MEET THE SPEAKERS
A Virtual Interactive Summit
 
HONOURING EXCELLENCE, DEFENDING DEMOCRACY A TRANSATLANTIC CONVERSATION ON
RACE, POWER, AND JUSTICE
​___________________
3 GREAT SPEAKERS FROM
2 COUNTRIES
US & UK
Friday, Oct 2, 2026
​FREE & OPEN TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC WORLDWIDE
​4pm BST (1600)  •  11am EDT  • 10 am CDT •  9am MDT • 8am PDT


KEYNOTE SPEAKER 
LEE JASPER
​British Civil Rights Leader
​United Kingdom

Lee Jasper is a British civil rights leader, strategist, and speaker whose work spans more than four decades of community organizing, public policy, and government. He has been a leading voice on racial justice, policing, political representation, and democratic accountability.

Lee co-founded and served as founding Chair of Operation Black Vote, established to increase political participation and representation among Britain’s African, Caribbean and Asian communities. As Director of the 1990 Trust, he advocated for institutional reform and gave evidence to the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry.

Earlier, he held leadership roles in the National Black Caucus and the Mangrove Community Association and worked in Britain’s anti-apartheid movement. He helped connect Nelson Mandela with Stephen Lawrence’s family during their campaign for justice.
From 2000 to 2008, Lee served as Director of Policing and Equalities to the Mayor of London, bringing his community activism into city government. He has also advised senior policymakers on race equality, policing and community relations.

Today, Lee chairs the Alliance for Police Accountability and co-founded and co-chairs the Humanity Project. Through LAJ.Com, he advises organizations and leaders on equality, institutional change and political strategy. As a writer, commentator, and speaker, he draws on a career spent building community power and working to change the institutions that shape people’s lives.

DISTINGUISHED PANEL SPEAKERS

DR. GEORGIANNA MELENDEZ
United States

Dr. Georgianna Meléndez is an Assistant Professor of Management in the College of Business at Western New England University. She is the former Assistant Chancellor for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at the University of Massachusetts Boston, where she earned her PhD in Business Administration and received the Doctoral Award for Scholarly Excellence in the Organizations and Social Change track; she also earned her MS in Public Affairs at the University of Massachusetts Boston and was recognized for Distinguished Public Service by the McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies; and earned her BA from Bentley University. Georgianna’s research interests include structural bias issues, discrimination within organizations, organizational behavior, meritocracy, and entrepreneurship.

She has taught both at the graduate and undergraduate levels, including courses on Cross-Cultural and Comparative Management, Managing Diversity in Organizations,

Organizational Analysis and Skills, Leadership and Teams, Business Strategy, Strategic Governance in Nonprofits, Organizational Behavior, Business Ethics, Managing Employee Performance, and Employee Training and Development. She has served as a reviewer for academic journals in management.

In addition to her role at UMass Boston, Melendez’s other roles include: adjunct lecturer, Bertolon School of Business at Salem State University; advisory board member, Governor appointee to the Economic Assistance Coordinating Council in Massachusetts; Board of Trustees, Greater Boston Boys and Girls Club; former Equity Advisory Board member – MA Department of Higher Education; former mentor, Conexíon,; former executive committee member, Council on Access Diversity and Excellence – Association of Public Land Trust Universities; former mentor, Marion Heard Scholars Program, United Way of Massachusetts Bay; past member of the City of Peabody Zoning Board of Appeals; past appointee to Governor Patrick’s anti-crime council; and has served on many non-profit boards.

She has served as assistant commissioner at the Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance; executive director at Casa Myrna Vazquez, New England’s largest domestic violence services agency; and executive director at RESPOND, a Metro-Boston domestic violence agency.

She also served as executive director for Commonwealth Compact, a statewide diversity workforce initiative to increase access and visibility of underrepresented minority professionals at the C-suite level in Massachusetts. Dr. Meléndez has presented at multiple academic and professional conferences about diverse hiring practices, DEI related topics, resiliency in organizations, among many other topics, and was twice recognized by El Planeta’s Powermeter as one of Boston’s 100 most influential people for the Latino community of Massachusetts; UMass Boston’s Center for Collaborative Leadership presented her with a Leading the Way Award, was selected by GetKonnected as one of Massachusetts’ 50 most influential professionals of color in higher education and more recently was chosen as a top 100 Amplifier by Amplify LatinX.
​
She loves pickleball and anything crafty, including painting, quilting, crocheting, and even photography.

DR GARTH DALLAS
United Kingdom

Please note that some words in this biographical profile are spelled in accordance with British language practices.

Garth Dallas, Ph.D. is a Jamaican born, Liverpool based UK lawyer, multi-disciplinary business consultant, DEI specialist and expert in ethical and socially responsible organizational and societal practices.

On Thursday 25 September 2025 Garth successfully defended his Doctoral Thesis to become Dr. Garth Dallas.

He sits on multiple Boards, including Alder Hey Children’s hospital, one of Europe’s biggest and busiest children’s hospitals, where he is the Board’s DEI Champion and provides oversight on issues like health inequities and inclusivity in shaping the hospital’s strategic direction.


Garth is also a Board member of the Belong Cohesion Network, the UK’s leading membership organisation on social cohesion, offering academic research, consultancy, training, networking, thought leadership and events for members across sectors in the UK. Belong exists to connect, support and mobilise all those working to build stronger, more resilient, connected communities.


He is a founding member of the Liverpool Commonwealth Association and co-founder of the Good Small Business Awards, the UK’s first Business Sustainability Awards exclusively for small and micro businesses, recognising excellence in small and micro business social and environmental impact and business sustainability.


Garth has been a member of the organizing committee of the US UK Summit on Race since its formation in May 2021.

Friday, October 2, 2026
​FREE & OPEN TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC WORLDWIDE
4pm BST (1600)  •  11am EDT  • 10 am CDT •  9am MDT • 8am PDT