Michael R. Bloomberg is the 108th Mayor of the City of New York. He was first elected in November 2001, two months after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, a time when many believed that crime would return, businesses would flee, and New York might never recover. Instead, through hundreds of innovative new policies and initiatives, Mayor Bloomberg has made New York City safer, stronger, and greener.

As Director, Berry serves as the chief architect of the human resources agenda for 1.9 million Federal employees nationwide. Among his primary responsibilities are crafting improved Federal recruitment strategies, expediting the hiring process for Federal positions, and attracting a diverse group of men and women with a rich mix of talents to serve America in the civil service.

Berry has a solid familiarity with the issues, challenges and opportunities affecting the Federal workforce, as well as a good understanding of the challenges faced by OPM. He has had extensive experience on Capitol Hill, serving nearly 10 years (1985 – 1994) with Representative Steny Hoyer where he was primarily responsible for Federal employee and retiree issues. During that time, he played a key role in developing the Federal employee locality pay system which remains in use today.

Prior to accepting the OPM appointment, Berry was the Director of the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. from 2005 to 2009. During his tenure as Director, Berry addressed numerous management challenges such as fire safety, and implemented a strategic plan and 20-year capital master plan. As a result of his leadership, over $100 million in capital renovations are now under construction at this public facility.

From 2000 to 2005, Berry served as the Director of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, a nonprofit organization providing grants enhancing habitat for wildlife and developing creative partnerships benefitting wildlife. Between 1997 – 2000, Mr. Berry served as Assistant Secretary for Policy, Management and Budget at the Department of the Interior. As Assistant Secretary, Berry served as both Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer for a Department of 66,000 employees. Berry successfully launched a Presidential Initiative called "Lands Legacy," created the DOI University for employee and manager training, improved employee morale, enhanced working conditions, rehabilitated Interior’s budgetary position and improved diversity in every Bureau of the Department.

In 1995, Berry also served as Deputy Assistant Secretary and Acting Assistant Secretary for Law Enforcement at the Treasury Department with responsibility for managing 40 percent of Federal law enforcement, including direct line supervision over the Customs Service, the Secret Service, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms; IRS Criminal Investigations and the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center.

He graduated summa cum laude from the University of Maryland with a bachelor’s degree in government and politics. In 1981, he earned a master’s degree in public administration from Syracuse University.

Since February 2003, Clarence A. Johnson has served as Principal Director and Director for Civilian Equal Employment Opportunity, Office of the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense (Equal Opportunity) at the Pentagon. He is responsible for the development and coordination of equal opportunities policies and programs affecting all DoD civilian employees and military personnel within DoD worldwide. He also provides staff supervision of the Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute (DEOMI), a 100-member institution, located at Patrick Air Force Base, Florida, which is the premiere DoD school in equal opportunity and equal employment opportunity training, education and research. Mr. Johnson serves as principal advisor to the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense (Equal Opportunity) on equal opportunity and equal employment opportunity matters.

Before serving the Department of Defense in his present capacity, Mr. Johnson was an active duty Air Force colonel serving in the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Equal Opportunity as Director, Military Equal Opportunity. In that capacity, he formulated and provided policy guidance to the military components regarding policies and programs which prescribe, promote, coordinate and enforce equal opportunity and treatment of active duty and Reserve component military personnel; oversaw policy implementation and evaluated/monitored the performance of DoD component programs; and provided staff oversight for DEOMI.

Mr. Johnson entered active duty service as a C141 navigator. In addition to global airlift and contingency operations, his tours of duty included the Military Airlift Command Plans staff and Air Staff Training (ASTRA). He was a squadron commander three times and a group commander twice. Additionally, he held increasingly responsible positions at the headquarters and installation level. His decorations include the Defense Superior Service Medal (with one Oak Leaf Cluster), the Legion of Merit, and the Meritorious Service Medal (with three oak leaf clusters).

(full bio)

Vice Adm. Van Buskirk, a native of Petaluma, Calif., graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1979.  He assumed duties as the Navy’s 56th Chief of Naval Personnel on Oct. 11, 2011. Serving concurrently as the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations (Manpower, Personnel, Training and Education) (N1), he is responsible for the planning and programming of all manpower, personnel, training and education resources for the U.S. Navy. He manages an annual operating budget of $29 billion and leads over 20,000 employees engaged in the recruiting, personnel management, training and development of Navy personnel. His responsibilities include overseeing Navy Recruiting Command, Navy Personnel Command, and Naval Education and Training Command.

