DE&I Awareness to Action: 10 Keys to that First Step

What’s so hard about moving from DE&I awareness to action? After all, it’s only one step. Why are so many companies hesitant to take it?

During the Channel Futures workshop, “Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Strategies for Business Success,” a powerhouse panel of DE&I experts leaders considered the issue.

JS Group’s Michelle McBain

AWS’ Modupé Congleton

Union College’s Christa Grant

The all-star panel was moderated by Michelle McBain, vice president of global channel and digital strategy for JS Group. She is also a member of the Alliance of Channel Women (ACW) and the Allies of the Channel Council, which collaborated with Channel Futures on the session.

Cisco’s Michelle Witherspoon

CompTIA’s Yvette Steele

Microsoft’s Gavriella Schuster

Joining McBain were five industry and DE&I thought leaders. Modupé Congleton is head of inclusion, diversity and equity sales and marketing at AWS. Dr. Christa Grant is assistant dean for intercultural affairs and chief diversity officer for student affairs at Union College. Gavriella Schuster is corporate vice president, One Commercial Partner at Microsoft. In November 2020, she presented the TEDx talk, “BeCOME an Ally: How to Achieve Gender Equality.” Yvette Steele is director of member communities and the diversity, equity and inclusion strategist at CompTIA. And Michelle Witherspoon is chief of culture, people, diversity and operations at Cisco.

During the 45-minute session, the panel discussed topics that included inspiring leaders to promote DE&I, common misconceptions about DE&I programs, the role of employee resource groups (ERGs) and women’s continuing struggle with gender inequity in the tech industry.

Our slideshow above offers the top 10 takeaways on the panel’s discussion of moving from DE&I awareness to action.