November Virtual: Making Your Company a Magnet for a Diverse Workforce 

Jamie Fiore Higgins became one of the few women at the highest ranks of Goldman Sachs. Spurred on by the obligation she felt to her working-class immigrant family, she rose through the ranks and saw it all: out-of-control, lavish parties flowing with never-ending drinks; affairs flouted in the office; rampant drug use; and most pervasively, a discriminatory culture that seemed designed to hold back the few women and people of color employed at the company.

Despite Goldman Sachs having the right talking points and statistics, Fiore Higgins soon realized that these provided a veneer to cover up what she found to be an abusive culture. Her account is one filled with shocking stories of harassment and jaw-dropping tales of exclusionary behavior: when she was told she only got promoted because she is a woman; when her coworkers mooed at her after she pumped for her fourth child, defying the superior who had advised her not to breastfeed; or when a male boss used a
racial epithet in front of her, other colleagues, and clients without any repercussions.

Paul is the Chief Diversity, Inclusion and Equity Officer at State Street Corporation. In this role, Paul leads the global implementation of State Street’s inclusion, diversity, and equity strategies. He also oversees State Street’s Affirmative Action program.

Prior to joining State Street, Paul was a Managing Director and co-founder of Foster & Francisco LLC, an executive search and diversity consulting firm based in Boston. Prior to Foster & Francisco, Paul led recruitment & consulting and relationship management functions at Bank of America, as well as Fidelity Investments, respectively. Early in his career he led recruitment efforts at Amica Mutual Insurance, and The Gillette Company.

Paul currently sits on the boards of The Base Inc., The Posse Foundation’s Boston Leadership Council, and Morgan Memorial Goodwill. Paul also serves on Boston University’s Black Alumni Leadership Council, The Partnership Inc’s., Executive Leadership Council, and the 30% Club’s Steering Committee. Additionally, he serves the Simmons University Institute for Inclusive Leadership Board of Advisors, and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts Advisory Board. He is an active member of the Patriots Alumni Association, and the New England Patriots Charitable Foundation. In March of 2017 Paul was appointed by Massachusetts Governor, Charlie Baker, to serve on the Black Advisory Board Commission. Paul is also one of the cofounders of the New Commonwealth Racial Equity and Social Justice Fund.

His recognitions include the Boston Business Journal’s 2007 “Top 40 under 40”, 2009 “20 on the Move” recognizing Hispanic Executives making a difference in Boston, and in 2020 the “Power 50”. Additionally, El Planeta Newspaper’s Powermeter; “100 Most Influential Latinos in Massachusetts”, and Color Magazine’s 2009 “All Inclusive Award for Leadership”.
Paul has also been recognized by the Boston National Black MBA Association with the “Corporate Leadership Award”, the
Profiles in Diversity Journal “Diversity Leader” Award, and Black Enterprise 2018 “Top Executives in Corporate” Diversity,
as well as by the National Diversity Council as one of the “Top 100 Chief Diversity Officers”.

Paul graduated from Boston University with a BA in Political Science. In 2018 he received a Doctor in Humane Letters
Degree (Hon) from Fisher College, and also a graduate of the Advanced Management Program at the Harvard Business
School.

As the Global Head of Talent Acquisition, Jin Ivacic leads the Talent Acquisition function at Hyatt Hotels Corporation, a top global hospitality company that is guided by its purpose – to care for people so they can be their best. She is responsible for the strategy, vision and implementation of key programs, processes and systems to attract and hire global talent, in an increasingly competitive recruitment landscape. She lives in Chicago, and also serves on the board of BUILD Chicago, which is a non-profit focused on youth empowerment and development.

Aryeh Lehrer is VP of talent management & acquisition at Comcast. Aryeh believes that in today’s environment you have to look at more than just external recruiting. He focuses on his company’s talent-management strategy and development of their internal employees, succession planning, and the diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives that they have. Aryeh is an advisory board member and alumni board director for Florida Atlantic University’s School of Communications and Multimedia Studies. He is also on the National Board of Directors for the Emma Bowen Foundation and the National Diversity Council. Aryeh earned his B.A. in Business Communication at Atlantic University and is currently completing his MBA in organizational leadership at Barry University.

Singleton Beato is the Global EVP, Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer at McCann Worldgroup,
where she is responsible for designing and leading strategic initiatives that increase organizational capacity,
innovation and growth. With over 25 years of experience as an accomplished executive, Singleton is recognized for her
success driving large scale people and organizational change initiatives across a wide range of industries, having held talent leadership roles at J. Walter Thompson, Crunch Fitness International, and Bloomberg L.P.

