Re-envisioning DEI: The Arc of Progress & the Promise of the Future

Subha V. Barry is a C-suite leader and an advisor who brings a unique perspective on the alignment of corporate culture to talent strategy and business results. As a transformational change agent, she has a proven record of identifying and accelerating new business creation, driving sales, and increasing profitability.

Subha is president of Seramount where she drives the firm’s vision, strategy, and business development. Subha joined Working Mother Media (WMM) in 2015 and during her tenure she dramatically improved margins, expanded its portfolio through growth in high-value consulting and learning and development, exponentially grew their client roster, and recruited talented executive leaders to amplify subject matter and functional expertise. In 2021, Subha oversaw the brand’s transformation from WMM to Seramount, a leading strategic professional services and research firm dedicated to building high-performing, inclusive workplaces. Today, Seramount works with 450+ organizations globally, including half of the Fortune 500, to help our partners navigate today’s talent and DEI landscape.

Previously, Subha was senior vice president and chief diversity officer at Freddie Mac, where she served on the firm’s management committee and led their foundation. Prior to her time at Freddie Mac, Subha spent 20+ years at Merrill Lynch as managing director and their first global head of diversity & inclusion where she built their D&I strategy, infrastructure and execution plans from the ground up. She also created a highly successful Multicultural Business Development Group to focus their wealth management business on diverse and multicultural communities bringing in over $8 billion in new assets and $50+ million in annual revenues in just three years. She began her career at the firm as a financial advisor where she was a top 100 advisor among 16,000 in the firm.

Subha is a former adjunct professor at Columbia University’s SIPA, and currently serves on the Boards of SHRM Foundation, Rice 360, Rutgers Cancer Center and the Rutgers Institute of Women’s Leadership. She is also a Board Advisor at PE-owned Snowden Lane Partners. In the past, Subha has served on a variety of Boards as Board Chair, Head of Nominating & Governance, Finance, and HR and DEI Committees.
A native of India, Subha holds a BA from Bombay University and an MBA and MS in Accounting from Rice University. She enjoys golfing, reading poetry and rallying for social change. She has two grown children and lives in Naples, Florida and New Hope, PA with her husband.

Erika is Citi’s Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer and Global Head of Talent, responsible for developing global diversity, equity and inclusion strategy and driving Citi’s agenda on talent planning, succession planning and leadership development.

Prior to joining Citi, Erika was Chief Diversity Officer at Goldman Sachs from 2018 to 2021 and Global Head of Diversity and Inclusion at Bloomberg from 2015 to 2018. Prior to this, she led executive and diversity hiring efforts at Bank of America and Lehman Brothers. Erika’s background includes a range of banking and finance roles, including Head of Business Development for Black Entertainment Television, Senior Associate in High Yield Capital Markets at Morgan Stanley and Senior Policy Analyst for Domestic Finance for the United States Department of the Treasury. She began her career as an Analyst in Public Finance at Lehman Brothers.

Erika is Vice Chair of the Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation and serves on the Boards of Columbia Business School and the Riverside Hawks. Erika earned a BS in Economics from the State University of New York at Albany and an MBA from Columbia Business School.

Anne Erni joined Audible as Chief People Officer in 2016. She most recently served as Head of Human Resources at Bloomberg L.P. Anne spent six years at Bloomberg, during which the global workforce doubled, and where her passion for nurturing talent led to the creation of Bloomberg’s Global Leadership Forum.

Before Bloomberg, Anne was Managing Director and Chief Diversity Officer at Lehman Brothers, focusing on the recruitment and retention of women and under-represented groups. Anne also spent fifteen years with P&L responsibility in fixed income and equity sales at Lehman Brothers and Bankers Trust. A New Jersey native, Anne holds a BA and MA from Johns Hopkins University.

Barbara Frankel is the Managing Director of the Insights division at Seramount, working on global and US diversity surveys, national thought-leader projects, and groundbreaking research on inclusion and DEI topics and how to create family-friendly workplaces. She was the leader of the recent Pledge to Progress research project, which details corporate America’s progress in combating racism in the year since the murder of George Floyd.

Barbara is a thought leader, editor, writer, manager, and consultant in global and US diversity management, business development and marketing, business journalism, and human- and civil-rights advocacy.

She previously was executive editor and senior vice president at DiversityInc. Barbara has served on the national Board of Directors of GLSEN (Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network) and the global advisory board of WeConnect International, a nonprofit that helps women entrepreneurs be corporate suppliers, as well as Garden State Equality.

Megan Hogan is Global Head of Talent and Chief Diversity Officer at Goldman Sachs responsible for driving the firm’s development, retention and growth strategies, strengthening the leadership pipeline and ensuring the firm’s workforce reflects the diversity of its clients and communities. Megan serves as a member of the Human Capital Management Global Leadership Group, the Vendor Diversity Steering Group, and One Million Black Women Steering Committee. Prior to joining the firm, Megan worked as a litigation associate at Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP covering white collar, insurance, and complex commercial cases and trials. During that period, she dedicated significant time to pro bono cases, primarily representing immigrants seeking asylum. Megan serves as the chair of the Stephen Gaynor School’s Board of Trustees. She is also a member of the Advisory Board for the New York Botanical Garden.

Ana Duarte McCarthy has 25 years’ experience providing advisory consulting services on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) strategy, policy, and practices to Fortune 500 companies across the pharmaceutical, financial services, insurance, and legal industries.   

During her more than twenty-year tenure as Chief Diversity Officer of Citi, Ana led the company’s global diversity and inclusion strategy for hiring and developing diverse talent, fostering an inclusive work environment, and ensuring management accountability. Most recently she served as Director, Corporate Partners, Forté Foundation, managing more than 60 companies and driving measurable efforts to increase the advancement of women in business leadership roles.  

Ana served as an adjunct faculty member at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, lecturing on Women in the Global Economy. She is also a featured “Ask the Expert” speaker within three online of Cornell University’s online certificate programs. 

As a change agent, Ana places a high commitment on service to organizations in her community. This includes serving on and chairing the DEI task force for the Greater Somerset County YMCA Board of Directors, and as an elected official on the Bernards Township Committee.  

Melinda Wolfe has served as Chief People Officer and led talent initiatives with a passionate focus on diversity, equity and inclusion at companies including 2U, GLG, Pearson, Bloomberg, American Express and Goldman Sachs. Across industry, she has joined leadership teams to optimize organizational design, culture and human resource priorities, while driving outcomes for employee engagement, productivity and profitability. Ms. Wolfe began her career in public finance at Merrill Lynch where she managed billions of dollars of project finance and public power transactions for public and private sector clients.

Currently, Ms. Wolfe consults on a wide range of HR, talent and culture issues and serves as an Executive Coach to company leaders and their teams. She holds Board positions at several start-up companies and serves as an advisor to SemperVirens Venture Capital.

In addition to her work in the private sector, Ms. Wolfe serves on several non-profit boards focused on social impact.