Concurrent Session

Kristy Lowther (she/her), MSW, serves as the program manager for RTI International’s Strategic Engagement & Belonging (SEB) program. In this role, she leads RTI's Employee Resource Group (ERG) Leadership Council and provides strategic oversight, budgetary input, interpersonal guidance, and mentorship to leaders and employees across the Institute. In addition, she works to ensure that managers are empowered to build inclusive teams and create a culture of belonging. Mx. Lowther is responsible for creating and implementing organizational DEI strategies, and she is an expert in the design, development, and delivery of in-depth LGBTQ+ training. She currently facilitates a 9-hour LGBTQ+ Workplace Equity Workshop to increase awareness and understanding of LGBTQ+ issues among staff, with a specific focus on equity for transgender and non-binary employees. In everything she does, Mx. Lowther works to advance policies and practices to create an equitable culture at RTI.

Carmen Ortiz-McGhee is the Chief Operating Officer of the National Association of Investment Companies (NAIC), the trade association and largest network of diverse-owned private equity firms and hedge funds. The NAIC’s membership is comprised of more than 130 members managing over $250 billion in institutional capital. As Chief Operating Officer, Carmen provides strategic oversight over all NAIC programs and initiatives, and leads the organization’s key industry alliances and corporate partnerships. 

Prior to joining NAIC, Carmen served as Senior Vice President at Aon plc. In this role, she was responsible for driving growth across all risk and health product lines in the Mid-Atlantic. Carmen guided the turnaround of the sales team, improved culture and performance, and pushed the team to its highest revenue generation and overall best performance in over a decade. Carmen also served as a member of Aon’s Diversity & Inclusion Committee. In 2014, she was tapped as one of Business Insurance Magazine’s Top 25 Women to Watch. 

Before joining Aon, Carmen was Vice President of Investor Relations for a boutique real estate private equity firm with $1 billion in assets under management. Prior to her time in real estate private equity, Carmen spent her career leading a variety of national nonprofits that advocate on behalf of ethnically diverse professionals, asset managers and entrepreneurs. Previously, Carmen was President of The Marathon Club (TMC), an organization established to accelerate relationships among the best and brightest business minds in the U.S. to create enhanced wealth creation and deal flow for ethnically diverse professionals. Carmen led programs both in the US and abroad. 

Prior to leading TMC, Carmen created value for a number of non-profit organizations. In her various roles at these organizations, Carmen led corporate fundraising strategies; membership recruitment efforts, raising the diversity and number of participants; content development, innovating unique approaches and managing the logistical implementation of the annual meetings, trade shows & conferences. 

Carmen is a passionate advocate for diverse and women-owned businesses and regularly speaks at conferences and events on various issues related to empowerment of women in business, scaling diverse businesses, authentic leadership, among others. A proud graduate of the University of Virginia, she currently serves as Chair of the Governance & Nominations Committee of the Communities in Schools national board, she sits on the Hispanics in Philanthropy PowerUp Fund Impact Cabinet, as well as on the MBA Fund I Investment Committee. 

Kerri Nelson, Ph.D., is the Director of Mission Research at SHRM. She is responsible for leading, developing, and designing strategic, public-facing research that provides organizations, business leaders, and policymakers with evidence-based insights at the intersection of people and work. She also partners with public and private organizations to produce research related to work, worker, and workplace. Kerri has led research on a variety of topics including pay equity, skills-based hiring, untapped talent pools, workplace culture, and the global workforce. Her work has been featured in top news outlets, on podcasts and webinars, and on the Hill.

Kris Erickson currently serves as co-founder and executive consultant for Workforce Science Associates. In this role, she empowers organizations to discover the unique drivers and motivational aspects that drive performance in their workforce and use these to accelerate a high-performance culture.

Kris has over 25 years of consulting experience with Fortune 500 companies. In this capacity, Erickson worked at both the strategic and tactical levels to develop and deploy comprehensive workforce solutions.

