Featured Speakers

Dr. Damon A. Williams is a visionary and inspirational leader, and one of the nation’s recognized experts in strategic diversity leadership, youth development, corporate responsibility, and organizational change. For four years, he led a $250 million social impact portfolio for the world’s largest youth development company, the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, representing the interests of nearly 4 milliom diverse youth and teens as Senior Vice President for Programs and Chief Education Officer. One of the original architects of the Inclusive Excellence concept in American higher education, he is author of the best-selling Strategic Diversity Leadership and co-author of the Chief Diversity Officer and he is a global thought leader who has worked with more than 1,000 colleges and universities, Fortune 100 companies, foundations, and government agencies, as keynote speaker, strategist, educator, and social impact leader. As the University of Michigan celebrates her 200-year anniversary, he was recently awarded the Bicentennial Leadership Award, a one-time honor given to 20 trailblazing alumni who exemplify the best of the academic and leadership values of the University's 200,000 living alumni. He is currently chief catalyst for the Center for Strategic Diversity Leadership & Social Innovation and a Senior Scholar and Innovation Fellow at the Wisconsin Equity, and Inclusion (Wei) Laboratory of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he previously served as Associate Vice Chancellor and inaugural Chief Diversity, Equity, and Educational Achievement Officer. Dr. Williams received his PhD from the University of Michigan Center for the Study of Higher and Post-Secondary Education (CSHPE) in Organizational Behavior and Management, and his MS and BS degrees from Miami University in Educational Leadership and Sociology and Black World Studies, respectively. For more information, please visit www.drdamonawilliams.com.