Thank you to our attendees, sponsors and speakers!
Thank you to all who were able to join us on November 5. We are so grateful to our Sponsors and Community Sponsors for helping to make the afternoon so successful. We were honored to have such dynamic and inspirational speakers and we hope everyone found the afternoon to be exhilarating!
Post-Conference Roundtable
December 1, 2020 at 1:00 EST
Please join us for our first post-conference roundtable to discuss ways we can act on the messages shared by our speakers, honorees, and influencers from our 2020 Annual Conference.
This is a free event for registrants from our 2020 Annual Conference only to share ideas and seek advice from us and their peers. Zoom Meeting link will be forwarded the morning of the roundtable.
Please stay in touch and let us know how we can help you transform your organizational culture. Attendees can access conference handouts and related materials HERE using the password provided. Please contact Eliza Musallam if you have questions.
Our 2020 Annual Conference, Moments of Impact: Transforming Organizational Culture was held virtually on Thursday, November 5, 2020 from 12:00 noon EST – 4:45 pm.
2020 Keynote Speaker
Garry O. Ridge, CEO of WD-40
We are thrilled to announce that Garry O. Ridge, CEO of WD-40 will be our 2020 Annual Conference keynote speaker.
Garry is a passionate leader who believes in empowering organizational culture and leading with positive impact.
Confirmed Speakers & Honorees
CEO of The Memo LLC
Author of The Memo: What Women of Color Need to Know to Secure a Seat at the Table
2020 Conference Agenda
12:00 – 12:20 – State of the Union & Presentation of the Flex Leader Award
- 12:20 – 1:00 – Panel #1: Transforming Workplace Culture & Presentation of the Flex Impact Awards: What is your organization doing to change its culture for the better? The impact of the pandemic and a social justice call to action have forced many companies to reevaluate their commitment to employees, D&I, and their bottom line. This year’s Flex Impact and Flex Leader Honorees demonstrate how they have led their industries with cutting-edge flexible working initiatives and how they are readjusting during this pivotal year to spark continuous moments of impact for an engaged and productive workplace culture.
- 1:00 – 1:20 – Meet the Influencer #1: How to Make This Time Different featuring Vernā Myers: As we have started to face the reality of social injustice in our society, companies and communities, how do we keep our companies and ourselves awake, engaged and committed? What I &D professionals can do. What companies and leaders can do. What all of us as human beings must do.
- 1:20 – 1:25 – BREAK
- 1:25 – 1:55 – Keynote: It’s All About the People featuring Garry Ridge: This session will be a look “under the hood” of one of the world’s most recognized brands, where employee engagement is above 93%, 98% say they “love to work at WD-40 Company”, and 99% say that their “opinions and values are a good fit” for WD-40 Company. Garry will share his company’s “learning moments” over the course of his efforts to transform the company’s culture, beginning in 1997. He’ll share principles of the personal journey of every servant leader, and why that philosophy is critical; the emotional connection of a greater purpose that creates high engagement as well as the difference between a “team” and a “tribe.”
- 1:55 – 2:25 – Presentation of the Flex Success Awards: Three law firm partners and their clients will share how they have worked reduced hours schedules and achieved greater work life control while maintaining extraordinarily successful careers through strong and supportive attorney client relationships.
- 2:25 – 2:30 – BREAK
- 2: 30 – 2:55 Presentation of the Luminary Award and Fireside Chat: In a conversation with Manar Morales, Susan Neely, President & CEO of the American Council of Life Insurers, our 2020 Luminary Award honoree, will share how she is innovating within her organization as well as looking outward to increase the advancement of women and diversity in her industry and beyond.
- 3:05 – 3:25 – “Tipping the Scales” Recognition & DFA New Partner Report Findings: Gender equity, especially at the partner level in law firms, is a testament of an organization’s dedication to diversity, inclusion, and equity. We believe in sharing successes to start a ripple effect of positive, lasting effects and proudly recognize this year’s Tipping the Scales firms. Manar Morales will also highlight the results from our 2020 New Partner Report, which examines data from over 100 of the nation’s largest and top-grossing law firms about attorneys promoted to partnership in U.S. offices. More importantly, she will discuss how to utilize these findings to help transform your organization from a sideline watcher to a game time change maker.
- 3:25 – 3:30 – BREAK
- 3:30 – 4:05 – Panel #2: Shaping the Workforce of Tomorrow Today: Now more than ever we need to create and transform organizational cultures that promote flexible work, diversity, inclusion, and equity across the board. Join us as we launch Work Life Recalibrated, a first of its kind movement dedicated to supporting workplace flexibility as a way to create more collaborative and successful organizations. Our panelists are leaders of today’s future-thinking organizations. They share our vision of redefining what the workplace of tomorrow will look like by evolving with the needs of their team members and pivoting to meet challenges and opportunities. The result advances flexibility for all and a diverse workforce that drives innovation, transformation, and impacts the bottom line.
