,  Partner and Chief Diversity Officer, Andrews Kurth LLP

 

(This session is by invitation only for sponsors)

 

 

8:00 a.m. – 8:30 a.m.

Diversity and Inclusion 101

Sugar Land Ballroom V

 

Chair:               Dr. Cephas Archie, D&I Program Coordinator, Houston Community College

Facilitator:        Dr. Michele Kahn,  Associate Professor, University of Houston – Clear Lake

 

This session clarifies definitional issues in diversity and inclusion, underscoring equity as a guiding force and goal to harmonious and effective group relations.  Kahn separates myth from fact with regard to cultural identities, dismantling superficial notions of diversity and inclusion. She highlights opportunities for long term individual, social and institutional transformation.

 

 

9:00 a.m. –4:00 p.m.

Sponsor Exhibits

Conference Center Foyer

 

 

 

9:00 a.m. –4:00 p.m.

Coach’s Corner

Cane I-III

 

Professional coaches from International Coach Federation - Houston will be offering complimentary career consultation sessions. There will be a sign-up sheet at the Registration Desk for attendees to take advantage of this exciting opportunity.

 

 

9:00 a.m. – 9:20 a.m.

Welcome

Sugar Land Ballroom V

 

Mistress of Ceremony:   Angela Chen, KTRK- TV, ABC 13

 

Welcome Remark:          Dr. K.C. Wang,  ACAP President

Summit Co-Chairs:         Dr. Cesar Maldonado,  Chancellor, Houston Community College

                                       James D. HaynesVP, U.S. Human Resources, Spectra Energy

 

 

9:20 a.m. – 10:20 a.m.

Plenary Session

Sugar Land Ballroom V

 

Plenary Topic: "Leading from the Front"

Speaker:           Courtney Lynch, Founder, Lead Star

 

Effective leaders make a significant difference in any organization. Join nationally recognized thought leader Courtney Lynch as she addresses the essential leadership skills for success.  Courtney will provide practical insights gathered from her firsthand leadership experiences as a Captain in U.S. Marines and decade of teaching leadership to professionals globally. 

 

You’ll learn:

  • A new, refined definition of leadership
  • Awareness of the key behaviors leaders demonstrate
  • An enhanced strategy for maximizing your leadership potential
  • A greater understanding of how to apply leadership skills to both professional and personal challenges

 

10:20 a.m. – 10:50 a.m.

Networking Break

Conference Center Foyer

 

Play network bingo, visit exhibits, and sign up for a complimentary session at Coach’s Corner

 

 

10:50 a.m. – 11:50 p.m.

Concurrent Sessions

Room

 

Session A         "The State of Hispanic Leadership in Corporate America"       Sugar Land Ballroom V

Chair:               David Medina, Director Multicultural Community Relations, Rice University

Speaker:           Dr. Robert Rodriguez  President, DRR Advisors

 

Corporations are becoming much more sophisticated and advanced when it comes to their Latino talent initiatives.  This session will provide an overview of steps being taken by leading corporations to more effectively recruit, retain and develop top Hispanic talent.  Also covered will be the trends among current Latino executives regarding what they see as necessary to advance the Latino leadership agenda across America.  Attendees will walk away with a Latino Talent Framework that they can use to sustain their current success, replicate these practices to other diverse communities and to scale those efforts across their enterprise. 

 

 

Session B         "Unconscious Bias"                                                                                   Magnolia I-III

Chair:               Sam Jacobson, Diversity and Inclusion Coordinator, Andrews Kurth LLP

Speaker:           Nina Godiwalla,  U.S. Director of Diversity, Norton Rose Fulbright

 

How do our biases develop? Are we consciously aware of how much of our decision-making is automatic, based on belief systems that we absorbed from our early lives? This course moves us away from the “good person/bad person” paradigm of diversity. A more accurate depiction is that we all have bias of one kind or another. The key is to identify and examine those biases, to consider how they impact our actions with others, in our jobs and in our lives.

 

 

Session C         "Talent Alignment as Driver for Diversity"                             Sugar Land Ballroom I-II

Chair:               Jaymie Woods, Founder & Managing Consultant, L.L. Gold Consulting LLC

Speaker:           Carlos Larracilla, Senior Manager, Deloitte Consulting

 

Diversity is about skills alignment, finding the right purpose, place and role to take the best advantage of our differences as individuals in order to create exceptional teams and organizations.

 

 

Session D         "Supplier Diversity Leading the Charge to Advanced Next Practices"

Sugar Land Ballroom III-IV

Chair:               Jagdip Ahluwalia, Executive Director, IACCGH

                        Jewel Smith,  Manager Supplier Diversity, CenterPoint Energy

 

Moderator:       Richard Huebner,  President, Houston Minority Supplier Development Council

Panelist:           NK Gupta,  CEO Cornerstone Valve

Panelist:           Annie Lidge,  Program Manager Supplier Diversity, Fluor

Panelist:           Debra Stewart,  Director Supplier Diversity, Shell

 

This session will share next practices in corporate and prime supplier relationships for revolutionary supplier diversity outcomes. It will also showcase a diverse supplier and their phenomenal growth as a result of proper positioning and a firm commitment to development.

 

 

12:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.

