2012 Diversity Summit

Session Schedule

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

Summit Co-Chairs:           Renee Byas,  General Counsel, Houston Community College System

                                       John Sequeira,  Diversity and Inclusion Consultant, Shell Oil Company

Welcome Remarks:         The Honorable Edward (Ed) Emmett, County Judge, Harris County

Session Chair:                 M. Helen Cavazos, President, MH Cavazos Associates

Speaker:                          George Gaston, CEO, Memorial Hermann Southwest Hospital

Speaker:                          Glenn Godkin, President, Greater Houston Region, Wells Fargo

Speaker:                          Maria Rios, CEO, Nation Waste

CEO Forum will provide an opportunity for three CEO’s to share Diversity Best Practices in their respective industries; share what has been successful in their organizations and what has been a challenge; how they have leveraged diversity within their employee base, and externally with their customer and supplier base.   In addition, in keeping with this year’s theme of, “Exploring the Future of Diversity and Inclusion,” share their vision of Diversity and Inclusion in the years ahead.

Network, visit Exhibits, or Sign up for Coach’s Corner

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

Topic:  "The Changing Face of Houston: Tracking the Demographic Transformations through 31 Years of Surveys"

Speaker:          Dr. Stephen Klineberg, Professor of Sociology, Co-Director, Kinder Institute for Urban Research, Rice University

The Houston region, along with the rest of Texas, recovered from the collapse of the oil-boom in the 1980s to find itself in the midst of a restructured economy and a demographic revolution. We review the findings from more than three decades of systematic survey research, including major additional interviews in Houston's Anglo, African-American, Latino, and Asian communities, to explore the way the ongoing transformations are unfolding, and to consider their implications for the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.

Mistress of Ceremony:  Sonia Azad, KTRK-TV Houston, TX

Keynote Address:  "The Need for New Leadership: Crisis in Texas Higher Education"

Speaker:                       Dr. Richard Tapia, University Professor, Rice University

Today, Texas is a majority minority state. Extreme growth in the Hispanic population, primarily Mexican American, is forcing educational challenges at a crisis level for Texas. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that this fastest growing segment of the state's population continues to be the least educated. Dr. Tapia’s warning is that the rate at which the minority population is growing outpaces the rate at which we are improving our effectiveness in educating this segment of the population. Because the economic health of the state is based in large measure upon technical advances, Texas must find a way to incorporate this growing population into the mainstream of scientific and technical endeavors

Diversity Champion Awards:

Corporate           Earl Shipp, Dow Chemical

Community         Dolly Brenneman, Sourcing for Greatness

Network, visit Exhibits, or Sign up for Coach’s Corner

The afternoon program consists of four concurrent sessions: A, B, C, and D. 

2:00 p.m. – 3:10 p.m.   “Breaking Through: Leadership Strategies in a Multicultural World”

Session Chair:    Dolly Brenneman, President and Founder, Sourcing for Greatness

Speaker:          Jane Hyun, President, Hyun  & Associates and Author of “Breaking the Bamboo Ceiling”

For organizations seeking to compete in today’s multicultural marketplace, it is vital to understand the unique needs of employees with different backgrounds. Failing to do so could be costly, leading to miscommunication at a minimum and potentially a less competitive global position stemming from attrition or loss of market share.

Throughout this presentation, Hyun will explore a non-judgmental cultural framework that drives workplace interactions, using specific examples from our bamboo ceiling® research on how different communication styles can be perceived in a dominant corporate culture. She will explore specific ways in which culture might profoundly impact interpersonal dynamics and provide proven strategies for getting to the next stage within your career.

Key themes include:

1. Looking in the Mirror: Understanding Your Lenses and Managing Diversity of Thought

s  A framework with which to understand your effectiveness in the workplace

s  Views of power, communication and conflict using male/female and cross-cultural examples

s  “I Didn’t Mean it That Way!” - Managing common misunderstandings in workplace interactions

s  Taking a cultural “read” of your team, your business unit, your organization

2. Reaching the Top and Barriers Along the Way

s  The Unwritten Rules of the Game at Your Employer: Understanding the 3 “roles” in a career lifespan

3. Leading Effectively in the Global Stage

s  Implications for leading dispersed, multicultural teams

s  Engaging globally to build your business/impact P&L

3:20 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.  “Next Generation of Leaders”

Session Chair:    Krystal Nelson, Procurement & Supply Chain Specialist, BP America Production Company

Panelists:         Anthony Agi,  Urban Experience Program at University of Houston

David Anderson, III,  President, 20.10 Media, LLC

Kafayat Babajide, Co-Founder, Young Professional Muslims

Norma Torres,  Rice University

"What's the vision for the future? Are the right opportunities and tools in place to prepare and sustain the Next Generation of Leaders for D&I.? The "Next Generation of Leaders" session explores the answers to these questions and more.

2:00 p.m. – 3:10 p.m.   “Where is the “WIIFM” in D&I for White Male Leaders?”

Session Chair:   Ariana Robinson,  Human Resource Analyst, Shell Oil Company

Speaker:          Bill Proudman,  Co-Founder, White Men as Full Diversity Partners

White males continue to make up a large segment of the workforce especially at mid and senior levels in organizations. How is it that some of them are real champions of Diversity and Inclusion and others are neutral at best? Bill Proudman, Co-Founder of “White Men as Full Diversity Partners” has been a pioneer in this specific area of D&I and he will share his perspective as a 20+ year practitioner across a host of companies and industries. Hear from him and other champions that have lived this challenge day to day in developing effective intervention strategies that will create the “What’s in it for me” factor for white males in your organization.

