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James H. Lowry is a business icon, sought after speaker, strategic advisor and nationally recognized workforce and supplier diversity expert and pioneer. Lowry was the first African American consultant for global consulting firm McKinsey & Company in 1968. Later, he became the first African American senior partner at the prestigious Boston Consulting Group, where he led the firm’s workforce diversity, ethnic marketing and minority business development consulting practice. Lowry continues to serve as a senior advisor to BCG, while heading his own private consulting firm, James H. Lowry & Associates. Lowry was elected into the inaugural class of the Minority Business Hall of Fame, and over the years has been awarded the National Minority Supplier Development Council’s Lifetime Achievement Award, MBDA’s Abe Venable Award for Lifetime Achievement, Chicago Minority Supplier Development Council’s Impact Award and the Executive Leadership Council’s Alvaro L. Martins Heritage Award. His thirty plus years of experience in the field of minority business development were encapsulated in the book he co-authored in 2011, Minority Business Success: Refocusing on the American Dream. His new book, Change Agent: A Life Dedicated to Creating Wealth for Minorities, is an intimate memoir that demonstrates the power of iconic mentors and pivotal opportunities leveraged across the globe, and offers solutions to the ever widening wealth gap that plagues black and brown communities today.
Kobie Fuller
Valence & Upfront Ventures
Kobie has been a partner at Upfront since 2016, with a core investing focus in SaaS, marketing technology, and emerging technologies including VR and AR. His notable Upfront investments include Bevy, Wave, Cordial and MetaCX. While at Upfront, Kobie also founded and incubated Valence, a platform to unlock economic opportunity, investment and community for Black professionals; he is also on the Advisory Board for PledgeLA, an organization working to increase diversity and equity in tech. Prior to Upfront, Kobie was an investor at Accel, helped found OpenView Venture Partners, and was an investor at Insight Venture Partners, with early investments including Exact Target and Oculus. He was also the Chief Marketing Officer at LA-based REVOLVE, one of the largest global fashion e-commerce players. Kobie graduated from Harvard College.
Meena Harris
Phenomenal Woman Action Campaign
Meena Harris is one of the most powerful and dynamic young leaders in America. As thefounder of the groundbreaking Phenomenal brand, as well as an author, lawyer, andproducer, Meena is a respected entrepreneur and an influential voice for gender equity.Meena's legal expertise is in the areas of consumer protection, data privacy, andcybersecurity. A #1 New York Times bestselling author, Meena released her latest book,Ambitious Girl, in January 2021. Meena has been featured in The New York Times, TheWashington Post, Harper’s Bazaar, Adweek, and more. She is a graduate of StanfordUniversity and Harvard Law School, and currently resides in San Francisco with herpartner and two daughters.
Johnny C. Taylor
SHRM (Society for Human Resource Management)
Johnny C. Taylor, Jr., SHRM-SCP, is President and Chief Executive Officer of SHRM, the Society for Human Resource Management. With over 300,000 members in 165 countries, SHRM is the largest HR professional association in the world, impacting the lives of 115 million workers every day.As a global leader on the future of employment, culture and leadership, Mr. Taylor is a sought-after voice on all matters affecting work, workers and the workplace. He is frequently asked to testify before Congress on critical workforce issues and authors the weekly USA Today column, "Ask HR."Mr. Taylor's career spans over 20 years as a lawyer, human resources executive and CEO in both the not-for-profit and for-profit space. He has held senior and chief executive roles at IAC/Interactive Corp, Viacom's Paramount Pictures and Blockbuster Entertainment Group, McGuireWoods LLC, and Compass Group USA. Most recently, Mr. Taylor was President and Chief Executive Officer of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund.He was appointed chairman of the President’s Advisory Board on Historically Black Colleges and Universities and served as a member of the White House American Workforce Policy Advisory Board during the Trump Administration. He is a Trustee of the University of Miami, Governor of the American Red Cross, and member of the corporate boards of Guild Education and iCIMS.In 2020, Mr. Taylor received the Distinguished Executive of the Year Award from the Academy of Management, and in 2021 was named Professional Society CEO of the Year by CEO Update.He is licensed to practice law in Florida, Illinois and Washington, D.C., and is a Fellow of the National Academy of Human Resources.
