Si-Suite
Si-Suite
ALPFA NJ
Si-Suite: A Seat at the Table With Executive Leaders combines surprising leadership insights with a focus on diversity. Powered by ALPFA NJ, each episode highlights a different Executive sharing insights in a relaxed and candid atmosphere. We get the inside scoop on what surprises them, mistakes to avoid, and who they admire. Pull up a seat and have a treat at the Si-Suite table!
Monya Bunch on Gifts, Gratitude, and Giving
Monya Bunch is a seasoned attorney and certified DEI leader, who currently serves as WilmerHale’s Director of Diversity Equity & Inclusion (DEI). Monya’s legal background includes over ten years of private law firm practice, in addition to serving as in-house counsel at a brokerage services firm. In addition, Monya served as an adjunct professor at the Howard University School of Law and the University of Maryland, College Park. She served as a law clerk for the Honorable Damon J. Keith, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and has been recognized by Washington, D.C. Super Lawyers Magazine as a “Rising Star” and profiled in Washington Lawyer magazine. She recently received Diversity Journal’s Black Leadership award, which honors individuals who are trailblazers in their field and promote diversity and inclusion. Monya earned a J.D. from Howard University, where she served as Editor-in-Chief of the Howard Law Journal, an M.P.A. from the University of Hartford, an undergraduate degree from Hampton University, and Georgetown University’s Executive Certificate in Strategic Diversity and Inclusion Management. Monya was born and raised in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn and is a proud graduate of Brooklyn Technical High School. Learn more about Monya LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/monya-m-bunch-battle-esq-she-her-51b9473/ Shout-out: Today's Diversity Leader Shout-out goes to: Sukari Pinnock Fitts MSOD, PCC, Program Director Georgetown Executive Certificate in Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Management The ALFDP community (Association of Law Firm Diversity Professionals) Ronald C. Machen, Chair, Litigation/Controversy Department Music: Vente by Mamá Patxanga is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States ⁠License⁠ Amor Y Felicidad by SONGO 21 is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 International ⁠License --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/si-suite/message
Nov 7, 2023
39 min
Tonya Robinson on embracing the power in being you
Tonya Robinson serves as Vice Chair and General Counsel – Legal, Regulatory and Compliance at KPMG LLP, is a member of the firm’s management committee, and serves as the Secretary to KPMG’s Board of Directors. Before joining KPMG in 2017, Tonya served as the Acting General Counsel at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), overseeing nearly 600 professionals. Prior to her federal agency service, Tonya was Special Assistant to President Obama for Justice and Regulatory Policy at the White House. Prior to her service at the White House, Tonya was a partner at the law firm WilmerHale LLP where she worked on a range of litigation matters, including the ground-breaking University of Michigan affirmative action cases. She left Wilmer to work as counsel to then-Senator Joseph R. Biden, Jr. on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs. Among her community and philanthropic activities, Tonya serves on the Board of Directors for the National Women’s Law Center. Tonya holds a B.A. in Public Policy Studies and a Certificate in Women’s Studies from Duke University, a post-graduate degree in African Studies from the University of Cape Town, and has a Juris Doctorate from Harvard Law. Connect with Tonya Robinson on LinkedIn Shout-out: Today's Diversity Leader Shout-out goes to Monya M. Bunch Battle, Esq., Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at WilmerHale Music: Vente by Mamá Patxanga is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States ⁠License⁠ Amor Y Felicidad by SONGO 21 is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 International ⁠License⁠ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/si-suite/message
May 23, 2023
31 min
Mimi Carter on Better Communications for ESG and DE&I
