November Virtual: Fresh Approaches to Diversity Recruiting

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.

Emily McCrary-Ruiz-Esparza is a freelance journalist and From Day One contributing editor who writes about work, the job market, and women’s experiences in the workplace. Her work has appeared in the BBC, The Washington Post, Quartz at Work, Fast Company, and Digiday’s Worklife.

Louis is a Product Manager at RethinkCare, overseeing the day-to-day operations and expansion of RethinkCare’s diversity & inclusion course content and training approach. Louis began working at Rethink in 2020 and specializes in supporting and advocating for the equitable treatment of neurodiverse individuals and other marginalized groups in sectors such as race, gender, gender identity, and orientation. Louis also represents RehinkCare on three Disability:IN committees. Before joining RethinkCare, Louis started a hiring program for individuals with neurodiverse conditions such as autism at a global technology company. He continually aims to make a positive impact on those who are underserved. As an individual who experienced selective mutism first-hand, Louis inspires and actively contributes to the current work. He is the co-author of “ECHO: A Vocal Language Program for Easing Anxiety in Conversation,” a Plural Publishing book designed to help older children and teens needing social communication support. Louis obtained a bachelor of science degree in finance from Saint John’s University.

Glenn Jackson is the Chief Diversity Officer at M&T Bank. In his role, Glenn is responsible for advancing M&T’s efforts in promoting diversity, equity & inclusion for all colleagues across the company. Glenn joined M&T in 1999 as a participant in the Management Development Program. He held positions in Finance, Treasury and Retail divisions before joining Buffalo Promise Neighborhood as the Chief Operating Officer and Senior Director of Programs of Buffalo Promise Neighborhood, a comprehensive school-based initiative led by M&T Bank.

Glenn earned a bachelor’s degree in Economics from Harvard University. Glenn is a board member of the John R. Oishei Foundation seated on the Finance Committee. He Is also a board member of the WNY Impact Investment Fund. In addition, Glenn is a board member of the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo and Project Play WNY. Glenn also has been elected to the Lancaster Central School District Board of Education, in Lancaster, NY.

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.

Amy Onori is the Senior Vice President, Talent Acquisition at Publicis Media.

Rena Nigam is the Founder & CEO for Meytier, a smart hiring and talent intelligence platform for companies to hire in an equitable manner. She is a serial entrepreneur and a specialist in building and scaling firms that focus on the re-imagination of businesses through technology.

Through 2018, Rena was President and Board Member at Incedo, a fast-growing firm focused on Data Analytics and Emerging Technologies. In 2011, Rena co-founded a Digital Transformation focused firm called aSpark, which was sold to LiquidHub (now, Capgemini).

She started her career at Standard Chartered Bank and then spent over a decade as one of the early employees at Mphasis, a Financial Services focused technology services firm. In her last role at Mphasis, she was on the company’s Executive team as the global head of their largest unit, Banking & Capital Markets.

Rena is a regular contributor to leading industry publications on AI and bias, equitable hiring, and women in technology and leadership. She is a frequent speaker at academic and industry conferences on this topic.

A computer engineering graduate from the University of Bombay with an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Calcutta, Rena is based in New York City.

Shenece Garner Johns is the Head of Inclusion and Diversity for JCPenney, the icononic retail company that operates more than 650 stores across the U.S. Based at company headquarters in Plano, Texas, she leads a team focused on building an inclusive and diverse strategy for the future for JCP Associates, Customers, and the Communities
served. Her priorities include advancing diverse representation at all levels, accelerating L&D competencies across the organization, and integrating L&D throughout the business. Most importantly, she is focused on creating a culture of
inclusion where all thrive, and through the unleashing the power of people, programs, and principles to bring I&D ambitions to life at JC Penney.

Prior to joining JCP, Shenece has over 20+ years of leadership experience and has worked in various industries such as banking, consulting, and medical devices in change management and transformation, organization design, and talent management roles. Shenece earned positions of increasing responsibilities at Lockheed Martin, Alcon, Deloitte Consulting and Accenture Consulting respectively.

Shenece earned a bachelor’s degree in Business Management from Austin Peay State University and holds a master’s degree in Human Resource Development from Vanderbilt University. Shenece is active in her community. She is an active member of the DFW Mid-Cities Chapter of Jack and Jill of America, Inc. where she has held various leadership roles. She is also an active member of her sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. She is the proud wife of Terry Johns and mother of three
(Maya, Zachary, and Sydni).

