Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Summit

The Central Penn Business Journal and Lehigh Valley Business host the 2024 Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Summit. This online summit will discuss the importance of adopting diverse practices and creating a diverse culture that will help them become better community leaders, attract strong talent, and develop innovative ideas and practices.

Keynote Speaker: Todd Snovel, Chief Leadership and Engagement Officer for the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania

Panel #1: Building Inclusive Work Environments

Panelists

Lynette Chappell-Williams, JD, Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer, Penn State Health 

As chief diversity officer and vice president of diversity and inclusion, Lynette Chappell-Williams is responsible for the development and execution of a vision and strategy that solidifies a culture of inclusiveness and diversity in all forms across the organization, which includes the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Penn State Health Medical Group and the College of Medicine. She has more than 30 years of leadership experience in advancing diversity, equity and inclusion. 

Prior to joining Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center and Penn State College of Medicine in 2015, Chappell-Williams was associate vice president for inclusion and workforce diversity at Cornell University, a position she held for more than two decades. She was largely responsible for many of Cornell’s awards as a best employer for its diversity and inclusion efforts, including the coveted Exemplary Voluntary Efforts Award from the Department of Labor Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs. Before joining Cornell University, Chappell-Williams held positions at organizations including George Washington University, Illinois Institute of Technology and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. 

Chappell-Williams has presented both nationally and internationally and received numerous awards for her efforts to expand diversity and improve work-life balance. She was recognized by Latino Connection as a Workforce Champion; by Human Resource Executive as an HR Rising Star/Diversity Champion; by the Cornell University Employee Assembly for promoting work-life balance; by the Families and Work Institute as a Work-Life Legacy Award recipient; by the Profiles in Leadership Diversity Journal as a Woman Worth Watching in Leadership; and by Becker’s Hospital Review as one of 40 health system diversity and inclusion executives to know. 

Chappell-Williams holds a law degree from The Ohio State University Moritz School of Law, bachelor’s degree from James Madison University and a diversity management certificate from Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations. 

Joy Houck, VP Org Dev & Chief Learning Officer, WellSpan

Joy Houck Jones is vice president of organizational development and the chief learning officer for WellSpan Health. In her role, she provides strategic leadership in the form of employee engagement programs and experience, leadership development, clinical education and much more to lead change across WellSpan’s system structure, team member behaviors and operational processes. 

Beginning in 2014, Joy led strategic planning and organizational development for renowned Cleveland Clinic (CCF), an $11 billion not-for-profit, where she engaged teams, designed and implemented innovative solutions to hear employee voices and equipped frontline managers with impactful engagement resources; all of which helped move the needle with increasing engagement scores from the 39 percentile to top quartile. During her tenure at CCF, she earned numerous awards including outstanding achievement (2021) for her team’s impact on caregivers, patients, organization and community. Most notably, she led and executed coronavirus (COVID-19) employee and family support operations triaging 18,000 family cases, serving 40,000 employees at work and delivering one million meals, resulting in the organizations highest employee engagement scores. 

Over the years, Joy has held many leadership positions in banking and consumer products for National City Corporation (now PNC) and KeyBank and Nestle USA. She has also had the pleasure of contributing her knowledge and expertise as an independent consultant.  

In her leisure, she contributes her time to volunteering for organizations, such as, Urban League of Greater Cleveland, National United Way’s National Academy of Volunteers, Center for Prevention of Domestic Violence and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. She also enjoys spending time with her husband and children, collecting and exploring the arts, advocating on issues that impact the lives of children living with disabilities and multi-cultural adoption and wellness. 

Tyrone J. Russell, Chief Executive Officer, Faces International Marketing and Development, LLC

Tyrone Russell is a community advocate, father and entrepreneur. Owner of Faces International Marketing and Development Firm and CCC training, he executes cultural realization sessions and diversity trainings for corporations, non-profits, and school districts throughout the United States. Having directly supervised over 200 individuals, he assists organizations in creating strategic frameworks to increase inclusion while enhancing tools and experiences that decrease institutional and personal biases that impact culture and day-to-day operations. Recipient of the 2017 African American Businessman of the Year Award Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce and recognized by Lehigh Valley Style as one of the Most Influential Men of 2023, Tyrone has worked with PPL Electric, Olympus Corporation of Americas, Air Products, Exelon Nuclear, NFI and Graham Pelton as a facilitator and/or coach.  

Panel #2: Power, Privilege and Allyship

Panelists

George Fernandez, CEO, COLOR & CULTURE

Steve Harfield, Director of Talent and Culture, Giant

Steve Harfield is the director of talent and culture at The GIANT Company, an omnichannel grocer known to customers as GIANT, MARTIN’S, GIANT Heirloom Market, GIANT Direct and MARTIN’S Direct that has been proudly serving families across Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and New Jersey since 1923.  

At The GIANT Company, Steve provides strategy and expertise related to talent management including learning and development, performance management, talent and succession planning, and recruitment. 

Steve has been a GIANT team member since 1999, and has grown through new opportunities, from store manager to regional director and director of talent and culture.  

Steve has won the Catalyst for Change award (2016), The GIANT Company’s Presidents’ award (2020), and Ahold Delhaize’s Living Our Values award (2020). In addition, Steve serves as a board member of the Chris Handles Foundation in Harrisburg. 

Steve graduated from the University of Phoenix. 

Masai Lawson, Senior Manager of Talent Acquisition and Inclusion, Gannett Fleming

Masai Lawson chairs Gannett Fleming’s Inclusion Steering Committee. Over the past 5 years and with the support of senior leadership, Masai has taken the lead in developing the framework, promoting, and supporting Gannett Fleming’s vision and strategy to become a more inclusive, equitable, and diverse organization, while also creating a culture of belonging. She always wears the hat of Senior Manager of Talent Acquisition, where she and her team focus on translating the need to recruit top talent into strategic talent acquisition initiatives with a focus on high-touch candidate engagement, mapping recruiting efficiencies to impact overall business objectives while at the same time promoting an employee-centric culture.

Masai currently serves on the Board of Directors of Feel Your Boobies, a non-profit that targets women under 40 with lifesaving calls to action through social media outreach and engagement. She recently became a Board Member of WITF, a public media outlet, where she is lending her support to their mission of amplifying voices of marginalized communities, and she sits on the DEI&B Steering Committee for the American Council of Engineering Companies.

Masai believes that all leaders, especially female leaders, should have grit, resilience, and tenacity. Grit to push through the challenging obstacles in business that many women still face. Resilience to bounce back and continue tackling new problems without being weighed down by previous issues; and tenacity to continue fighting the fight even when things are complicated. Masai has been successful because she has never been intimated by a challenge. Believing that you figure it out, get what you need to accomplish the task, get it done, and move on to the next challenge. Her philosophy … As women, we must be the masters of our destiny; not letting others determine our fate – own it but always be humble.