Brandon Gayle
Spurs Sports & Entertainment
Brandon joined Spurs Sports & Entertainment (SS&E) in October 2019. The organization’s portfolio spans the San Antonio Spurs (NBA), AT&T Center, Toyota Field, San Antonio FC (USL), and Austin Spurs (NBA G League). In his current role he leads the organization’s operations across ticketing, premium seating, sponsorship, marketing, content and distribution, as well as business communications.Prior to joining SS&E, Brandon spent six-plus years in multiple roles with Facebook. As director of global sports partnerships and solutions, his team was responsible for helping athletes and sports properties in North America create interactive content that achieved their business goals across all Facebook platforms -- including Instagram, Messenger and Oculus. In addition, his team was responsible for providing global operational support across premium content distribution, product education, and analytics. Prior to this role, Brandon led global sports partnerships at Instagram for two years, where he was responsible for helping athletes and sports properties leverage the platform to connect and engage with the next generation of sports fans. As recognition of his efforts in that role, he was named to Sports Business Journal’s Forty Under 40 class of 2018 and the Leaders Under 40 Awards Class of 2017 by Leaders and Aspire Academy.Before arriving at Facebook, Brandon served as director of strategic partnerships at Groupon. Through Groupon’s joint venture with Live Nation Entertainment, he worked closely with sports and entertainment properties to develop and market compelling ticketed fan experience offers to Groupon’s subscriber base.Brandon also spent time in a strategy & finance role with the front office of the New York Jets and as a consultant at Bain & Company in their Chicago and Atlanta offices. While at the Jets, he helped overhaul the team’s annual strategic planning process, built MetLife Stadium’s suite pricing model, and helped plan the team’s relocation to their then new training facility in Florham Park, New Jersey. At Bain, he focused on strategy, performance improvement, and M&A projects across a variety of industries.Brandon currently serves on the board of directors of Zendesk Inc., as well as the Executive Committee of the San Antonio Economic Development Foundation. He holds a MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA in Economics from Harvard College. He and his wife, Saamra, have two sons, Myles and Cassius.
Derek Andersen
Bevy
For the past 15 years Derek has been building communities. He is the co-founder/CEO of Bevy, a SaaS product that helps companies like Salesforce, Atlassian, Google, Snowflake, and Adobe build virtual and in-person communities. He co-founded Startup Grind, a community of 600 Chapters in 125 countries educating, inspiring, and connecting startup people. Since 2012 Startup Grind has hosted 10,000 events for more than 500,000 people. In 2010 he co-founded Commonred which was acquired by Income.com. Derek also previously worked as a product manager at Electronic Arts. He currently lives in Palo Alto CA with his wife and four children.
Jacqueline Adams
Strategic Communications, LLC
Jacqueline Adams launched a second career as a communications strategist after more than two decades as an Emmy Award—winning CBS News correspondent. A natural "connector" and talented interviewer and moderator, she has demonstrated her ability to hear clients' strategic concerns and find creative solutions, often drawing on her wealth of contacts and experiences.Through her boutique consulting firm, J Adams: Strategic Communications, LLC, she has provided communications counsel to corporate and nonprofit clients.
Bonita Stewart
Google
Bonita C. Stewart brings extensive consumer technology and operational experience as her career spans over two decades of digital transformation across multiple industries. Since joining Google in 2006, she has risen to lead multi-billion-dollar operations and has driven the adoption of digital technologies within the US and Americas. Currently, she oversees the company’s Global Partnerships team for the largest US publishers across Search, Mobile Apps, Commerce, News, Broadcast, Telecommunications and Domains.Ms. Stewart was the first African American woman vice president at Google. Over the past several years, she has been recognized externally for her leadership as a Woman to Watch (Advertising Age, 2011), Power 100 (Ebony, 2012, 2019), Woman to Watch in Tech (Crain’s NY, 2014) and Most Powerful Women (Crain’s NYC, 2015, 2017, 2019). In 2017 she created the concept for Howard West, a technology immersion program for historically black colleges and universities (HBCU), powered by Google.In 2014 Ms. Stewart was nominated to the Deckers Brands corporate board [NYSE:DECK] and currently serves on the corporate governance and compensation committees. In 2021, she joined the PagerDuty corporate board [NYSE:PD]. She served on the Pluralsight board [NASDAQ:PS] from 2018-2021.Prior to Google, she served as Director, Chrysler Group Interactive Communications for DaimlerChrysler AG and spearheaded all digital efforts for Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep. During the Dot Com era, she was recruited back to DaimlerChrysler to lead Chrysler brand’s $400 million advertising and marketing operation. During her leadership tenure, Advertising Age named the Chrysler Group the 2005 Interactive Marketer of the Year, and she co-authored “The Fifth P of Marketing,” an article for CRM Magazine. During the first stint of her automotive career, Ms. Stewart led the brand development for future and existing Dodge passenger cars and minivans, representing an $8+ billion annual revenue target.In 2012 and 2013, she received award recognition from the Harvard Business School and Howard University, respectively, for alumni achievement. She has served on the following non-profit boards: Detroit Music Hall, Cranbrook Art Academy, Harvard Business School African American Alumni Association, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and Harvard Business School Club of New York City. Currently, she serves on the American Ballet Theatre Advisory Council for Project RISE and board member for the Women’s Forum of NY.Ms. Stewart spent her formative years in Denver, CO and graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts from Howard University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. She resides in Englewood, NJ, with her husband, Kevin Stewart (HBS 1979).
