November 1st  Conference Roundtable  Speakers

Building A D&I Initiative Inside Your Organization
​Communications Professional
​Julia Burgess

Julia A. Burgess holds the position of Senior Director of Corporate and Strategic Communications at May Institute, where she also holds a joint appointment at the National Autism Center, a program of May Institute. Julia serves as Co-chair of the organization’s Diversity and Inclusion Council.

Julia works to advance the mission of May Institute, enhance its international reputation, increase visibility and awareness of its services and resources, and position the organization to meet business objectives.

Previously, Julia held public relations positions at Schwartz Communications, now MSLGROUP, and The American Red Cross of Massachusetts Bay.
​
Over the past 10 years, she has been a key member of teams that have received nearly 50 prestigious industry awards in healthcare and marketing communications. She holds a B.S. in Mass Communications from Emerson College, and Masters degrees in Business Administration and in International Management from the University of Massachusetts, Boston.

Building A D&I Initiative Inside Your Organization
May Institute's
​Jenitza Camacho

Janitza Camacho bio is coming in the next few days. Check back soon.

Understanding the LGBTQQIA Community and 
Gender Fluidity
Christopher Flynn

Chris Flynn is an accomplished organizational leader with an expertise in building and transforming organizations that achieve breakthrough results.   

Chris’ greatest strengths are his leadership skills, strategic thinking, client focus, and business acumen. He has repeatedly demonstrated his expertise in developing and collaboratively leading high-performance teams which take pride in their proven ability to deliver exceptional results.

Whether as a Fortune 50 executive or as board chair of one of the nation’s largest civil rights organizations, Chris brings a contagious level of energy and enthusiasm to everything he does.     

Professionally, Chris has been a global executive both in the technology and financial services sectors.  Outside of work, Chris is the immediate past board chair of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve LGBTQ equality.  

Chris completed his undergraduate work at Tufts University, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Relations. He later graduated, with honors, from Boston University’s Graduate School of Management where he received his Master of Business Administration degree.

Chris resides with his husband, Dan, in Boston’s South End.

Chris invites you to connect with him at www.linkedin.com/in/flynn-christopher

Strategies For Sustaining An Employee Resource Group - ERGs
Linette Sanders
State Street Corporation

Linette Sanders is a vice president who works in Information Technology / Corporate Information Security Services.  She is an Information Security Manager responsible for overseeing the Online Recertification of user access for 400+ applications utilized within State Street and has project management oversight to assure that the associated corporate, regulatory and external audit standards are met.  Her career in financial services spans over 30 years and she has been with State Street since 2000.   
 
Linette has a BS in Management Information Systems from Northeastern University and is a member of the Sigma Rho Epsilon and Golden Key Honor Societies. In the past 2 years, she has gone on missions trips to Guatemala with her church who partners with Manna Worldwide and it has become a passion project for her.  One of her ministries includes crocheting baby blankets for Mayan families in one of the mountainous areas of Guatemala. 

White Men As Allies In
Diversity and Inclusion
​Robert Principe

Robert Principe, SPHR is the Founder and Principal, Organizational Change for Social Impact. His background includes 13 years as a Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) Manager. He had direct responsibility for the full scope of diversity and inclusion work including assessment of organizational culture, strategic planning, support for professionals of color and the LGBTQ population, and the design and facilitation of all diversity and inclusion training and programming.

Over the last 20 years, Robert has presented D&I workshops at a number of national and regional conferences. As a consultant, he has worked with a broad range of companies and organization including Alzheimer’s Association, American Airlines, Amherst Regional Public Schools, Big Sister Boston, Carbonite, Colgate University, EMC Corporation, Hack. Diversity, Lowell Community Public Charter School, Massachusetts Teachers Association, the University of Missouri and Xerox Corporation.

Robert’s innovative coaching model, "Clearing the Way for Value-Based Decision-Making" has helped leaders move beyond professional and organizational challenges and recognize the unconscious biases that can negatively influence their decision making. 

Life After A Corporate Career:
The Road To Entrepreneurship
​Mary Fernandes

Mary A. Fernandes is the owner of Vermarje International. Vermarje brings the exciting and intriguing world of tea to their customers.  The essence and spirit of the teatime experience, beauty, comfort, conversation, and joy can be found in Vermarje Afternoon Tea and Tea Salons at Three. Vermarje is a member of the Artisans at Stetson Hall – Co-op/Shop, in Randolph, Massachusetts.

Mary served as Assistant General Manager for Supplier Diversity and Development Office at the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) /Mass Department of Transportation (MassDOT). She developed and implemented a business plan to increase the vendor and contracting pool of small, minority and women-owned business for the MBTA.

Mary is a graduate of Northeastern University with a BA in Human Resource Management.  She has received many awards:  Northeastern’s Sojourner Truth Award, the Massachusetts Manuel Carballo Award for Excellence in Public Service, the American Public Transit Association Excellence in Civil Rights Leadership Award, the Women Transportation Seminar-Boston, Diversity Leadership Award, The Boston & Vicinity Club Business Community Service Award and the COMTO Leadership and Diversity Award. Mary was also honored for her career and business success at the Multicultural Symposium Series' 2018 Black History Breakfast.
Although Mary believes strongly in community engagement, she encourages each of us to slow down, pause, and sip tea and enjoy the moment.

The Power of Podcasting: Let Every Voice Be Heard
Alexis Claytor

Alexis Claytor is a Communications and Digital Content Strategist passionate about content, production, and projects that tell a story.

Born and raised in Boston, Alexis attended Boston University for undergrad and then moved to Los Angeles and attended graduate school at UCLA. 

Although she has worked in content and communications for a few years now, she started her career in the classroom. Her love for teaching writing quickly sparked her love for creating and producing content for herself and other companies.

In her third year of teaching, she started a podcast called First Year Project that she now has expanded into a production and strategy agency focused on web and digital content. She has done work for Refinery29, Spotify, The Boston Red Sox and more.

You can check out more of her work at firstyearproject.com or alexisclaytor.squarespace.com, and can reach her on all social media platforms at @_alexisclaytor.

​

Doing Business In The International Market: What Happens When Germans Knock On The Table?
​Wendy Pease

Wendy Pease is the owner of Rapport International, a company that eliminates spoken and written language barriers around the world by offering written translation, spoken interpretation, transweblation, keyword and brand name testing, global communications consulting in 200+ languages.  Prior to this, she served in corporate senior management positions in international marketing and business development.  She has an MBA from Dartmouth College and a BA in Foreign Service from Penn State.  Wendy has lived in Mexico, Taiwan, and the Philippines and is passionate about languages, cultures, and communications.