3:20 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.   “Multicultural Women and Power”

Session Chair:    Neddy Perez,  Vice President, Global Diversity & Inclusion, Ingersoll Rand

Speakers:         Bobbi Mooney, Global Manager of Information Management & Technology for Shell Manufacturing

Debra Stewart, Director of  Supplier Diversity, Workforce Development & Diversity Outreach, Shell Oil Company

When does 1 + 1 equal more than 2?  At the intersection of ethnicity and gender, the challenges to inclusion are multiplied rather than simply added.  In this workshop the unique diversity challenges of multicultural women in the corporate world will be explored from the perspective of power and privilege, diversity data, and personal story and experience.  Workshop participants will begin to understand how the corporate experience of multicultural women may differ from that of their white male, white female and multicultural male colleagues; how multicultural women, allies and corporate leadership can support full inclusion of multicultural women; and how one company – Shell – is focusing on development and inclusion of multicultural women through a unique affinity group - the POWER InterNetwork.

2:00 p.m. – 3:10 p.m.   “DisAbility - Accommodation Facts and Fiction”

Session Chair:    David Cross, Director of the Office of Institutional Equity, Houston Community College

Moderator:      Joe Bontke, Outreach Manager and Ombudsman for the Houston District Office of the U.S. EEOC

Panelists:         Auturo Jackson, Sr. Director for Customer Care and Customized Services, Houston METRO

Maria R. Palacios, Community outreach/Information Coordinator for the Houston Center for Independent Living

Fear of the unknown can inhibit employers from looking at employee accommodation issues with the future in mind. This fear can negatively impact a decision regarding the hiring or promotion of a person with a disability who shows leadership and promise. This panel of experts in the area of workplace accommodations will provide tools to help you help employers and managers ‘see past the disability’ and focus on the value that an inclusive decision brings to the workplace.

3:20 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.   “LGBT Issues in the Workplace – The next frontier of Engagement”

Session Chair:   John Sequeira, Diversity and Inclusion Consultant, Shell Oil Company

Speakers:         Deena Fidas, Deputy Director, Workplace Project, Public Education & Outreach, Human Rights Campaign

Cuc Vu, Chief Diversity Officer, Human Rights Campaign

The landmark Human Rights Campaign study, Degrees of Equality found that despite the progress in corporate America and in general familiarity and opinions regarding LGBT acceptance, over half of all LGBT workers nationwide remain closeted on the job, resulting in lost productivity and retention for both the individual and working groups.  The main focus of this workshop will be an interactive toolkit that HRC created based on this study, “More than Small Talk: Promoting an Inclusive Work Environment through Communication”. Participants will learn how to use the toolkit, enabling them to go back to their workplaces and develop action plans or strategies with their HR and D&I executives and/or ERG leaders to increase LGBT-inclusive communication

2:00 p.m. – 3:10 p.m.   “Bullying in the Workplace”

Session Chair:    Jewel Smith, Supplier Diversity Manager, CenterPoint Energy

Speaker:          Craig B. Clayton, Sr., Founder and CEO of the Sp@rtacus Group

The workplace is becoming a battleground for many employees. The battle each day is being waged with the workplace bully who finds every excuse to degrade, belittle, chastise and basically make life miserable. Recent data has shown these behaviors have reached an almost epidemic level. (Some reports show as many as 80% of employees have experienced these behaviors.) The impact of these behaviors is devastating on the individual, the team, productivity and even the employees’ health. The information packed session will provide participants with an understanding of the following learning objectives:

·         Tough Management Versus Bullying

·         Structural Problems That facilitate Corporate Bullying

·         Targets vs. Victims

·         Harassment vs. Bullying

·         Potential Liabilities

·         Bullying and the Law

·         Types of Bully Bosses

·         Signs to Watch For

·         Strategies for Eliminating Workplace Bullying & Incivility

·         Bullying Happens in HR Too! (How to Bully Proof Yourself!)

·         Ways to Confront & Stop Workplace Bullying

3:20 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.   “Effective Networking”

Session Chair:    Grace Chi, Planning and Performance Management Analyst, BP

Speaker:          John Nguyen, CEO, Lighthouse Leadership

In 2011 investment ROI has been 6% on average and savings a mere 0.2% at best. The greatest return for your money these days is on yourself. One effective tool you can you use to get between 25% to 1,000% ROI is …….. Effective Networking.

Effective business networking is the linking together of individuals who, through trust and relationship building, become walking, talking advertisements for one another. Networking is the key to success in business, career, and community. It helps you find jobs, recruit talent, win new customers and discover stakeholders who'll support your ideas.

How often do you tell yourself if “I could just relate to others more easily, if I just possessed more self-confidence and the world would be my oyster, and schmoozing would be so much easier”. Networking is all about building personal, sincere relationships based on mutual generosity and seeing how you can help others.

In this workshop you will take away 12 tips and tons of insights to become a star networker. This is a highly engaged session. 

NOTE: This session is Rated (SP) – Shy People beware, you may have too much fun!

Door Prizes Drawing

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

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

§  Door prizes include:

·         One week stay in Orlando, Florida including a 3-bedroom condominium for accommodations and roundtrip airfare for two from Houston donated by Cole Chemical.

·         One round trip domestic airline ticket donated by United Airlines

·         Many other door prizes donated by Association of Chinese American Professionals.