January 2021 Newsletter

Linda Addison, Immediate Past US Managing Partner, Norton Rose Fulbright US LLP, was recently recognized as an Honorary Champion for Change by Catalyst in the newly released “Towards a More Equitable Future: The Catalyst CEO Champions For Change” report. The report also identifies ways global companies can collect data on ethnicity and race in their organizations. The pandemic and protests against racism have led to a corporate awakening, propelling more companies to dig deep and commit to taking action to break down systemic barriers created by racial and ethnic inequities. Long before 2020, Catalyst CEO Champions For Change have been engaged in this effort, and they continue to lead the way toward creating more inclusive workplaces. To learn more about Catalyst’s Champions for Change, please visit HERE. To read the full “Towards a More Equitable Future: The Catalyst CEO Champions For Change” report, please visit HERE.

Cheryl McKissack Daniel, President & CEO, McKissack & McKissack, was recently elected as Vice Chair of the New York Building Foundation, Charitable Arm of the New York Building Congress. The New York Building Foundation is a nonprofit organization that promotes the long-term growth and well-being of the New York City building industry and the wider community. “I’m thrilled to continue working towards implementing positive and impactful change within the building industry and the greater New York community as Chair of the Building Foundation,” said Cheryl. “I look forward to using my experience working across the business and on MWBE issues, as well as my passion for philanthropy, to ensure the success of the organization.” To view the New York Building Congress Board of Directors, please visit HERE. To learn more about McKissack & McKissack, please visit HERE.

Bridgette Heller, CoFounder & CEO, Shirley Proctor Puller Foundation (SPPF), was featured in C200 “12 Days of Impact” for work done to give back to the community that raised her. After her community was labeled “the worst place in Florida to get an education as a black child,” Bridgette knew she needed to find a way to help. In 2016, Bridgette launched the Shirley Proctor Puller Foundation (SPPF), an academic enrichment focused day camp. “The ancestors of this community raised me, and it’s my turn. These are ‘my children.’ I am a part of their village.” – Bridgette Heller. To view C200 announcement on this achievement, please visit HERE.

Daisey Holmes, President, BNY Mellon Foundation, Head of Global Impact Citizenship, BNY Mellon, was recently elected by the Trustees of Lincoln Center to serve as Director on the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts Board. To view the full list of board members of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, please visit HERE.

Lisa O. Monaco, Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Reiss Center on Law and Security; Partner, O’Melveny & Myers; and former White House Homeland Security and Counter-terrorism Adviser, was recently nominated by President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. to serve as Deputy Attorney General, an act that follows through with Biden’s initiative to elect more women into top political positions. To read more, please visit HERE.

Karol Mason, President, John Jay College, recently announced the #FutureofPublicSafety Report, a joint project of John Jay College and Noble National. As a majority-minority institution, John Jay reflects the diversity of voices of minority communities that need to be heard. With input from these diverse voices, John Jay presents a report which they hope will “break the binary that characterizes so much of the national conversation on public safety: “us vs. them;” “‘law and order’ vs. Black Lives Matter.” This project was started in large part, “to unearth and highlight our considerable areas of agreement” and to work with communities across the country to implement solutions. This report creates a roadmap for communities across the nation in order to create a new age of public safety that is equitable for all. To read the #FutureofPublicSafety report, please visit HERE.

Deanna Mulligan, Board Chair and Former CEO, The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America, was featured in an article by Harvard Business Review discussing the use of values to drive strategic planning. “When Hurricane Sandy affected thousands of Guardian employees, the firm put some of them up in hotel rooms and created a fund to cover their hurricane-related costs. For then-CEO Deanna, the experience taught her to think even longer-term than she always had: What were all the things that could go wrong, and how could the company protect itself from them? What could go right if Guardian were poised to seize the opportunities presented? Technology became a top priority: The company migrated many applications to the cloud and modernized employee productivity tools. It built a data analytics operation from the ground up and retrained actuaries to be analysts. Working remotely became common at Guardian. And its leaders anticipated two other important issues for organizations: diversity, equity, and inclusion, and the gig economy.” To read the full article, please visit HERE.

Lisa Sherman, President & CEO, Ad Council, teamed up with Dr. Anthony Fauci and other leading health experts to spread the facts physicians and nurses need about COVID-19 vaccination. “Our nation’s healthcare workers have been working tirelessly to fight this pandemic and protect our communities, and now it’s our turn to help them,” said Lisa. “We’re proud to team up with some of the nation’s leading medical and health experts to help physicians and nurses get the facts they need to feel confident in choosing to be immunized against COVID-19, and ultimately, advise their own patients about the vaccines.” The informational content (which will be released as a video series) is part of the Ad Council and the COVID Collaborative’s ongoing COVID-19 Vaccine Education efforts, which will release a wide range of communications designed to reach many audiences over the coming months. To learn more about the Ad Council’s efforts to fight against COVID-19, please visit HERE.

Kay Unger, President, Kay Unger Design, recently joined the board of RetailersUnited. The organization was founded to help America reopen – and stay open. Retailers United has helped designers and wholesalers alike, giving them grants and mentoring that has allowed them to really succeed in these challenging times. To learn more about this organization and their work, please visit HERE.