Guy Primus is CEO and board member at Valence, a venture-backed company whose mission is to create new paths to success for Black professionals. Guy also serves on the board of Southern California Public Radio, where he chairs the strategic planning committee, and served two terms as chair of the advisory board of Georgia Tech’s top-ranked School of Industrial Engineering. He also served on Georgia Tech’s College of Engineering and President’s advisory boards, and is co-founder of The Board Challenge, which seeks to improve the representation of Black directors in corporate boardrooms. As CEO of The Virtual Reality Company, Guy led the creation of Jurassic World VR Expedition, a game that remains the most successful attraction launch in Dave & Buster’s 40-year history. Guy’s other projects include the Starbucks/Apple “Pick of the Week” program and The Scenario, a digital experience developed for Sprite that established the digital media advertising framework Microsoft. Guy also served as COO of Will Smith’s Overbrook Entertainment, and was part of the founding team of Sean “Diddy” Combs’ marketing agency, Blue Flame. He is also lead inventor on two digital media/Ad Tech patents. Guy serves as an advisor to several companies including Blacksmith Holdings, an entertainment company with operations in artist management (Dave Chappelle, Vince Staples), music recording (Capitol/Motown), and media production (Sonos, Viacom). Guy was recognized by Black Enterprise as one of the most influential Blacks in tech, and is an Ebony Power 100 honoree.---Inspirations:- My Family Name- Bose 901V speakers / Dr. Amar Bose- "Why Should White Guys Have All the Fun" / Reginald F. Lewis- Def Jam Recordings- The Black Experience
Tracy Williams
TraComm Development Group
Daughter. Speaker. Sister. Facilitator. Auntie. Coach. Godmommy. Change Maker. Tracy Reneé Williams is the Vice President of Learning and Development/Head of Valence Bonds for Valence Community, where she is leading the design and launch of a membership-based peer community that helps Black professionals realize their full potential as business and cultural leaders. Building upon Valence’s mission of creating new paths to professional success, Valence BONDS helps each member navigate his/her/their individualized journey via thought leadership, conscious dialogue, and peer accountability. Prior to joining Valence, Tracy worked in leadership development for YPO (formerly Young Presidents' Organization), Chevron Corporation, and TCU; and through her independent consulting, she trains and coaches leaders at all leadership levels on emotional intelligence and communication mastery. Outside of her professional pursuits, T (one of her many nicknames) has been a showcase stage manager at South by Southwest, Co-Creator of Becoming Her (a conference for moms and daughters), and a professional development columnist for online digital magazine. Tracy recently began a three-year tenure as President of the Texas Christian University (TCU) National Alumni Board and ex-officio member of the TCU Board of Trustees. She has the distinct honor of being the first Black alum to hold this position. Tracy also serves on the Tarrant/Parker Leadership Impact Council for Texas Health Resources and coordinates the Issues Initiative for Leadership Fort Worth. She was most recently honored as a Legend in the Making for her service to communities in she lives and works. Tracy is a dual-degree alumna of TCU where she studied in the Schieffer College of Communication. Lastly, she will not debate you on the following: The Last Dragon is completely underrated as a cinematic masterpiece Boyz II Men over Jodeci Coffee should be a food group
Hans Ting
GGV Capital
Hans Tung is a Managing Partner at GGV Capital, focusing on early stage investments in internet and ecommerce ecosystems globally. He is consistently recognized among the top venture capital investors in the world, having been named to the Forbes Midas list eight times from 2013-2020, most recently ranking #10, and named to the New York Times/CB Insights Top 100 Venture Capitalists list three times from 2017-2019, most recently at #18. He was also recognized among the top 100 Asian Americans by Gold House in 2018.He has invested in 16 unicorns, many of them early stage, each now valued at more than $1 billion: Affirm, Airbnb, Bytedance, Coinbase, Lime, Meili, OfferUp, Peloton, Poshmark, Slack, SmartMi, StockX, Udaan, Wish, Xiaohongshu and Xiaomi. Hans is also the co-host of the popular podcast, “Evolving for the Next Billion” on entrepreneurship in the US, China, India, SE Asia and Latin America.Born in Taiwan, Hans grew up in Los Angeles and attended Stanford University, graduating with a B.S. in Industrial Engineering. In 2005, as an Asian American, he was among the first Silicon Valley VCs to move to China full time, spending eight years investing in the fastest changing tech landscape in the world before returning to Silicon Valley in 2013 to join GGV Capital to focus on globally-minded founders in the Americas and Asia.Hans was an early investor and former board member of Xiaomi—most recently valued at $50 billion—and Musical.ly, which was acquired by Bytedance for around $900 million in 2017. He has actively worked with Airbnb co-founder Nathan Blecharczyk on Airbnb’s China strategy. A well-recognized investor with global perspectives, Hans’ portfolio at GGV spans six cities across the US as well as three continents.Hans’ prior work experience spans venture capital, internet startups, and tech investment banking over 18 years. He joined GGV from Qiming Venture Partners, where he led or co-led the Series A investments in Xiaomi, eHi Car Services (NYSE: EHIC), the Series B in Domob (acquired by Blue Focus) and Mafengwo, a social travel site in China, as well as a secondary share purchase in Meituan-Dianping. Previously, he was with Bessemer Venture Partners, where he helped global players such as Skype expand into China. Hans began his career at Merrill Lynch as an investment banker focused on the technology sector.