Previously, Singleton was EVP, Diversity Strategy and Talent Development at the 4A’s where she provided leadership
and advice to senior advertising and media agency executives working to create and activate a strategic approach to D&I. Singleton was the visionary and architect of high-profile initiatives including The Face Of Talent symposium and the Ad industry’s only Talent Leadership Conference, Talent@2030. She also led the transformation of the renowned Multicultural Advertising Intern Program (MAIP) and the 4A’s Foundation. And, after assuming P&L responsibility for Talent Development and Diversity related revenue streams, Singleton consistently delivered on revenue and margin growth targets for the organization.

Singleton received a MS from Fairleigh Dickinson University and serves on several non-profit boards including the Brand Erwin Center for Brand Communications, AdWeek’s D&I Council, the AAF’s Mosaic Council, NYWICI, Own The Room and Figure Skating in Harlem as well as the Advisory Board of the Brand + Integrated Communications program. She has received numerous awards and accolades from the AAF, the 4A’s, the ADCOLOR Coalition, the National Diversity Council, the World Diversity Leadership Summit. Additionally, Singleton was named one of 2019’s Most Influential Women In Corporate America by Savoy Magazine, one of AdWeek’s 2020 Women Trailblazers and one of New York’s Most Outstanding Corporate Citizens.

Carol currently serves as the VP, Benefits for Mr. Cooper Group.  She joined Mr. Cooper in February 2022 after relocating from Houston to Dallas, TX.  She holds a Bachelor of Science in Business degree with a concentration in human resources and have worked as a HR professional for more than 30 years. She is also a Certified Professional in Human Resources (PHR) and hold the Society for Human Resource Management SHRM-CP certification.  She a HR Generalist specializing in Global Health and Welfare, Retirement, and Pension plan administration.  During her career in HR she has demonstrated her ability to exceed entrepreneur and corporate objectives in a variety of executive and senior HR management and entrepreneurial roles.

She is an active member the Society of Human Resources Management (SHRM), International Foundation of Employee Benefits Plans (IFEBP), DallasHR, HR Houston, Houston Compensation & Benefits (HC&B), and the National Association of African Americans in Human Resources (NAAAHR).  She is also the past Committee Chair of Ascende Charitable Trust (ACT) and has chaired various ERG and customer experience initiatives during her career.  Carol McBride is the Founder and Managing Partner of The Carol McBride Group, LLC (CMG) and the author of HR, Where’s Your Freaking Sense of Humor?  She is also sponsored her own HR Consortium to share knowledge and experiences with the HR community. She invited as a human resources subject matter and motivational public speaker in the Houston and the surrounding area.

Mona Sloane, Ph.D., is a Research Assistant Professor and Senior Research Scientist at the NYU Center for Responsible AI and an Adjunct Professor at NYU’s Tandon School of Engineering, as well as a Fellow with NYU’s Institute for Public Knowledge (IPK). She also is the technology editor for Public Books and a fellow of The GovLab.

Mona is currently working on new methods for AI auditing, innovating AI procurement, AI in hiring and talent acquisition, new AI tools for investigative journalism, local governance innovation on AI, and a range of other responsible AI topics. She holds a Ph.D. from the London School of Economics and Political Science and has written for the Guardian and MIT Technology Review, among many other outlets. You can follow her on Twitter @mona_sloane.

Spencer Whitney is currently a Digital Editor for KQED News. Prior to joining KQED News, Spencer worked as the Multimedia Editor at the Oakland Post and an Assistant Editor in the Editorial department at the San Francisco Chronicle. In those positions, he was responsible for organizing and producing web-based content on a daily basis while also writing columns and reporting on local politics, community news and education around the Bay Area. He attended Howard University as an undergraduate and interned with SiriusXM. He holds a master’s degree from UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism and wrote for the hyperlocal news sites Richmond Confidential and Oakland North. He has volunteered at San Quentin Prison to help produce content for the monthly news publication San Quentin News.

Jessica Kim is the co-founder/CEO of ianacare on a mission to encourage, empower, and equip family caregivers with the practical tools and communities, so no one does it alone. The platform leverages the powerful combination of technology + personalized navigation to organize and mobilize all the layers of support. Her dedication stems from being the primary caregiver for her mom who fought a seven-year battle with pancreatic cancer. Jessica is a 3x startup founder, speaker, and caregiving advocate, was honored as Crain’s Top 40 under 40, Forbes Next 1000, and Woman in Digital Health Award 2020, served as the inaugural EIR & Presidential Council advisor at Brown University, & Venture Partner at Praxis Labs. She graduated from Brown University and received her MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. She lives in Boston with her three young children, husband, and 83-year-old father.