Stacey Olive is the VP of Talent Acquisition and Employer Branding for Medidata Solutions, a division of Dassault Systèmes that develops and markets software for clinical trials. Joining Medidata in 2021, Stacey is responsible for leading a team that manages Medidata’s global recruiting strategy and execution as well as talent attraction. Prior to working at Medidata, Stacey led global talent acquisition for the New York Times for five years. She has a bachelor’s degree from Florida Atlantic University as well as a law degree from George Washington University.

Monica Parodi is the Vice President of Talent Acquisition at The New York Times.

Nick Mailey is the Vice President of Talent Acquisition at Equinix.

Avenica CEO Scott Dettman is a dynamic leader with a strong track record of driving growth through transformation and innovation in the human capital arena.

Scott joined Avenica in 2019 following a six-year stint with ManpowerGroup that included progressive leadership roles spanning analytics and transformation to general management and business development.

Scott has a master’s degree and Ph.D. (ABD) from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and most recently completed an Executive Leadership program at Harvard Business School.

Josh Brenner is the CEO of Hired, the most efficient way to fill tech and sales roles today. With unbiased insights, DEI features, and dedicated Customer Success Managers, Hired matches talent around the world with top companies across the spectrum. As Hired’s CEO, he’s dedicated to transforming recruiting and hiring with more transparent, equitable, and rewarding experiences for candidates and employers.

A product-focused leader, Josh has an entrepreneurial spirit and a drive to help businesses of all sizes succeed. As founder and former CEO of bTreated, a yield-management marketplace acquired by SpaFinder Wellness, Josh brings extensive experience and insight in developing and growing platform-based solutions.

Before joining Hired, Josh held product leadership roles at TiVo, Nomi, Visible World, and Intuit. Josh has also served as an advisor to innovative startups including Shopkeep and Terms on Time.

Originally from Long Island, New York, Josh earned a BBA in Marketing and Business Management from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and currently resides in Greenwich, CT, with his wife & two young daughters.

Lizzy McLellan Ravitch is The Philadelphia Inquirer’s business desk workplace reporter where she covers emerging, evolving and interesting jobs, what workers are fighting for, and how employers are addressing those needs.

Recently, Ravitch was an investigative reporter at Billy Penn at WHYY. She was a reporter, business of law editor and senior reporter and business of law senior editor at ALM Media LLC.

She was a general business reporter at The Daily Record and a general assignment reporter at The Frederick News-Post.

Ravitch has a B.A. from the University of Maryland and a M.S. from Arizona State University.

Matthew Legere has been a Senior Vice President with Brown & Brown for the last 11 years and has 25 years of experience with employee benefits.  In his current role, he leads both the Manhattan, NYC office and Parsippany, NJ office for Brown & Brown, as well as serving as a senior Employee Benefits leader in the Boston area for Brown & Brown. 

He manages a team of over 20 leaders and consultants across the New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts area for Brown & Brown and believes that life is all about relationships.  As an Employee Benefits leader, he helps his teams and clients design innovative solutions that drive engagement, cost containment, and strategic innovation. 

Prior to his consulting experience (which started with Mercer), he spent 11 years working for insurance carriers (CIGNA, Aetna, and UHC) in a variety of roles including claims management, data analytics, underwriting, procurement, and operations. 

Matthew is also very passionate about making sure that diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging efforts move from buzzword to action.  He is a Senior Leader with Brown & Brown’s LGBT Teammate Resource Group.  He also leads a monthly meeting design to talk about how to incorporate DEIB into our daily lives as HR, Compensation, Recruiting, and Total Rewards leaders.

Matthew feels that he has been put on the planet to encourage people and his favorite phrase to say is “we got this!”.  He believes that a good benefits consultant should have the heart of a teacher and be in the trenches to “do life together” with their clients.

Vivek has been researching and writing about team participation and remote team behavior for most of his career.  His focus has been on improving team participation so that everyone can be heard. ReTeam is focused on providing tools and processes to be used in course of everyday to improve interpersonal relationships, wellness, idea sharing and team participation without having to pull people away for offsite or meetings. 

Vivek is a published author having written several articles, and holds multiple patents for technical innovations.