- 4:15 – 4:35 – Meet the Influencer #2: How to Secure a Seat at the Table featuring Minda Harts: From microaggressions to the wage gap, Minda Harts, author of The Memo: What Women of Color Need to Do to Secure a Seat at the Table, empowers women of color with actionable advice on challenges and offers a clear path to success.
- 4:35 – 4:45 – Closing Remarks with Manar Morales
CLE Credit
The Conference has been approved for 3.0 MCLE general credit hours in Illinois. Please contact Eliza Musallam if you have questions about CLE credit.
Thank You to Our Sponsors!
Platinum Sponsors
Gold Sponsors
Silver Sponsors
Interested in sponsoring this year’s event and showcasing your commitment to transforming organizational cultures? Contact Manar Morales, the Alliance’s President & CEO, to make your pledge today. Sponsors receive complimentary tickets based upon their level of support. Read more here.
Thank You to Our Community Sponsors!
Members Receive Complimentary Tickets!
Alliance members receive two (2) complimentary tickets as a member benefit AND may register a client for free – that’s three (3) complimentary tickets to use all together!
About The Conference
Our Annual Conference is one of the DC area’s largest gatherings of prominent leaders from around the world committed to strategically addressing the critical issues around diversity and flexibility. Together, our speakers and attendees explore success strategies for improving retention of top talent and the most up-to-date action steps to create a truly inclusive work environment.
Each year, our conference brings together corporate leaders, partners at professional services firms, general counsel,and diversity and inclusion and talent management professionals who share how they’ve implemented successful strategies in their organizations for retaining and promoting women and supporting work-life control for everyone.
Photo Credit: Birch Thomas, photosbybirch.com
Our attendees gain valuable insights into the most effective strategies for results when time and resources are limited. They hear cross industry best practices from leading law and consulting firms and Fortune 500 corporations and build networks of senior level peers. Attendees also learn about cutting edge data and case studies that help build powerful business cases internally to advance diversity and flexibility within organizations.
Each year during our Annual Conference, we present our Luminary Award to an outstanding global visionary, as well as our Flex Leader, Flex Impact and Flex Success Awards to individuals and organizations leading the way in flexible working. Our award honorees share their secrets for success and outline their strategies that have helped them make positive changes in workplace culture.
Hear why this may be one day you can’t afford to miss.
Thank you to everyone who joined us for our 2019 Conference!
For those who joined us, we’re so glad you were able to hear about the latest strategies and trends that can transform your organization and have a huge impact on your bottom-line. As always, our conference provided an opportunity to interact and network with a community of senior leaders passionate about improving their diversity and inclusion efforts. We hope you were:
- INSPIRED by our amazing line-up of speakers and diversity influencers – including keynote Jo Ann Jenkins, CEO of AARP – who shared how they have helped transform workplace culture into one where everyone thrives.
- Motivated by cutting-edge INNOVATION in flexible working and leave policies that can help their organizations meet the needs of the 2020 workforce.
- Provided all the tools and strategies needed to IGNITE their organization’s authentic transformation. They returned to their offices equipped with everything needed to truly meet the demands of today’s employees.
Our 2019 Annual Conference, Inspire. Innovate. Ignite! was held Thursday, November 7, 2019 at the Washington, DC Offices of Jones Day.
This event was approved for 3.75 MCLE General Credit hours in IL and 3.75 Ethics hours in AR.
2019 Conference Materials
Conference Attendees can access 2019 Conference Materials HERE. Please use the password provided during the conference. If you need help or have forgotten the password, please email Eliza Musallam at eliza@dfalliance.com for more information.
In Case You Missed It: 2019 Conference Overview
We called this year’s conference Inspire. Innovate. Ignite! because we believe you can learn everything you need to start taking your organization to a new level in one day. Our dynamic speakers and influencers shared their insights and perspectives on creating work environments that meet the needs of today’s employees and ensures everyone is supported and valued. Here are some of the highlights from our speakers to help you ignite change in your organizations.
- Erica J. Bolden, Head of Diversity & Inclusion, Mercedes-Benz USA: D & I isn’t just smoke and mirrors; be intentional about it. Internally we’re reestablishing what our community and culture looks like. Externally, we’re positioning ourselves for greater visibility through more intentional interactions with the community.
Stacy Bunck (Flex Success® Honoree), Office Managing Shareholder, Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart): Client support is everything; Rafael Medina always made it clear he would support me and that family came first.
- Sarah Chapman, PhD, Director within Deloitte’s Sustainability & Social Impact Advisory Practice & National Lead, Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability, Deloitte, Canada & Chile: Look at men’s experiences and their expectations to make them supporters and active participants in gender equality.
- Jami de Lou, Diversity & Inclusion Director, Boston Consulting Group: Representation within your organization has to match the people you want to recruit. Think about what it means to thrive; our flex programs need to be driven by the talent management teams, not just the D & I teams.
Anne Donovan, US People Experience Leader, PwC (Flex Impact Organization): Retention is one of the biggest issues in our industry. We have to teach and convince managers that if staff isn’t delivering, it’s a performance issue and not a flexible work issue. Leaders have to get out of the office and talk about the issues.
