November 5-6  2020 
Distinguished Speakers
Next Steps Post Presidential Election
​Where Do We Go From Here???
Thursday, Nov 5, 2020 - 11:05 am to 12:30 pm
Session #101

Latoyia Edwards
Latoyia Edwards is an Emmy Award-winning anchor on NBC 10 Boston and NECN.

She joined the NBC Boston and NECN family as a morning reporter in 2005, arriving from WWLP-22 in Springfield, Massachusetts, where she had been a weekday anchor.

A native of Boston's Dorchester neighborhood, Latoyia graduated magna cum laude from Emerson College with a degree in Broadcast Journalism. She began her career as a news writer for WBZ 1030-AM Radio and later reported for the Fox affiliate WICZ-TV 40 in Binghamton, New York.

She first anchored television for MediaOne cable news network while also reporting as the morning drive news anchor for WILD 1090AM.

Additionally, Latoyia has instructed courses for the Connecticut School of Broadcasting.
In 2002, she was crowned Miss Massachusetts in the USA pageant. She is married and greatly enjoys volunteering with youth groups.
Atty. Michael Curry

Michael Curry, Esq. is the Deputy CEO & General Counsel at Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers (the "Mass League"), which represents 52 health centers, serving over 1 million patients out of over 314 practice sites throughout the state. He previously served as Senior Vice President of the Government Affairs and Public Policy Division for the Mass League. Prior to joining the League in 2008, Michael had a 16-year career at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts, most of that time as Senior Policy Advisor in the Corporate Affairs Division, which included government, public, internal, and community affairs. He has served on the health care transition teams for Governor Deval Patrick and Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, as well as the transition team for Brockton Mayor Linda Balzotti, and was involved in the passage of Massachusetts Health Reform and the Affordable Care Act. He also serves on the boards of the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, the Massachusetts Nonprofit Network, and formerly on the Board of Trustees for Roxbury Community College, as well as in the role of Adjunct Professor for the Suffolk University Moakley Center for Public Management. He has received numerous local and national awards for leadership and advocacy. 

Curry was also past President of the Boston Branch of the NAACP (2011-2016) and has over twenty years of dedicated service to the NAACP on the city, state-area conference, and national levels. He was elected nationally to the NAACP's Board of Directors in 2014 and re-elected twice in 2017 and 2020, and now serves as Chair of the National NAACP's Advocacy & Policy Committee and Vice-Chair of the Political Action and Legislation Committee. 
Mr. Curry earned a Bachelor's of Arts from Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, and a Doctorate of Jurisprudence from New England Law Boston and graduated from the inaugural class of the Executive Leadership Council's Pipeline to Leadership Program. 
He is a frequent Political Commentator on WBUR's Radio Boston, Morning Edition and Week in Review, Boston Public Radio WGBH with Jim Braude and Margery Eagan, WGBH's Greater Boston, and New England Cable News/NBC Boston, as well as frequently requested to provide reactions to breaking news, presidential and mayoral debates, and state of the union/city speeches.​

Based on his close to 30 years of experience in health care and insurance, combined with his advocacy on the issues of health equity and racial disparities, Michael is working on various aspects of the COVID- 19 pandemic. He serves on both the City of Boston's COVID-19 Health Inequities Task Force and the Massachusetts Public Health Association (MPHA) 's Health Equity Task Force, and coordinating the community health center response to the public health crisis with the state's Attorney General's Office (AGO), Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS), various municipalities, and Partners in Health on testing, tracking, contact tracing, and treatment. 
Bill Wells
Bill Wells is President, W. Wells & Associates, LLC, a management consulting firm specializing in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) strategy development. In his work, Additionally, Bill provides customized human capital and talent acquisition & retention solutions as well. Bill also works closely with senior leaders providing coaching and guidance during culture change and transformation.
Previously, Bill served as Vice President - Global Diversity/Chief Diversity Officer (CDO) for Traveler's Insurance. Earlier in his career, Bill held a variety of executive and general management level positions in both the telecommunications industry, including leadership roles in Human Resources, Information Technologies, Marketing, Operations, Strategic Planning, and Business Development.