Mimi Carter has taken a career in politics, nonprofits, and agency to create a new normal in consulting that marries purpose with profit.  She has a deep background in both nonprofit and corporate comms, as well as the ability to scale projects, work with teams and drive to goal when it comes to client mission. She has run and reorganized the PR and digital communications offices of some of the largest nonprofits in DC, such as The Corcoran Gallery of Art, The Epilepsy Foundation of America, and others, but as a PR agency leader, has also led the nonprofit and corporate accounts for organizations like The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, Mastercard Foundation, CenturyLink and more. Her favorite projects involve making the complex clear, the unseen seen, and creating campaigns that create value among stakeholders and shareholders, both emotionally and financially.  But best of all, she's a super-connector. She runs a network of 6000 people called DC Communicators, which continues to attract some of the most influential names in both nonprofit and for-profit comms - from Politico, Illy, and the WNBA to the Red Cross, United Nations, and The Guggenheim. Her favorite topics are purpose and impact communications to create a sense of belonging with the reality of profit.  Learn more about Mimi here  Shout-out: Today's Diversity Leader Shout-out goes to Lisa Borders Independent Director | “Enlightened” Podcast Host | Strategic Advisor | Keynote Speaker | DEI Advocate | Former WNBA President Music: Vente by Mamá Patxanga is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License Amor Y Felicidad by SONGO 21 is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 International License --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/si-suite/message
Feb 16, 2023
51 min
Mi Patria - Empowering the people of Puerto Rico
Mi Patria aims to improve the quality of life of underserved Puerto Rican communities by taking action against displacement, protecting and expanding affordable sustainable housing to create resilient self-sufficient communities, prepared to sustain emergencies.  Through our efforts, military veterans and volunteers strengthen their communities and lead positive change. Many veterans are excellent leaders that desire to continue serving their community after their military service. It is proven volunteering has mental health benefits, which assists military veterans to identify a new purpose, and their continued service will forge new paths in their civilian life transition.  In times of emergency and disaster, Mi Patria shifts primary focus to disaster response and relief efforts. Learn more Carmen Santiago, Co-founder:  Raymond Collazo, Co-founder Website: https://www.mipatria.org/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mipatria.pr/ Email for more information: [email protected] Music: Vente by Mamá Patxanga is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License Amor Y Felicidad by SONGO 21 is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 International License --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/si-suite/message
Nov 23, 2022
51 min
The pivotal moment that changed Nestor Solari's life
Nestor Solari is Co-Founder and CEO of Sigo Seguros, an insurance technology company providing affordable access to car insurance for immigrant and working class communities.  The son of Uruguayan immigrants, Nestor earned a BS in Finance from Penn State as the first in his family to attend college. He also earned an MA in International Studies from the Lauder Institute, and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, where he attended as a Howard E. Mitchell Fellow. Nestor is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese, and began his studies at the Universidad ORT in Montevideo, Uruguay. Before his graduate studies, Nestor worked on over $7.0 billion worth of transactions in Brazil, India, China, Mexico, Peru, Colombia, Paraguay, Bolivia, and Cambodia during his time at Goldman Sachs, Developing World Markets, and Creation Investments. He has conducted business in over 30 countries. He has spoken at dozens of events about entrepreneurship and building insurance technology, and was named one of the Most Notable Hispanic Leaders in New York by Crain’s Business. Nestor has dedicated his career and volunteer efforts to helping underserved communities, educating young people, and increasing diversity across the industries in which he works. Learn more LinkedIn email: [email protected] Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sigoseguros/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@sigoseguros Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sigoseguros/ Shout-out: Today's Diversity Leader Shout-out goes to Matt Stephenson, Edrizio De La Cruz, Sponsors for Educational Opportunity, a long list of women in his life that led by example, in particular his Mom, and Fernanda Lima. Music: Vente by Mamá Patxanga is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License Amor Y Felicidad by SONGO 21 is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 International License --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/si-suite/message
Nov 9, 2022
33 min
Vanessa Nazario on how your challenges are your greatest asset