Ashore, he received his master’s degree at the Naval Postgraduate School and served tours in the Navy Office of Legislative Affairs; Submarine Force U.S. Pacific Fleet; Bureau of Naval Personnel; and, Submarine Force U.S. Atlantic Fleet. At sea, he served on board USS Seawolf (SSN 575), USS Salt Lake City (SSN 716), USS Tunny (SSN 682), and USS Georgia (SSBN 729) GOLD, and commanded the USS Pasadena (SSN 752) and Submarine Development Squadron 12.

As a flag officer, he has served as commander, Task Force Total Force; deputy to the Deputy Chief of Staff, Strategic Effects (MNF-Iraq); commander, Carrier Strike Group Nine; assistant deputy, Chief of Naval Operations for Operations, Plans and Strategy (N3/N5B); deputy commander and chief of staff, U.S. Pacific Fleet; and, most recently, as the 47th commander of the United States 7th Fleet, forward deployed in Yokosuka, Japan.

He is entitled to wear the Distinguished Service Medal, Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit (seven awards), and other various personal, unit and service awards.

(full bio)

Ms. Delia L. Johnson is the Director of the Office of Civil Rights of the International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB). In her present position, she serves as principal advisor on all matters relating to the management of equal employment opportunities (EEO). She administers the IBB’s EEO complaint process, the People with Disabilities Program, the Federal Women’s Program, the Hispanic Employment Program, and the Civil Rights Implementation Program which monitors Agency compliance with Title VI and Title IX of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended.

Ms. Johnson has an extensive background in federal sector equal employment opportunity which spans over two decades. Prior to her present appointment, Ms. Johnson served as Deputy Director and Equal Employment Opportunity Officer of the Office of Civil Rights, United States Information Agency.  

Ms. Johnson’s previous government service includes her tenure as Senior EEO Specialist for the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, Public Health Service, Department of Health and Human Services, as well as Senior EEO Specialist with the Department of Education and the departmental Office for Equal Opportunity at the Department of Interior. In addition, Ms. Johnson held the positions of EEO Specialist with the Department of Health Education and Welfare; Manpower Development Specialist with the D.C. Department of Human Resources; and served as Bilingual Counselor with the United Planning  Organization. She is also a former teacher of Spanish and English-as-a-Second Language.

A native of Panama, Ms. Johnson received her B.A. and M.A. degrees from Howard University, Washington, D.C. and completed course work in the Master's Degree Program in Equal Opportunity Law at the Antioch School of Law Center for Legal Studies. Her post graduate studies also included course-work in Cross-Cultural counseling.

Ms. Dagit introduced and leads the company's signature Global Constituency Group (GCG) strategy, which was launched with the creation of 10 global teams representing 32 countries. These groups are: Men, Women, Black, Hispanic/Latino, Native/Indigenous, Differently Able, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender, Asian, Interfaith and Generational. Each team is made up of 15-20 senior leaders representing the company's best talent across various business units and geographies.

Among her many awards, Ms. Dagit earned the 2005 Champion of the Year from Out and Equal; the 2004 “Employee of the Year" award from Careers & the DisABLED magazine; the 2000 Exemplary Leader Award from Silicon Graphics; the 1999 Advocate of the Year from the Black Employees Network; the 1997 Award of Professional Excellence from the Northern California HR Council; and the 1996 Tribute to Women in Industry award.

Ms. Daisy Gallagher is the founder and CEO/Chief Global Strategy Officer of Gallagher & Gallagher Worldwide (GGW). GGW is a 21-year-old award-winning strategic integrated marketing communications agency that specializes in defense and civilian contracting, focusing on strategic marketing, recruitment branding, public information, and top-level event deployment. The firm has been named one of the Top 10 Agencies by the Business Journal and has received more than 100 industry awards.

Ms. Gallagher and GGW have been acclaimed by her peers at the highest levels of professional accomplishment. Among her many awards and recognitions are: Public Relations Society of America’s Overall Excellence Awards for two consecutive years; one of the Top 5 Women-Owned Businesses in the Nation; Woman-Owned Business of the Year (President’s Award); Businessperson of the Year (SBA); Women In Communication (WIC) Award for Public Relations; European American Women’s Council (EAWC) ARTEMIS Award. In addition, Ms. Gallagher has received numerous citations and recognitions from Congress and from state and local governments and community groups for her leadership, business acumen, and community involvement. Prior to founding GGW, Ms. Gallagher started her career at Avon International corporate headquarters in Manhattan where she worked for eleven years, quickly rising to managerial level. At the peak of her career, she made a decision to leave the corporate world and relocate to rural America to provide a better quality of life for her son, who developed a chronic illness, ultimately, leaving him with a disability. When her son’s illness was diagnosed as environmental, she became more involved with sustainability and diversity causes and initiatives.