Currently, Bill serves as a mentor through a special mentoring program focused on high-potential female and diverse business professionals. Bill has also served as co-producer and legacy contributor for the internationally recognized Multicultural Forum on Workplace Diversity & Inclusion. Bill was also instrumental in developing an innovative program designed to enhance recruitment and retention of diverse business professionals to a consortium of major corporations located in the Twin Cities (MN). Bill has also served on various boards, including both nonprofit and public sectors.

Bill holds an MBA degree with a major in Marketing, a graduate certificate in Business Administration, and a Bachelor of Arts degree with a Psychology major. Bill is a life member of the National Black MBA Association, including former Chairman, and Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity. Also, Bill is married, has two sons, is a freelance writer, avid music-lover, jazz enthusiast, and enjoys golf.
Kevin Peterson
Kevin C. Peterson is the Founder and Executive Director of The New Democracy Coalition, a non-partisan and non-profit organization that focuses on civic engagement in Massachusetts and across the United States. The New Democracy Coalition is in residence at the College for Public and Community Service at the University of Massachusetts, Boston.

Mr. Peterson studied philosophy and politics at Boston University and is currently a Senior Fellow at the Center for Collaborative Leadership at the University of Massachusetts in Boston. He has also served as a senior researcher at the William Monroe Trotter Institute in Boston. Mr. Peterson has served as a Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the Urban Studies Department in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

He has lectured across the U.S. and in the continent of Africa, including the countries of Mali, Senegal, and Morocco.

Among numerous awards, Mr. Peterson has been cited by the U.S. Congress and the Massachusetts House of Representatives. The Boston City Council has declared a day in his honor. He is the recipient of the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts 2012 Molly Moon Award for his work on statewide Redistricting. And he has been recognized for the development of youth programming such as The Democracy Lab and Votecorps.
Actor and humanitarian Danny Glover praised the New Democracy Coalition for its “important and unique work.” He has appeared in national media, including Nightline, Time Magazine, and the New York Times.

Mr. Peterson writes a regular column in Boston Herald on politics and city affairs. He is a guest blogger on Black social and civic culture for Basic Black, WGBH, Boston.

He lives in the Meeting House Hill section of Dorchester, in Boston, Massachusetts.
Detective Larry Ellison

A year after graduation from South Boston High School, in 1982, Larry entered the Boston Police Academy as a Cadet. At the same time, he was pursuing a Bachelor of Science Degree in Criminal Justice at Northeastern University on a full Academic Scholarship. "As a youth, I did not see many faces of color in Law Enforcement and decided this is where I can make a difference," he stated. Upon graduation from the Academy in 1985, he served at a number of District Area Stations.  In 1989 he became a Detective in the Narcotics Division and was then assigned in 2005 to Boston School Unit Investigations, where he continues to serve. 

In 2010, Larry was elected President of Massachusetts Association of Minority Law Enforcement Officers, Inc. (MAMLEO), a 400 member organization that advocates for more minority officers in higher positions, protection of minority officers' rights, and provides pro bono attorneys in challenging lawsuits. During his tenure, there was also a focus on forming partnerships with community agencies for youth programming, Food Basket Giveaways at Thanksgiving, Toy Drives at Christmas, and encouraged the membership to volunteer in neighborhoods. Larry was re-elected as President for five consecutive terms. Upon leaving, he stated to the membership, "I know it is not an easy fight, but it is simply wrong if someone is intimidated when voicing their rights. We can help pave the way. I know I can, and we can be the change agent for our future, just like someone has done for us."

After thirty-four years in the Boston Police Department, Larry is still committed and determined to see his peers and incoming police members treated fairly and given the same level of access to promotions.

Larry and his wife Monique live in Foxboro, MA, with their daughter Lauren.