Roundtable Presenters: November 5th Multicultural Conference

Agnes Chang
New Bostonians: Understanding and Working With Immigrants

Agnes Chang joined the Mayor’s Office of New Bostonians (MONB) in 2007 as the Resource Development Manager. She is responsible for grant writing, cultivating and maintaining donor relationships that support MONB initiatives. Agnes also collaborates with City departments and community organizations in the coordination and organization of events that highlight the City of Boston’s diversity, immigrant heritage and contributions.
Prior to joining MONB, Agnes’ work has focused on some of our most vulnerable populations- victims of domestic violence and persons with disabilities. She was the Director of Outreach and Program Development at the Asian Task Force Against Domestic Violence, a not-for-profit that works mainly with DV survivors from Asia, and served as the Program Manager at Community Work Services, Inc., an organization that provides workforce training and support services to disabled folks.


Agnes is an immigrant from Hong Kong and she is proficient in Cantonese, Mandarin and Shanghainese.

Linette Sanders
The Power of ERGs: Employee Resource Groups

Linette Sanders is an assistant vice president who works in IT/Corporate Project Services. She is an Information Security Administration Manager responsible for overseeing the Aveksa Compliance Recertification Process and has project management duties to assure that the associated corporate,
industry 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.

The Power Of ERGs: Employee Resource Groups
Diversity and Inclusion are critical within today’s organizations. Employee Resource Groups have been created to help execute corporate strategies around diversity and inclusion goals.   In “The Power of ERGs-Employee Resource Groups,” Linette Sanders will cover the importance of ERGs, and will share strategies that her network at State Street Corporation has used to re-invigorate and sustain their resource group.

State Street Corporation is a leader in promoting ERGs, and currently has more than 30 in operation for its global employee population.

STATE STREET IS THE LEAD SPONSOR OF THE MULTICULTURAL SYMPOSIUM SERIES

Don West and Ken Cooper
​Boston's Pioneers In Diversity

Roundtable Topic At The Conference: Boston's Pioneers In Diversity
Speakers: Co-Authors Don West and Ken Cooper

Now that Boston has officially become a “Majority-Minority” city, with 53% of its residence non-white, it’s time to showcase the many contributions of its diverse citizens.  That’s now been done in a graphically rich new “coffee table” book: Portraits of Purpose: A Tribute To Leadership.

Portraits of Purpose is a visual chronicle of 127 Boston-based African American leaders and their allies who have continued the pursuit of freedom and justice in a post-civil rights era.   Renowned Boston photographer Don West and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Kenneth J. Cooper teamed up to capture the images and shared the stories of these significant individuals of conscience.  From Charles Ogletree, Jr. and Cheng Imm Tan to Elma Lewis and the up and coming Tulaine Montgomery, these leaders of action are portrayed for the significant contributions they have made to the region…and the country.

In addition to their Roundtable, their book will be available for sale  at the conference.

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Don West

A seasoned photographer and consummate professional, Don captures the spirit and character of people, places and events. A newsman at the core, he likes to be where the action is.

West began his career as a freelance and news photographer, working for United Press International (UPI) and the Bay State Banner, Boston’s black weekly paper. He has since gone on to a host of photojournalistic assignments that have taken him throughout the United States, Latin America, Africa, China, Europe and the Middle East.

He is particularly proud to have served as Nelson Mandela’s photographer when he first visited Boston after release from prison, in South Africa; the official photographer for Mel King’s historic “Rainbow Coalition” Mayoral campaign; and to be called upon to cover special events of Barack Obama’s Presidential campaign in New England.

Likened to a “griot,” or people’s historian, Don uses his camera to provide visual witness to our rich diversity and collective contributions, capturing images and telling stories of individuals at work, at play, with their families, and in struggle for what they believe.

Ken Cooper

Kenneth J. Cooper is a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and editor, veteran of 30 years at a major newspaper including  The Washington Post and the Boston Globe. Currently, he is the editor for The Trotter Review, an annual scholarly journal focused on the history and culture of African Americans, published by the William Monroe Trotter Institute at UMass Boston.  Independent writer for national magazines, freelance editor and consultant on journalism projects, Cooper is exploring new interests in the Middle East and is developing a major writing project, a historical narrative set in Arkansas, Kansas and Oklahoma.  

Learn more about the book at www.portraitsofpurpose.us
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More Roundtable Speaker Profiles In The Next Few Days!