Ms. Gallagher is recognized as a leading national expert in sustainable marketing and event logistics deployment. She serves as the lead organizer and advisor for the World Green Energy Symposium (WGES) and other sustainability congresses, and also is President of the Green Meeting Industry Council’s Mid-Atlantic Chapter. Her company has been awarded Platinum-Level Green Business Certification by the Green Business Bureau. GGW was the first woman-owned and the first Latina-owned business to be awarded the GSA AIMS schedule. Ms. Gallagher was appointed by the White House – and unanimously confirmed by Congress – to serve on the Federal Small Business Advisory Committee. She was also appointed to serve on the GSA Industry-Government Council Steering Committee and the GSA Industry-Government Council. She has been featured as a Success Story and as an expert on Branding and Sustainable Marketing Initiatives and Best Practices, addressing her peers as a keynote speaker on a PBS broadcast; she has also been a keynote and lecturer for private and public industry, for the US Department of Defense, US Department of Energy, US Small Business Administration (SBA), the NIH Federal Mentoring Roundtable, and the US General Services Administration (at several GSA Industry Days in Washington, DC, and at GSA Training Expos). Internationally, Ms. Gallagher has addressed large audiences at the Foreign Ministry of Greece on Branding and has spoken at the United Nations.

Ms. Gallagher earned an Advanced Masters in Project Management from Villanova University and holds several post-graduate certificates, in fields such as Executive Leadership and Crisis Management; she also holds certification as a Project Management Professional. She also attended Harvard Business School; is trained in NLP, is a certified Success Coach and a Board Certified Clinical Practitioner (CHT)

Effenus Henderson is Chief Diversity Officer for the Weyerhaeuser Company, advising its CEO and senior management team on all diversity and inclusion issues. He has led a company-wide Inclusive Leadership Learning Series for its top 1,500 leaders.

Effenus is an internationally recognized diversity thought leader who has been invited by numerous organizations globally to share his expertise.  In the federal sector, he has consulted on diversity and inclusion with the EPA and Office of Personnel Management.

In the international arena, he has addressed the UN on intercultural and interreligious diversity as well as a high-level panel of the Alliance of Civilizations in Madrid, Istanbul, and Rio de Janeiro. He has advised leaders of the Club de Madrid on cross-cultural inclusion and was appointed to the Advisory Board of the Global Dialogue Foundation in Melbourne.

Effenus has received numerous awards for his work.  For example, he was named one of the top diversity officers in corporate America by Diversity Best Practices/Working Mother Media and received its first Diversity Officer Leadership Award. He was also named to Savoy magazine’s list of the Top 100 Most Influential Blacks in Corporate America; and Black Enterprise Magazine named him one of the Top Executives in Diversity.

Effenus was one of 100 Global Diversity Thought Leaders invited by the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) to a special forum in 2008 to provide a perspective on the future of global diversity and inclusion.

Last year, he was named to co-chair a national Diversity and Inclusion Standards Project (along with Cari Dominquez, former Head of the EEOC) sponsored by SHRM. This project will lead to officially-approved standards in the areas of Chief Diversity Officer competencies, diversity programs, and diversity metrics. This taskforce is working to extend these into global standards.

Effenus is a graduate of North Carolina Central University and the Stanford University Executive Program.

Skip Pettit has been a consultant and trainer for 25+ years.  In 1993, he formed the International Training Consortium, or ITC, a talent-packed group of 100 of the top trainers and consultants in the US.  He serves as its President today.

Mr. Pettit delivers guest lectures and workshops at world-class institutions such as Johns Hopkins University, the US Library of Congress, the Pentagon, the White House, and Gallaudet University.  He has trained more than 20,000 professionals in his career.

He is a graduate of the Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute (DEOMI) and a former instructor there. He brings extensive experience designing and delivering tailored training to federal agencies, including the National Security Agency (NSA), US Department of Justice, US Department of Transportation, US Department of Agriculture, US Department of Commerce, US Department of Treasury, US Department of Veterans Affairs, US Department of Education, US Department of Homeland Security, US Department of Interior, US Department of Housing & Urban Development, US Department of Energy, US Department of State, and more than 20 other federal agencies.  Mr. Pettit develops, coordinates, executes, and evaluates managerial and executive training and development programs across a wide variety of Human Resource subject areas.  He is a subject-matter expert in Diversity & Inclusion, Succession Planning, Human Capital Management, Team Building, Performance Management, and Supervision & Leadership.

