Custom Content from the Los Angeles Business Journal
Letter from the Publisher
In a recent cognitive intelligence study done by MIT engineers, researchers observed that successful teams had three things in common: they gave one another roughly equal time to talk, they were sensitive towards each other (even in awkward situations), and they included more women – making them the most diverse. In other words, having different types of people on the same team can help others look at problems more carefully while also being more innovative, creative and inclusive about their solutions.
One of the great things about Los Angeles is our blend of cultures and how people from different backgrounds come together to make our various industries and communities thrive. We also have much to be proud of in terms of our region’s standard-setting leadership role in diversification programs.
With that in mind, we welcome you to our second annual Diversity and Inclusion Summit!
Our event this year included a series of thought-provoking and inspiring panels, each packed with extraordinary and knowledgeable speakers, each of whom is briefly profiled in these pages. We appreciate their insights and the sharing of their knowledge at the Summit, which took place on Tuesday, July 24th at the City Club Los Angeles.
The panels covered topics such as “Leadership & CEO Commitment,” “Supplier Diversity,” “Building a Diverse Team” and a terrific keynote talk on Human Capital by Sahar Andrade.
Thanks to all the experts who not only shared their knowledge with us last week, but are actively playing a proactive and positive role in the diversity and inclusion aspects of our business community as a whole.
Best regards,
Anna Magzanyan
CEO & Publisher
The Los Angeles Business Journal Celebrates the LA Business Community’s Leadership Role in Diversity and Inclusion The Los Angeles Business Journal hosted the 2018 Diversity and Inclusion Summit event at the City Club LA on Tuesday, July 24th. The eventful morning featured a series of panel discussions featuring companies and individuals who have shown an exceptional commitment to promoting practices that advance diversity and inclusion in the workplace and in business leadership. Attendees had the opportunity to learn from the managers and executives who have shown the ability to develop and lead an increasingly diverse workforce and client base to achieve company goals.
PANEL TOPICS
Leadership & CEO Commitment Moderated by Janet Lamkin (United Airlines), panelists Jaime Cabrera (Advantage), Christopher Mack (Stage 13/ Warner Brothers Digital Networks) and Gisselle Ruiz (The Broad Academy) – executive leaders from different industries – shared their views on challenges and opportunities when building and measuring a culture of diversity and inclusion within their organizations and the effects it has on productivity.
Supplier Diversity Moderated by Dr. Lois M. Shelton (CSUN – David Nazarian College of Business and Economics), panelists Priscilla Chavez (PCL Construction Services, Inc.), Daphne Harvey (NBCUniversal), and Erin Henning (LADWP) – all influential executives – helped to define supplier diversity, and talk about the strategies used by successful businesses to procure minority contracts and secure access to capital.
Building a Diverse Team Moderated by Anita Wu (Green Hesson Janks), panelists Patrick McClenahan (Goodwill of Southern California), Lorraine Mills (Easterseals Southern California) and Michael Ormonde (Wells Fargo) – top business leaders – shared the issues that need to be considered when building a diverse team and how that correlates to productivity, profitability, business growth and morale.
Human Capital The audience also heard an inspiring and thought-provoking keynote presentation from Sahar Andrade (Sahar Consulting, LLC), truly one of the nation’s leading authorities on the subject of diversity in the workplace. She discussed the best practices for recruitment, hiring, retention and mentorship of employees in a diverse work environment as well as the legal considerations that should be of concern.
SAHAR ANDRADE
PRISCILLA CHAVEZ
DAPHNE HARVEY
ERIN HENNING
JANET LAMKIN
CHRISTOPHER MACK
PATRICK MCCLENAHAN
LORRAINE MILLS
MICHAEL ORMONDE
GISSELLE RUIZ
DR. LOIS M. SHELTON
ANITA WU
Also in this supplement:
Connecting People and Uniting the World Through Diversity and Inclusion
The Importance of Appreciating Differences
The Business Case for Workforce Development
50 Years of Consortium
Why an NBA Team Is Taking On Gender Equality
L.A. Care Health Plan Confronts the Physician Shortage Crisis
Innovation Without Inclusion is Risky at Best
Disability Inclusion Is Good Business