- Jenn Flynn (Flex Leader Honoree), Managing Vice President, Head of Small Business Bank, Capital One: People do their best when they feel valued and included. I made a commitment to be a role model for flex in my career, and I feel I have an obligation to pay it forward for others in my organization.
Jo Ann Jenkins (Luminary Honoree), Chief Executive Officer, AARP: Diversity and inclusion is our business strategy. The only way to succeed is to invest in employees. People want to work for an organization with a strong purpose, do work they care about, and at a place they feel they are making a difference.
- Charlie Johnson, Hiring Partner (DC), Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld: Having a diverse workforce for firms is an absolute
Danielle Katzir (Flex Success® Honoree) Partner, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher (2019 Flex Success® Honoree): Creatively defining flex has made all the difference. We occupy many roles in our lives and nurturing those requires thoughtful investment.
- Matthew Keen, Managing Shareholder, Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart: I want to have an environment where people prosper. Since the firm has embraced flexible work schedules, we’ve retained our talent and reduced our attrition rates.
- Lea Ann King, General Counsel, Toyota Material Handling, USA, Inc.: We need to look like who we work with – both from the client and consumer sides. We’ve now started hiring for aptitude and attitude over direct experience.
Kevyn D. Orr, Partner in Charge (DC), Jones Day: Technology and artificial intelligence are the future, so diversity and flexibility are particularly relevant now. Address disparities now so they don’t become part of the organizational structure.
Honorable Tonya Parker, Presiding Judge, 116th Civil District Court, Dallas County, Texas: Some labels are truths, and some are judgments. Words have staying power, and labels don’t fall away easily. People want to be truthfully, completely, and precisely known.
- Danny Sikka, Senior Counsel, McDonald’s Corp. on behalf of Rafael Medina (in memoriam (Flex Success® Honoree): Rafael used his power and influence to benefit others and champion diversity and family in and out of the office. He went out of his way to ensure new and diverse attorneys would be successful.
Dia Simms, CEO, Brn Group: Acknowledge a person’s value no matter what side of the table you’re on – it’s good business and fosters engagement, loyalty, and happiness. If someone says they wish they could find someone like me for the job, I tell them I can connect them to people like me. Let me be the one-person diversity initiative, and let me introduce you to more people like me.
- Grace E. Speights, Global Leader, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius (Flex Impact Organization): Most attorneys are data driven (especially partners), so make your case with data. Outline expectations and guidelines with a new initiative, and use technology, practice support, and knowledge management to your advantage. Sixty percent of our associates said they chose to work here and stay because our of new flexible work policies.
- Burton White, Managing Partner & Co-Founder, Excella: We need to create communities that we want to see. As leaders, we have to hold ourselves and others accountable to see change happen.
- Mary Wilson, US Managing Partner, Dentons: D & I is a business imperative, and clients influence this space. Goals can’t be numeric; there has to be a strategic plan in place. We’re placing a Diversity Partner in every practice group to put customized goals together.
Lily Zheng, Author, “Gender Ambiguity in the Workplace”: A manager’s attitude is the greatest prediction of the quality of a person’s workplace – not the policies. Managers are the key to incorporating inclusion. Inclusion has to be an integrated and ongoing process.
Why not join the discussion this year.
Conference Archive
2019 Annual Conference
Our 2019 Annual Conference, Inpire. Innovate. Ignite! was held on Thursday, November 7, 2019 at the Washington DC offices of Jones Day.
Thank you to everyone who was able to join us for our 2019 Annual Conference Inspire. Innovate. Ignite! We were honored to have amazing influencers, exceptional innovators and world class visionaries to lead our discussions and share their insights. We are immensely grateful to all of our sponsors and look forward to continuing the conversation soon. Please let us know if you’d like to continue the conversation and learn more about our research.
ACCESS our 2019 SPEAKERS, SPONSORS and AGENDA HERE.
Our 2019 Annual Conference Attendees can access conference materials with Attendee Password.
ACCESS 2019 CONFERENCE MATERIALS HERE
Please contact Eliza Musallam if you have forgotten the 2019 Conference Material password or for more information.
Photo Credit: Birch Thomas, photosbybirch.com
2018 Annual Conference
Our 2018 Annual Conference, Diversity + Flexibility = Embracing Change was held on Thursday, September 29, 2018 at the Washington DC offices of Jones Day.
A huge thank you to all of our dynamic panelists, generous sponsors and engaging attendees! We hope you found our 2018 Annual Conference as informative as we did. The 2018 Agenda, Speakers and Sponsors can be accessed below:
Our 2018 Annual Conference Attendees can access conference materials with Attendee Password.
ACCESS 2018 CONFERENCE MATERIALS HERE
Please contact Eliza Musallam for more information.
Photo Credit: © Jessica Yurinko
2017 Annual Conference
Our 2017 Annual Conference Diversity + Flexibility = An Evolving Culture was held on March 16, 2017 at the Washington, DC offices of Jones Day.
2016 Annual Conference
Our 2016 Annual Conference Diversity + Flexibility = Talent Success was held on March 16, 2016 at the Washington, DC offices of Jones Day.
