Advancing workplace Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) is not only a hot topic these days, it is increasingly a suite of training deliverables that is becoming the development and implementation responsibility of many L&D functions, leaders and practitioners. Join us for a panel discussion with various DEI experts from different walks of life to help shed light on DEI practices and cultural impact. Learn how to create meaningful and sustainable change with a strong commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
We will touch upon the following topics:
- The Importance of DEI
- How to Create Sustainable Change
- Getting Leadership Buy-In
- Best Practices for Training
Agenda
6:30 PM - 7:00 PM: Announcements & Break Out Rooms
7:00 PM - 8:30 PM: Speaker Panel
Your Presenters
Kelley Beauford is a Manager of Organizational Development at Zoom where she leads a team focused on cultivating a culture of belonging that enables Zoomies to grow and excel in a changing environment. She is also the Chief Operating Officer and Co-founder of Last Gen Publishing, LLC which is committed to elevating marginalized voices across different media through storytelling. She is first-generation in her family to graduate from college and work in corporate tech.
Kelley's experience spans across the industry, having worked in biotech and SaaS, large enterprise tech companies within roles across people operations, full-cycle recruiting, and diversity, equity, and inclusion, with a primary focus on program management. She is a vetted DEI program manager who has built programs for early career pathways into tech for historically excluded and marginalized students.
Kelley has had a "non-traditional" path. She's a former community college student and the roots of her DEI subject matter expertise come from the many years she spent working in social justice and community organizing long before pivoting into tech. With a heavy emphasis on youth development and leadership, Kelley spent over a decade engaging with various non-profit and university-based organizations building curriculum and facilitating workshops for middle school, high school and college-aged students centered on topics such as Southeast Asian culture, ethnic identity and histories, higher education, career exploration, and creative expression through spoken word. She also expanded her workshops to include broader conversations with non-Southeast Asian identifying audiences around cultural identity, understanding intersectionality, and building common ground with other communities of color.
As Kelley stepped away from her direct work within non-profit and social justice, and eventually graduated from California State University Long Beach with her degree in Psychology, it was only natural that Silicon Valley would draw her in after her move back to the Bay Area. Throughout her work in tech, Kelley found ways to carry social justice into the spaces in which she found herself, both within and outside of her full-time roles. Over the years, she has been an active advocate of all ERGs and DEI initiatives, and has founded two Employee Resource Groups at different companies: She was the founding chair of the first ERG at New Relic for all employees of color (the Relics of Color), and at Meta (formerly Facebook) she founded the SoutheastAsians@Meta chapter of the APIs@Meta ERG specifically for Southeast Asian identifying members who can often feel marginalized even within the larger API community.
These days Kelley spends her time outside of work managing her publishing company while also coaching and mentoring professionals of color navigating the job market, especially those that have been disproportionately impacted by the recent layoffs in the tech industry.
Besides her professional pursuits, she has many creative outlets but mainly enjoys being a DJ. Kelley is based out of Oakland, CA where she currently resides with her two dogs, husband, and mother.
Sherlonda Martin is the Head of Global Diversity Equity and Inclusion for the Manufacturing Division at Takeda Pharmaceuticals. This global role will oversee the strategy and the roadmap for DE&I for 17,000 employees at 31 manufacturing facilities around the world. But, Covington will always be home.
As a first-generation college graduate, Sherlonda graduated from UGA in 1991 with a degree in Business with lots of science classes because her original intent was to be a physical therapist. Instead, she was introduced to the pharmaceutical industry her Jr. year in college through a summer internship with Johnson & Johnson and immediately entered the pharmaceutical industry upon graduation.
Sherlonda spent 23+ years on the commercial side (Sales). Sherlonda bridged to the manufacturing side of the business close to 8 years when she joined the Baxter site here in Covington to oversee the training team.
Sherlonda served as the co-chair for BLC here in Covington. Then, she went on to be the Executive co-chair for BLC helping to grow BLC’s presence globally within Takeda.
Sherlonda is married to her college sweetheart. Together they have five children. In her spare time she likes to plan neighborhood and family events. In addition, she enjoys photography, scrapbooking, and cheering at her kid’s sporting events.
Traco Matthews is the Chief Health Equity Officer (CHEO) for Kern Health Systems (KHS). Working with the Executive team, he provides leadership in the design and implementation of KHS’s business strategies, stakeholder relationships, and community programs to ensure health equity is prioritized and addressed. Traco brings extensive leadership skills, a strong diversity, equity, and inclusion vision, and deep community connections to this critical position in Kern County’s local Medi-Cal managed care health plan.
Traco continually seeks to improve culture, processes, and outcomes through his work at KHS and in the community. He uses his experience in the private, public, and nonprofit sectors to contribute human- centered strategic analysis, effective leadership development, and expertise in building trust with Kern Family Health Care members and other important stakeholders including providers and community partners.
The passion that drives Traco in his work at Kern Heath Systems also shapes his commitment to the community in his personal life. He teaches business courses at California State University, Bakersfield, provides mentoring for leaders on justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion, and serves as a local pastor and community advocate. He graduated from the University of California, Davis with a bachelor’s degree in Economics in 2001, and from California State University, Bakersfield, with an M.B.A. in 2017. He is happily married to his wife of over 20 years, Dr. Jessica Grimes, a community college district administrator. Bakersfield, CA serves as the home base for their frequent travels and life adventures.
Joe Vachon is an Enterprise Customer Success Manager at Zoom. Working as part of account teams, Joe’s primary focus is becoming a trusted advisor to his customers, driving conversations around the importance of strategy, engaging lines of business through insightful reporting, use cases & training, and ensuring that his customers are understanding the true value of every aspect of the Zoom platform… all while having a friendly, personable and fun working relationship.
Outside of this role and others, Joe has been very involved in ERG’s at his various companies going back over 15 years. He believes that culture is best by design, not default. Because an authentic and represented culture is important, he has taken leadership roles Pride@Zoom, as well as being an Ally in the Women@Zoom, Zoom Soul, PACT@Zoom, Somos Zoom and others as representation is very important to him. He has also been actively involved for years supporting Habitat for Humanity, Project Open Hand, Ronald McDonald House and other non-profit organizations, while organizing his colleagues to join him in furthering their efforts.
Joe didn’t come by this career the standard way. With only 1 year of community college, followed by years of working in Retail, Banking, and then moving into more technical roles, he did go back to Technical School for his Microsoft Certification training. He found roles in leadership and project facilitation, which allowed him to cultivate his human-centric skills and interests. When he learned of the Customer Success roles, it was a natural fit.
Joe has been with his husband since 1990, and legally married since 2013. They have lived in various parts of California and raised 5 Labrador Retrievers, and now 2 corgis who are 6. Joe’s husband is retired. They love to travel by land or sea, visit with close friends, watch movies and when nearby a beach, take walks (for real!). Joe still doesn’t know what he will do when he retires, because he really enjoys connecting with people. It’s still a pet project of his.
ATD Capability Model
Participants will receive tools and experiences to support their own competencies and ATD capabilities:
- Collaboration and Leadership
- Cultural Awareness and Inclusion
- Organization Development and Culture
- Talent Strategy and Management
- Future Readiness
Photography and Video Waiver
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