Dr. Charles Barber was appointed to the Senior Executive Service (SES) and assumed the duties as Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer, National Science Foundation in January 2023. In this role, he serves as the NSF’s senior advisor responsible for providing vision, strategic leadership and management for ongoing agency programs and new initiatives related to diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility, or DEIA, in the NSF workplace and the STEM enterprise. Prior to his appointment as  Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer, Dr. Barber served as Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Programs, Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Manpower and Reserve Affairs and was a primary author on the Navy’s Task Force One Navy report that led to the Operational Navy’s DE&I Implementation Strategy. Dr. Barber is a TEDx speaker and served as the feature speaker on DEI at the 2022 DAU TEDx conference.

Dr. Barber has led a broad range of diversity efforts, development of culture intelligence capabilities, strategy, organizational leadership, critical data analysis and business transformation initiatives that have provided world class human resource and transformational leadership support to a dynamic range of public and private sector clients to include military service members, civilians and their families. With more than two decades of experience in HR, Diversity & Inclusion, Business Transformation and Cultural Intelligence, Dr. Barber is a staunch advocate for efficiency, transformation and process improvement. He spearheaded development of the Army’s Soldier Record Brief (SRB) while supporting the Integrated Personnel and Pay System – Army (IPPS-A) during one of the largest Army HR Transformation efforts in the modern era. At the Defense Logistics Agency, he led the development of a culture intelligence framework that integrated transformational leadership principles within the DLA enterprise. As Director of Business Transformation for the
Department of Defense Vetting Directorate, he was a key contributor to the US government’s security clearance and background investigation process improvement effort. He also previously served as the Chief Human Capital Officer for the District of Columbia Courts.

Dr. Barber holds a doctorate degree in Transformational Leadership from Bakke Graduate University, and other degrees in Organizational Leadership and Business Management from
Columbia Southern University and Excelsior College. He is a certified Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt and a previous guest lecturer at Harvard Kennedy School’s Senior Executive Fellows Program for Political Science and Government. Dr. Barber is a U.S. Army veteran with deployments to Kosovo and Iraq. A native of Bald Knob, Arkansas, he also starred as a sprinter on the Ouachita Baptist University and All Army Track Teams and achieved a personal best of 9.98 seconds in the 100 Meter dash, and recently inducted into the Arkansas Track and Field Hall of Fame (class of 2022).

Patty Cousins serves as Global Officer, HR Operations & Partnerships for Marriott International, Inc., the world’s largest hotel company.  In this role, Patty leads the HR partners for Marriott’s corporate disciplines, optimizing headquarters and above-property operations to align with Marriott’s business strategy and culture.  Patty also oversees HR Operations, a function that includes associate relations, HR compliance, HR contracts and governance, and ESG Human Capital reporting.  Patty lives in Maryland with her husband and is the mother of three and stepmother of three. She received her J.D. from University of Maryland School of Law, and her B.A.  from the University of Maryland College Park. 

Henry Lonsdale, VP of Sales & Co-Founder of California Payroll

• Co-Founded California Payroll in 2001
• HR industry since 1993
• Former Director of Recruiting Training for 700-person company
• Consulted with over 1500 companies, large and small
• Former leading sales representative for a national payroll provider
• Former Workers’ Compensation Insurance & Benefits Broker 1996-1999
• American Payroll Association: Speaker at National Congress
• Member, Society Human Resource Manager: Speaker/Member
• The Payroll Group: Member
• HR-Star: Speaker
• Past Northern California Human Resources Association – NCHRA: Board of Directors, Tri-Valley Chapter
• Past Board Director, Independent Payroll Providers Association – IPPA
• Married with wife and two kids

Meg Delp is the Director of Workplace Mental Health with the National Alliance on Mental Illness and a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist with a specialty in Organizational Psychology. As the Director of Workplace Mental Health at NAMI, she partners with organizations of all sizes and spearheads initiatives to promote mental health awareness and support in professional settings. Meg is dedicated to destigmatizing mental illness and creating mentally healthy workplaces at the individual and organizational levels.