Luncheon

Sugar Land Ballroom VI

 

Mistress of Ceremony:    Minerva Perez, Minerva Perez Media

 

Keynote Speaker:    Dr. Irma McClaurin, Chief Diversity Officer, Teach For America

 

Diversity Champion Awards:

            Corporate Diversity Champion:      Floyd LeBlanc, Vice President, CenterPoint Energy

            Community Diversity Champion:   Craig B. Clayton, Sr., CEO of iNSPIRAR Inc., and Founder –Respect Matters Houston

 

1:30 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.

Networking Break

Conference Center Foyer

 

Play network bingo, visit exhibits, and sign up for a complimentary session at Coach’s Corner

 

 

2:00 p.m. – 3:10 p.m.

Concurrent Sessions

Room

 

Session A         "Culture and Learning"                                                              Sugar Land Ballroom V

Chair:               Dr. Cephas Archie, D&I Program Coordinator, Houston Community College

Speaker:           Dr. Michele Kahn,  Associate Professor, University of Houston – Clear Lake

 

This session expands upon Diversity and Inclusion 101 and offers participants key concepts and associated strategies for creating equitable environments. Among other issues, participants will learn about intercultural sensitivity development, managing cognitive dissonance and increasing meaningful dialogue for creating socially just communities.

 

 

Session B         "Aspire Higher: Why a Professional Development Plan is critical for your

                        career success and advancement"                                                             Magnolia I-III

Chair:               Rohby Word Mitchell, Director of Diversity & HR Compliance, Spectra Energy

Speaker:           Amy Robinson, Executive Coach

 

You can’t rely on your boss to hand you a professional development plan for fostering career success. You must take personal responsibility in tailoring your own. Learn how the graduates of Aspire Higher, a global women’s professional development group coaching program, have benefited from spear heading their professional paths, including the specific skills and tools that continue to impact their career successes.

 

 

Session C         "Transgender in the Workplace"                                          Sugar Land Ballroom I-II

Chair:               Elaine DeCanio, Change Manager, Continuous Improvement, Shell Global Solutions (US) Inc.

Speaker:           Lou Weaver, Board of Governors, Human Rights Campaign

 

Whether you are transgender, personally invested in transgender inclusion or just hoping to become more fluent and visible in your support for equality, Lou Weaver, will help you understand language and terminology to discuss transgender topics, how to implement best practices and next steps in supporting transgender staff and colleagues.

 

 

Session D      "Backpack and Baggage – Dispelling Myths about People with Disabilities"  

Sugar Land Ballroom III-IV

Chair:               Deborah Wilkins-Buford, Global Diversity and Inclusion Consultant, Shell

Speaker:           Joe Bontke, Outreach Manager, EEOC

 

The major barriers to achievement by people with disabilities in our society continue to be attitudinal barriers, stereotypical thinking, and assumptions about what people can and can't do. The truth is that the range of ability of persons within any disability group is enormous. We need to get rid of our stereotypical images and view each individual as just that: "an individual”.  This training session will explore the “baggage” of our own “backpacks” and attempt to dump our old perception and add something new.

 

 

3:20 p.m. – 4:30p.m.

Concurrent Sessions

Room

 

Session A         "Cultivating Tomorrow’s Leadership: Building the Bridge from Higher Education to the Workforce"                                                                                 Sugar Land Ballroom V

Chair:               Helen Hailemariam, Director Leadership Programming, Teach For America

Speaker:           Dr. Cephas Archie,  D&I Program Coordinator, Houston Community College

 

Join this panel of student leaders from universities across Houston as they discuss how diversity and inclusiveness has played a role in their education.  This conversation will shed light on the ways that higher education and corporations can incorporate more inclusive practices when recruiting and developing students of different backgrounds. 

 

 

Session B         "Becoming an Effective Leader in a World of Differences"                      Magnolia I-III

Chair:               Jaymie Woods, Founder & Managing Consultant, L.L. Gold Consulting LLC

Speaker:           Sara Ting, Author

 

Diversity is in the DNA of America.  It impacts every sector of a community.  What are the skills and qualities a leader needs to cultivate and develop to be effective in the meeting the challenges of managing diversity and achieving your goals?  An interactive, engaging and thought-provoking conversation and some simple exercises will offer new perspectives on diversity.  Participants will come away more informed, enlightened and empowered. 

 

 

Session C         "HRC Corporate Equality Index: Looking Back and Moving Forward"

Sugar Land Ballroom I-II

Chair:               Elaine DeCanio, Change Manager, Continuous Improvement, Shell Global Solutions (US) Inc.

Speaker:           Beck Bailey, Deputy Director Employee Engagement, Human Rights Campaign

 

The Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s “Corporate Equality Index” (CEI) is the national benchmarking tool on corporate policies and practices pertinent to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees. Since the CEI’s inception in 2002, America’s largest employers have embraced LGBT-inclusion as a best business practice, and consider protections for employees on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity as non-negotiable. This session provides an overview of the CEI, its history and impact, as well as an introduction to survey criteria. Additionally, we’ll review important changes for the 2016 survey.

 

 

4:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.

Network Reception

Conference Center Foyer

 

Door Prizes Drawing

 

§  Return all name badges to the registration desk for recycling at the end of conference.

§  All attendees who return  completed Networking Bingo Cards will be eligible for a special networking raffle prize drawing. You must be present to win.

§  All attendees who return completed conference surveys will be eligible for door prize drawing which will start at 5:00 p.m. and you must be present to win.