Lizzie Wright is the Director of Customer Success at Carrot Fertility, the leading global fertility healthcare company. In her role, Lizzie leads her team in engaging, growing, and retaining Carrot’s largest enterprise customers. A passion for health equity and fertility care access led her to Carrot and she’s thrilled to be a resource for the company’s growing customer base.

Lizzie is an experienced strategic relationship manager with a background in benefits management and go-to-market consulting. Prior to joining Carrot in 2021, she most recently served as a benefits leader for The Boeing Company and as a consulting manager at ZS Associates.

Lizzie holds a Bachelor of Science from Tulane University and a Master of Business Administration with concentrations in Strategy and Marketing from Northwestern University. In her free time, she enjoys playing with her dog, Teddy, and exploring the many fantastic restaurants Chicago has to offer.

Kim Mitchell is the Vice President of Program Strategy and Engagement at NPower. She is responsible for
supporting the CEO and other members of the executive team to drive strategy for NPower programs. This
includes driving program and curriculum innovation, manage growth and expansion and refine regional
strategic plans as it related to program delivery. She joined NPower in 2018.

Kim is a seasoned professional with decades of leadership experience in Philanthropy, Human Resources,
Consulting and Diversity & Inclusion while at JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Xerox Corporation.
As the former Northeast Region Executive for JPMorgan Chase Foundation, Kim led philanthropic, civic and
employee engagement activities and managed a social investment portfolio of over $40 million in grants and
strategic sponsorships. Given this unique blend of experience, Kim is recognized for her expertise and proven
record in leading high-profile projects, building and leading high performing teams and advising senior
business and community leaders on integrating organizational assets to achieve business and community
outcomes.

Her work in corporate diversity has been a valuable asset in service to the nonprofit sector. As funder and
thought partner, Kim has worked with organizations fighting housing, education and economic inequity to
help identify solutions at the organizational, policy and systems level.

Lydia Dishman is Fast Company’s senior editor for growth and engagement. She has also written for CBS Moneywatch, Fortune, The Guardian, Popular Science, and the New York Times, among others.

Veronica Taylor, CFP® is a Financial Planner at Northstar with her own personal journey of paying down debt and breaking the generational cycle of living paycheck-to-paycheck. Ever since, her mission has been to help close the racial wealth divide, by sharing her knowledge and guiding others in the Black community particularly— not just by paying down debt, but by helping to build their financial legacies. Veronica switched careers and joined Northstar to reposition her life’s work and career path in support of making that vision a reality. Veronica believes it’s one thing to help clients with their personal finances, but it’s a very different thing to help them build wealth for themselves and their families.

Britt Barney is the Manager of Customer Success of Northstar, the financial wellness platform for employees. With 10 years of experience in fintech, Britt has had a hand in all areas of the space from working as a financial planner to managing financial planning and customer success teams. Inspired by mission driven startups with a focus on DEI and serving traditionally underserved communities, Britt has traveled the country giving seminars on financial wellness. Previously at LearnVest and Northwestern Mutual, Britt has always had a passion for building relationships and helping her clients drive engagement and utilization while providing education and guidance for employees to reach their personal goals.

Rebecca Warren is the Director of Talent Centered Transformation, at Eightfold AI and has been in and around the TA space for 15+ years at a variety of organizations and industries in both full-time and consulting roles. She has been at Eightfold for just over a year in customer success and the president of the Arizona Recruiters Networking Community (part of the Recruiters Network) and is passionate about helping people succeed.

Christina Tymony (she/her) is an HR professional with over 10 years of experience spanning benefits, learning & development and recruiting. Over the last few years, she's been dedicated to supporting underrepresented communities by building and leading strategies focused on diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging in Tech. She's a Seattle, Washington native, and alumna of Seattle University.

Athena Karp is the founder and CEO of HiredScore, an artificial intelligence HR technology company that powers the global Fortune 500. HiredScore leverages the power of data science and machine learning to help companies reach diversity and inclusion goals, adapt for the future of work, provide talent mobility and opportunity, and HR efficiencies. HiredScore has won best-in-class industry recognition and honors for delivering business value, accelerating HR transformations, and leading innovation around bias mitigation and ethical AI.