Events

Annual Workforce Development Summit

Organizations face a new world context of relentless, rapid, and often disruptive change. At the heart of this daunting task is the evolving and increasingly complex role of a Chief Diversity Officer (CDO), a plight felt similarly by other organizational DE&I leaders. Despite the challenges, these roles are essential to a company’s operations, everyday workforce strategy, and opportunities for innovation.

This year’s Forum will take a deep dive into the critical business issues facing diversity, equity, and inclusion leaders today, and bring together top-level practitioners to discuss the issues and potential solutions. By attending, you will gain insight into how industry experts are addressing and solving these challenges.

Practitioners will come from different types of companies, offering insight into how to apply DE&I knowledge and solutions in different situations for successful outcomes. You will hear from a speaker lineup of in-house practitioners and consultants who are doing this work, and they will share honest, genuine insights they have learned over time. They will provide details of how they work, where they have had to swerve and change direction, and how to achieve results.

This event does not focus on highlighting an organization’s DE&I initiatives in only a positive light, but instead looks to see the HOW behind the results: How did they do it? What steps did they take? Where were the setbacks or challenges, they had to adapt to? This work is not a linear progression, and we will dive into that.

The 2024 Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Forum will begin on Thursday, May 9th at 9:00 AM ET and conclude on Friday, May 10th at 2:30 PM ET, taking place at 701 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W., Washington, DC 20004. 

CEWD DE&I FORUM
EXECUTIVE STEERING COMMITTEE

Taiwan Brown – Entergy 
Vice President, Diversity and Workforce Strategies 

Joyce Cooper, MHR, PHR – Omaha Public Power District (OPPD) 
Director, Diversity Equity & Inclusion 

Laurie Dowling – National Utilities Diversity Council (NUDC) 
Executive Director 

Silas Dulan III, MSM – Black & Veatch 
Associate Vice President, Global Director of Diversity Equity & Inclusion 
Vice Chair of the Board for DE&I at CEWD 

Natalie Edwards – National Grid 
Global Chief Diversity Officer  

Steven Fleischer – Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG) 
Executive Director, HR – Diversity Equity & Inclusion and Talent Acquisition 

Nichelle Grant, CDE – Siemens USA 
Head of Diversity Equity & Inclusion

Missy Henriksen – Center for Energy Workforce Development
Executive Director

Cornell Johnson – Center for Energy Workforce Development
Director, Diversity Equity & Inclusion

Robert Matthews – Exelon 
Vice President, Chief Diversity Officer 

Paul McFadden – JEA
Director, Diversity Equity & Inclusion 

Gwen Mizell – Ameren
Senior Vice President, Chief Sustainability, Diversity, and Philanthropy Officer 

Courtney Peterson, PCC – Edison Electrical Institute (EEI)
Senior Vice President, Chief Human Resources Officer, and Chief Diversity Officer
Chief Administrative Officer for CEWD  

Sharene Pierce – Duke Energy
Vice President, Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer 

Tanya Spencer – GE Vernova
Chief Diversity Officer 

Rayfield Stringer III – Constellation
Vice President, Chief Diversity Officer 

Angela Thompkins, J.D., LL.M. – Consumers Energy
Vice President, Chief Diversity Officer 

Constance Thompson, CCDP/AP – American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE)
Senior Vice President, Equity & Justice 

Markisha Webster, Ed.D. – Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD)
Director, Diversity Equity & Inclusion 

2024 DE&I SPONSORS

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