Vanessa Nazario is Corporate Director, Chief Diversity Officer of Memorial Healthcare System. Vanessa was born in Puerto Rico and raised in Trenton, NJ. She has worked in the field of Community Development, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for over 27 years. In 1996, she joined PNC Bank’s Community Development Department where championed equity and inclusion in throughout her 20-year career, concluding her tenure as VP, CDB Operations.  In 2017, she began her role as Diversity Director with RWJ University Hospital, where she was responsible for diversity and inclusion and healthcare equity initiatives. Vanessa launched the Hospital’s first Diversity & Inclusion Council and provided oversight for seven Business Resource Groups.  She was also a key leader in the creation of the PROUD Gender Medical Center Program.  In 2021, she joined Memorial Healthcare System as Director of DEI to create and lead the System’s inaugural diversity, health equity, and inclusion strategy. In June 2022, she was promoted to Corporate Director, Chief Diversity Officer to further MHS’s commitment to DEI.   Vanessa serves on several committees including Florida Diversity Council’s Advisory Council; Human Resources Association of Broward County’s (HRABC) DEI Committee; Rider University’s Women in Leadership Council; HISPA’s South Florida Advisory Council; and ARC of Broward’s Business Advisory Council.  She has been recognized by several organizations for her leadership including South Florida Business Wealth’s Diversity Executive Leadership award; DEIB Health Consortium’s Top Healthcare Diversity Officer; Diversity Global Magazine 2022 Top 15 Champions of Diversity; and Hallandale Beach Chamber of Commerce’s 2022 Excellence in Diversity and Inclusion Award.   Vanessa received her MBA from Rider University and has a master’s in science degree from Southern New Hampshire University. Learn more:  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vanessa-nazario-ms-mba-9473735a/ MHS website: https://www.mhs.net Shout-out: Today's Diversity Leader Shout-out goes to Brenda E. Snipes at Jefferson Health and Monica Diaz, at Royal Caribbean Music: Vente by Mamá Patxanga is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License Amor Y Felicidad by SONGO 21 is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 International License --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/si-suite/message
Oct 19, 2022
44 min
How Diego Guevara reset for success
Diego Guevara, Global Design Director at Nike leads Performance product creation and strategy. His work as Director of Advanced Concepts focuses on creating the future of Sport by working with athletes and embedding and celebrating diversity, equity and inclusion through product and brand vision. Diego also serves as Co-Chair of Nike’s ERG Latino & Friends Network, leading the 1,500 member employee resource group representing Nike’s LatinX community. Because of his love for Design and as part of his commitment to elevate DE&I in corporate America, Diego co-launched LatinX Design Crew, a creative community focusing on developing, celebrating and promoting LatinX talent at Nike.  Diego was born in Quito, Ecuador and moved to Miami, FL at age 16 and currently lives in Portland, OR with his family.  Diego recently was appointed as Board Member of IMPACT Immigration, a non-profit that provides psychological evaluations to immigrants and refugees regardless of their ability to pay or background. Learn more  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/diego-guevara/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ddd_iego/ Shout-out: Today's Diversity Leader Shout-out goes to Jarvis Sam, the LatinX VP group at Nike, Jorge Casimiro, Blanca Gonzalez, Vanessa Garcia-Brito, Barbara Furlow-Smiles, Alex Martinez, Cisco Estrada, and Ailsa Gilroy.   In addition, Diego would love to include his current ‘day-job’ Leaders who support his efforts and help him share this with the larger Org - Stu McArthur and Dan Farron. Music: Vente by Mamá Patxanga is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License Amor Y Felicidad by SONGO 21 is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 International License --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/si-suite/message
Oct 12, 2022
35 min
Building your career with Cesar Gonzalez