Liz is a Senior Behavioral Scientist at Coachhub, where she marries her expertise in organizational psychology, employee experience, and organizational development to close the gap between coaching research and practice. Prior to Coachhub, Liz worked for two employee experience HRTech companies, Limeade and Qualtrics, where she built global advisory teams to deliver on customer employee experience programs and provide expertise in the design of new product features and solutions.  During her time as Director of Organizational Development at Healthfirst she supported the organization’s transformation toward integrated talent management through: building employee listening strategies, assessing and supporting culture transformation, transforming performance management, delivering 360-degree feedback programs, and designing talent reviews and succession planning. In her early career, Liz was a Consultant for Towers Watson and Paris Phoenix Group, partnering with world-class organizations across industries, her client work ranged from employee engagement, culture assessment and change, competency design and implementation, career architecture, and conducting custom research to address complex business issues. Liz earned her Ph.D. in Industrial-Organizational Psychology from Seattle Pacific University and is an ICF Certified Professional Coach. Liz is an active member of the Society of Industrial-Organizational Psychology (SIOP), International Coaching Federation, and Portland Women in Tech.

Mary V. L. Wright leads one of the SHRM Foundation’s four pillars of work: Skill Building - Preparing People for Today’s and Tomorrow’s Workplaces.  A critical part of that effort is leading the implementation of the US DOL funded HR Registered Apprenticeship Program, the first national HR apprenticeship program. As such, she is responsible for all parts of the program – development, marketing, sales, budget and evaluation.  In addition, she leads the Foundation’s work on the role of credentials in achieving an organization’s diversity, equity and inclusion goals and is an integral part of the team in promoting the inclusion of untapped talent in the workforce.

Ms. Wright has many years of experience connecting the public and private sectors in municipal finance, government affairs, and workforce development as a project leader, facilitator and subject matter expert.

Previously, Ms. Wright was a director at Jobs for the Future (JFF) where she designed and supervised the completion of foundation, government and employer-funded projects on topics including: expanding employability skills, developing apprenticeship and work-based learning strategies, utilizing labor market information to determine educational focus, better hiring and training practices for people with disabilities, improving entry level jobs for the retail sector, determining the correct educational focus for specific geographic areas including the state of Florida and Columbus Ohio, and an in-depth analysis of green infrastructure jobs.

Prior to joining JFF, she served as director at The Conference Board in New York City, driving its work in workforce readiness, business, and education partnerships. She also focused on improving the employment outcomes for people with disabilities through research and convenings. Ms. Wright co-authored or acted as project director on several key Conference Board reports regarding workforce readiness skills, including Are They Really Ready to Work? and The Ill-Prepared Workforce.

She serves on the Board of Directors of the Institute for Work & the Economy and the Fort Myers Beach Community Foundation.

Ms. Wright received a Master of Business Administration in public/nonprofit management from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Arts in Urban Affairs from Connecticut College.

Dr. Belay Reddick is often labeled the "poster child" for the three Rs: rehabilitation, redemption and reentry. His remarkable story has inspired thousands and worth replicating many more times. He served 16 years in prison for a nonviolent offense.

While in prison, he wrote a letter to FedEx Express, which ended up on founder and chairman Fred Smith's desk. Months later, Dr. Reddick went from ex-fed to FedEx.

His calling is to develop the knowledge, wisdom and skills of others that will allow them to reach their full potential.

When you book Dr. Reddick, don't expect a webinar. Expect a powerful experience.

Jim Davis is an HR Expert who has written for HR publications for 6 years and hosted HR podcasts for 3 years. His professional success has come in the face of a life-long struggle with attention deficit hyperactive disorder, or ADHD. He has spoken with hundreds of HR professionals, experts, and leaders about the world of employment and has always focused on under-employed groups including those with disabilities and learning disorders. He strives to help organizations understand the true value of these employees and dispel damaging myths about them.Jim Davis is an HR Expert who has written for HR publications for 6 years and hosted HR podcasts for 3 years. His professional success has come in the face of a life-long struggle with attention deficit hyperactive disorder, or ADHD. He has spoken with hundreds of HR professionals, experts, and leaders about the world of employment and has always focused on under-employed groups including those with disabilities and learning disorders. He strives to help organizations understand the true value of these employees and dispel damaging myths about them.

Jennifer Shaw is the founder of Shaw Law Group and a 2019 recipient of the Sacramento Business Journal’s “Women Who Mean Business” award. A well-respected expert in employment law for more than 30 years, employers regularly rely on Jennifer to counsel them on a broad range of employment law issues. Jennifer’s practical advice covers subjects such as wage-hour compliance, anti-discrimination and harassment policies and procedures, reasonable accommodation/leave of absence issues, and hiring/separation processes. She is a trusted advisor to in-house counsel, HR professionals, and leadership across a broad spectrum of public-sector and private-sector employers.