Darlene Ladd, Assistant Director at Madison County Employment and Training has 8 years of experience in workforce development, assisting job seekers and businesses meeting the changing demands of the labor market. Prior to working with Madison County, she worked for over 16 years with a non-profit agency assisting individuals with disabilities in obtaining and maintaining employment.  Providing recruitment, job placement, coaching, retention services, and case management services through partnerships with Vocational Rehabilitation and Ability One Programs.  Darlene is currently on the board of directors for a small non-profit organization that provides educational and employment training opportunities to adults with disabilities.  

Payton Drury is the Human Resources Director with the City of Collinsville and has been with the City for over 6 years. Payton oversees all areas of human resources, including employee retention, employee engagement, employee recognition, employment policies, recruitment, training, and benefits. She holds a Bachelor’s in Business Administration with a focus in HR and Marketing and a Master’s in Business Administration from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.

Angela L. Talton, MBA, is City of Hope’s system senior vice president and chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer. In this role, Talton leads the development of City of Hope’s vision and strategy for advancing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), improving health equity and community benefit, and ensuring measurable DEI progress across administrative, clinical and research functions. 

Under her leadership, City of Hope has improved its ranking on DiversityInc’s list of Top Hospitals and Health Systems from #8 to #2. City of Hope has also earned the Healthcare Equality Leader designation from the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) for four years.

Parker is an HR executive committed to innovative, relevant, and contemporary HR leadership. She is an advocate for change and a passionate thought leader. Parker is responsible for advancing Google's employee engagement strategy across Diversity, Equity & Inclusion.
Prior to this role she served as the Vice President of Human Resources & Communications at Sandia National Laboratories. Parker was responsible for the leadership and Labs-wide management of human resources, health, benefits and employee services. She was also responsible for Sandia’s communication efforts, which include planning, strategy, executive communications, media relations, external branding, community affairs and internal communications.

Prior to joining Sandia as the VP of HR and Communications, Parker extended expertise from a career spanning over 17 years in a variety of Lockheed Martin business areas, locations, and progressive leadership roles. During her time at Lockheed Martin, she has held responsibility for employee relations, staffing, EEO/Affirmative Action, diversity programs, compensation, benefits, and K-12 outreach initiatives.

Parker received a B.A. in Mass Communications from Hampton University and an M.A. in Human Resources from Villanova University. She was named the 2016 HR Professional of the Year by the New Mexico Society of Human Resource Management. She was recognized with a Special Recognition Award at the 2014 Women of Color STEM Awards, and in 2012 graduated from Lockheed Martin’s Executive Assessment & Development Program.

For over 22 years, Gloria Goins has been tapped to launch new employee and business strategies to reach and acquire underserved customers at Fortune 50 companies. Most recently, Gloria was the Head of Inclusion, Diversity and Equity for the Sales, Marketing and Global Services for Amazon Web Services (AWS). Prior to her role at AWS, Gloria served as the Head of Health Equity and Business Development at Amazon Pharmacy, reporting to the CEO. In that role, Gloria was charged with growing revenue and building new business partnerships with a focus on underserved customers and was recognized by Becker’s Hospital Review as one of the top five Amazon health care executives to know. Prior to joining Amazon Pharmacy, Gloria was the Global Head of Diversity and Inclusion for Amazon’s worldwide Consumer division and supported nine business leaders in expanding the company’s brand, revenue and loyalty among diverse employees, customers, suppliers and communities.

Gloria uses her relentless ability to thrive in ambiguity to reach diverse customer markets. Notably, Gloria was recruited to build the Hispanic business strategy for The Home Depot, where she helped to launch the first paint color palette that reflects Hispanic culture (Colores Origenes), which became the highest selling paint brand at the company. While at Prudential, Gloria developed and managed the company’s largest affiliate marketing program that generated $100 million in revenue and expanded the company’s brand and market share in the African American community.
Gloria brings a national reputation as a disruptive big thinker and business builder, and as such, was invited by the CEO of The TJX Companies to serve on an external Advisory Board to position the company as the retailer of choice for diverse customers, communities and employees. As a highly sought-after public speaker and multicultural thought leader, Gloria frequently consults with senior executives and Boards of Directors on how to build an inclusive culture that attracts, engages and leverages a diverse workforce to drive growth, sales, and operational excellence.

Gloria began her career as an attorney in private practice in her hometown of Miami before becoming General Attorney for a division within BellSouth, which was one of her corporate clients. With the objective of improving customer service and growing customer acquisition for BellSouth, Gloria chose and implemented the technology that accounts for why all Americans must now dial ten digits to make a local call.

Gloria enjoys travelling, volunteering and reading books on real estate and finance. She resides in Parkland, Florida with her husband Prince, her daughter Grace, and her Yorkie Max.

Justin Jones-Fosu MBA, CSP is a full-time dad-e who also happens to be an international speaker, a social entrepreneur, and author. He is the Founder and CEO of Work. Meaningful. where he speaks 50-60 times a year for professionals, corporations, organizations, and associations. His clients include some of the biggest names in The Fortune 500 to the best spelled names in Fourth Grades across the country.He is the author of two books, the most recent being The Inclusive Mindset: How to Cultivate Diversity in Your Everyday Life. Justin is a former HR Professional who obtained his MBA specializing in Leadership and Organizational Change and undertook further graduate studies in Human Resource Development. He has also gained valuable leadership experience with three Fortune 500 companies as well as by consulting on strategy, leadership, diversity/inclusion and organizational development. Justin was named as one of EBONY Magazines “30 Young Leaders on the Rise.”
He is a former radio host and a former workplace contributor to NPR's "The Takeaway." If you only remember a few things about Justin, it’s that he loves being a dad-e and giving to educational initiatives on the continent of Africa. He believes that these are more important than any accomplishments, recognition, or accolades!