Cesar Gonzalez is the Head of Operations for Commercial Banking at Wells Fargo & Company. Gonzalez leads critical business and lending operations for Commercial Banking and partners closely with leaders across Wells Fargo to ensure an integrated operating environment. He oversees the transformation of operational processes that deliver streamlined, efficient results, and leverages best practices to serve the needs of clients globally. Gonzalez joined Wells Fargo from Bank of America, where he most recently led enterprise programs focused on optimizing end-to-end processes across all business lines. During his time with Bank of America, Gonzalez led the Commercial Bank Service organization to be the first commercial bank service organization to earn JD Power & Associates’ certification for client satisfaction excellence. In addition, Gonzalez enabled business growth of over 25% while improving the client experience — culminating in the Greenwich Study recognizing Bank of America for providing the best Implementation and Service experience in Asia Pacific. A certified Six Sigma Black Belt and an active leader in his local community, Gonzalez is the co-chair of the Hispanic Scholarship Fund Advisory Council. He also founded and co-chaired the Chief Administrative Office Hispanic-Latino Leadership Advisory Council at Bank of America, which helped recruit Hispanic talent and enhanced the bank’s brand image with Hispanic-serving institutions. Learn more about Cesar LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cesar-gonzalez-a11ab872/ http://www.hispanic-scholarship.org Shout-out: Today's Diversity Leader Shout-out goes to Gerry Stone Music: Vente by Mamá Patxanga is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License Amor Y Felicidad by SONGO 21 is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 International License --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/si-suite/message
Oct 5, 2022
31 min
DK Bartley's Recipe for Success
D.K. Bartley is the Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer at Moody’s With a career that has been exemplified by success on many corporate “streets,” Wall Street, Madison Avenue, and Seventh-Fashion Avenue, DK(Bartley) has created a brand emblematic of “Best-in-Class” Talent Acquisition and Diversity & Inclusion practices for some of the world’s most influential companies. He is currently the Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer at Moody’s, the global integrated risk assessment company. Under DK's leadership Moody’s day-to-day functioning as a business has become even more inclusive, more progressive and a leader among its competitors.  Prior to Moody’s, DK was previously Senior Vice President & Head of Diversity and Inclusion for Dentsu International, where he managed talent solutions for Dentsu’s largest clients, such as Microsoft, American Express, Facebook, and LVMH. One of his biggest successes was managing the strategic hiring of four hundred-plus diverse advertising professionals for Microsoft, resulting in a sixty-six-million-dollar growth of Multicultural revenue for Microsoft products. He is a board member of the The American Advertising Federation, and also Urban Word, home of America’s youngest Black Poet Laureate. DK is certified in Diversity & Inclusion Management from Cornell University ILR, holds a master’s degree in communications from the New York Institute of Technology, and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from SUNY Stony Brook. Learn more about DK LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dk-bartley-4348aa101/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dk.bartley/ Shout-out: Today's Diversity Leader Shout-out goes to Jenny from J Consulting and Raven Solomon Music: Vente by Mamá Patxanga is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License Amor Y Felicidad by SONGO 21 is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 International License --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/si-suite/message
Sep 28, 2022
34 min
The Beauty and Power of Openness with Odalys Jasmine, host of Hella Latin@
Named one of PRSA’s People to Watch Under 30, Odalys Jasmine is a first-gen Latina who holds up her Honduran flag proudly.  By day, she's a project manager for emerging talent at LinkedIn, where she curates experiences for Black, Latino, and underrepresented talent.  By night, she hosts the Hella Latin@ podcast, which makes space for Latinos to tell their first generation and/or immigrant stories and share their unique experiences of navigating identity, life, and career in the U.S. Odalys’s mission is to make space for more of her people — one story at a time. Learn more about Odalys LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/odalysjasmine/ Website: https://www.odalysjasmine.com Shout-out: Today's Diversity Leader Shout-out goes to:  1. René Shimada Siegel, Partner, Armanino LLP 2. Rosanna Durruthy, Vice President, Global Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging LinkedIn  3. Tobruk Blaine, Assistant Athletics Director of Student-Athlete Development at San Jose State University  Music: Vente by Mamá Patxanga is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License Amor Y Felicidad by SONGO 21 is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 International License --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/si-suite/message
Aug 10, 2022
42 min
Load more