Mr. Pettit has a history of training and consulting in the Diversity & Inclusion field.  He b egan training EEO classes for DOD after graduating from DEOMI in 1980, and also trained US Army personnel at the Ft. Meade, Ft Dix, and Ft. Belvoir NCO Leadership Academies.

For 19 years, he has designed and delivered the Diversity & Inclusion training for the most diverse federal agency of all, the International Broadcasting Bureau/Voice of America.  In addition, he has provided Diversity & Inclusion and EEO training to more than 20 other federal agencies, including US Secret Service, US Marshals Service, US Park Police, NIST, NOAA, US Census Bureau, Patent & Trademark Office, FEMA, FDA, Missile Defense Agency, Defense Information Systems Agency, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Defense Nuclear Agency, Defense Mapping Agency/NIMA/NGA, Walter Reed Army Medical Center, and the National Science Foundation (NSF), National Library of Medicine, and National Institutes of Health.

 (full bio)

Dr. Peter B. Vaughan is Dean of Fordham University's Graduate School of Social Service.  Dr. Vaughan's life-long commitment working for equality and constructive social change for all persons, especially those of color, will complement and enhance Fordham's mission to promote social justice and social change. Fordham President Joseph A. O'Hare, S.J., noted the extraordinary leadership Dr. Vaughan brings with him to the School of Social Service.  Since 1981 Dr. Vaughan has made the Penn School of Social Work his professional home base, first as associate professor and then, since 1987, as associate dean. During the 1991-92 school year, Dr. Vaughan served as acting dean of the School. In 1994-95 he served as the Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks Ceasar Chavez Visiting Scholar at Wayne State University.

During his tenure at Penn he consulted and offered countless in-service trainings in the public and private sectors, reviewed grant proposals for the U.S. Department of Education and served as a chair and reaccreditation site team member for the Council on Social Work Education. Chairing and serving on numerous local, regional, and national boards, Dr. Vaughan's current memberships include: Eagleville Hospital and Foundation Board, the National Advisory Committee of the Local Initiatives Funding Partners Program at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (Princeton, NJ), the Board of Trustees of the Visiting Nurses Association of Greater Philadelphia, Philadelphia Community Collaboration Board, the Board of the Mt. Carmel Baptist Church Community Out-Reach Center, and the Department of Veteran's Affairs Advisory Committee (Washington, D.C.). His most recent Penn service includes: Chair of the President's Advisory Council on Affirmative Action and the Diversity Fund Grant Review Committee, and member of the Evaluation Team of the African American Resource Center. In addition he participated in a number of University search committees.

Through his association with the West Philadelphia Collaborative Program for Child Health and the Cultural Asset Bridging and Building Collaborative (a primary prevention and health promotion program), Dr. Vaughan has made immeasurable contributions to the health and welfare of young persons, especially in the West Philadelphia community. His outstanding commitment to excellence in social work education has benefited countless students, faculty, and staff affiliated with the School.

Dr. Vaughan has twice been recognized with an "Excellence in Teaching Award" by Penn Social Work students, received an Honorary Alumni Recognition Award from the School's Alumni Association in recognition for his invaluable contributions to the School of Social Work.

Dr. Vaughan received his Ph.D. in social work and psychology and his M.A. in psychology from the University of Michigan, an M.S.W. from Wayne State University, and a B.A. in sociology from Temple University. 

Dr. Adis M. Vila is the Chief Diversity Officer, U.S. Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colo. She serves as the principal adviser to USAFA leadership ensuring diversity programs and projects are developed in accordance with federal, Department of Defense, Air Force, and USAFA guidance, policy, architecture and standards. She is the strategic leader, diversity advocate and principal adviser to academy leaders on diversity programs and issues and its primary voice on matters of equity, diversity and inclusion. She provides strategic guidance to the superintendent and other senior leaders on the implementation of diversity and inclusive learning best practices.

Dr. Vila is a former professor of international business and international law, corporate executive, government official, academic administrator and practicing attorney. She has broad general management experience in telecommunications, agriculture, government and international business. At the federal level, Dr. Vila has held a variety of senior posts including Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary for Latin American Affairs in the U.S. Department of State, and Assistant Secretary of Administration at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. At the state level, Dr. Vila served as Secretary (Agency Head) of the Florida Department of Administration where she managed a $750 million budget and more than 500 employees.