2024 Chicago NDC Certification Program
Apr 22-26, 2024
8:00 AM - 5:00 PM (CT)
Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) 567 W Lake Street, 2nd Floor, Chicago, IL 60661
In-Person
In Partnership With
Faculty
Dr. Lucy C. Arciniega has over ten years of experience in the diversity, equity, and inclusion industry. She formerly served as Director of DEI at Salk Institute for Biological Studies where she headed the DEI team. She was responsible for developing and implementing sustainable strategies to further diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. Dr. Arciniega functioned as the subject matter expert on DEI and as a strategic partner across the multiple groups and functions that do DEI work at Salk, helped to initiate and measure the success of DEI efforts. She also secured and managed partnerships between Salk and external community members to further the diversification of Salk and the STEM workforce. Dr. Arciniega co-founded Willing Observers with Dr. Melissa Maceyko to provide DEI strategies and services from an organizational culture perspective. Her company uses insights about company beliefs, values, norms, and practices to drive the creation of DEI plans, metrics, training and programming to meet the specific needs and expectations of a company’s stakeholders. As a scholar-practitioner on diversity and inclusion, Dr. Arciniega has published academic articles in several peer-reviewed journals, as well as opinion editorials through her column, "Diversity in the Workplace," which was hosted from 2017 to 2019 by the American Anthropology Association, a professional membership organization with over 10,000 members. Dr. Arciniega has worked with the National Diversity Council since 2015, being in the inaugural cohort of the NDC Certification Program. Later, as Managing Director at the National Diversity Council, a non-profit 501 (c) 3 organization, she oversaw the NDC Index, an annual survey which measures organizational commitment to diversity and inclusion. In this role, Dr. Arciniega designed the methodology for assessing the results of a 200+ question survey according to global diversity and inclusion best practices. She also designed the NDC Index Report to help companies use their survey results to create an efficient DEI organizational strategy that maximizes their investment in organizational change. Dr. Arciniega has held positions in academia, including as a Visiting Assistant Professor in Business and Organizational Anthropology at Wayne State University. As a trained anthropologist, she has also used her cross-cultural perspective to bring key insights into customer service experience, management leadership strategies, and employee and team engagement dynamics through change management consulting. Lucy C. Arciniega received her Ph.D. and M.A. degrees in Anthropology from the University of California, Irvine. Her doctoral research on the diversity and inclusion industry received numerous awards, including the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research Grant. She lives in and works out of San Diego, California.
Cecilia Orellana-Rojas serves as the chief of learning and consulting for the National Diversity Council. In this role, she oversees the execution of the organization’s strategic goals to generate new revenue streams. She leads the consulting function as well as innovative, high-quality educational and research initiatives in diversity and inclusion. She is the creator of the NDC Certification Program curriculum, which prepares professionals for successful careers in the DEIB space. She is also the developer of the NDC Toolkit, a unique diversity reference portal and research consolidator. Cecilia brings 15 years of experience at AT&T, where she started as a manager in diversity marketing. She spent most of her career at the telecommunications giant as associate director and lead consultant of corporate diversity. In this role, she offered support in the formulation, implementation and direction of AT&T’s diversity and inclusion strategy including metrics, communications, and training. She also provided consulting in all aspects of workforce diversity. Prior to her corporate role, she worked as a journalist and later taught in academia for more than 10 years in the area of sociology, with emphasis on U.S. race relations, gender, Latin America, and research methods. Cecilia is a passionate advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion. She was instrumental in the launch of the Texas Diversity Council and served as the first president of the San Antonio Advisory Board. As a founding member of the Texas Hispanic/Latino Summit, she played a leadership role in establishing the mission of the summit as a venue for Latino/a voices within the Texas Leadership and Diversity Conference. She has been recognized numerous times with the Diversity Champion Award and Diversity Leadership Award for her commitment and dedication to diversity business practices. Cecilia has served on the Emeritus Board of Directors for the Masters Leadership Program of Greater San Antonio and as an external member of the Workforce and Diversity Committee for the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA). In addition, she has served on the Immigration and Refugees Action Team for the City of San Antonio’s Faith-Based Initiative. A native of Chile, Cecilia earned a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Texas at Austin and a master’s degree in Latin American studies from the University of New Mexico. She graduated Summa Cum Laude with a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of North Dakota. She resides in San Antonio, Texas, with her husband, Henry, and their son, Rodrigo.
Speaker
As Chief Operating Officer of the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), Veronica serves as the deputy to the CTA President. Her focus is day-to-day administration and operational elements of the Authority. Veronica has 25 years of government experience -- fourteen of those with the CTA. While at CTA, Veronica has led various departments including Government and Community Relations, Real Estate, Business Development, Supply Chain, Diversity Programs, and Technology. She also previously served as Deputy Chief of Staff and Chief of Staff. While at CTA, Veronica has led various initiatives to improve the customer experience through the use of technology. She also led the deployment of technology to modernize, automate, and improve internal management and time-keeping functions for more than 8,000 bargained-for bus and rail employees. When she led the Diversity Programs department, she created and implemented programs to increase contract and job opportunities for disadvantaged communities on the 2012 Red Line South renovation. Since then, these programs have grown and are now applied across all major CTA projects. Veronica also helped create a Diversity Task Force at the CTA to enhance its programs of inclusion and opportunity, as well as to celebrate the CTA’s diversity through a variety of events throughout the year. Prior to joining the CTA, Veronica worked with the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) for ten years, where she last served as the Director of Administration. There, she was responsible for facilitating policies and projects that helped move forward the CHA’s plan to transform public housing into integrated, mixed-income communities. In 2008, Veronica was the recipient of the Kathy Osterman Award for superior public service. Veronica is also a past recipient of the Hispanic Heritage Month Leadership Award from the Chicago Commission on Human Relations for both her volunteer community work and her career in public service.
Jami de Lou is a dynamic and intuitive people & culture leader and entrepreneur with a proven track record of driving inclusion culture change across multiple organizations. She has 15+ years of experience in diversity, equity, inclusion, talent management, learning and talent acquisition. Jami is Vice President of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Revantage, where she is a member of the North America extended leadership team. Jami also serves as a Board Member of the National Diversity Council. Jami has spent her career pushing for ways to move beyond the status quo, to drive organizational and human behavioral change. She channels her unique life, education, and professional DEI experience to lead with cultural intelligence — a fluency seen in her work as: an inclusion strategist and inclusive leadership coach. As a Certified Professional Diversity Coach (CPDC) Jami specializes in helping leaders build cultural intelligence. Jami is a transformative storyteller and learning curator. A sought-after presenter, who weaves together storytelling and key cultural intelligence, equity and inclusion concepts to move audiences to action. Jami is a 2017 DiversityFIRST™ Award recipient, a recognition by the Illinois Diversity Council for her work to advance cultural diversity and inclusion in the workplace and the community. Jami served as a 2018 Diversity Lab Hackathon D&I expert and is a former Board Member of the Association of Law Firm Diversity Professionals (ALFDP).
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