Pedro Rodriguez has over 20 years of dedicated service to J&J, specializing in Clinical Supply Operations. Currently serving as the Associate Director of Clinical Supply Operations, Pedro leads strategic initiatives and ensures the efficient management of clinical supplies. He possesses expertise in warehousing, logistics, planning, and Process Excellence.

Pedro’s academic achievements include a Master of Science degree in Clinical Research Organization and Management from Drexel University School of Medicine, and he holds an MBA from Drexel University LeBow School of Business.

Pedro’s commitment to diversity and inclusion is reflected in his roles as the co-leader of the Open&Out LABS Initiative and as a member of the Executive Leadership Team for the Open&Out Employee Resource Group at Johnson & Johnson. Through these positions, Pedro actively advocates for a supportive and inclusive work environment for the LGBTQ+ community within the organization.

Refugio Atilano is 2^nd-gen Mexican and native Chicagoan.  He’s a first-generation graduate and business leader with vast experience working in many corporate environments for Fortune 500 companies.

He is a senior business leader for the world’s third largest global pharmaceutical company and is currently the Director, Cultural Competency, where he helps connect with under-served communities.

Ref’s passion is advancing the leadership representation of the Latino community.  He is the Global Chair of the award winning AHORA Latino ERG, is a DEI Champion, Author of The Latino Leadership Playbook, and creator of the top-tier Latino-centric development program, The Latino Leadership Club.

Ref is an influencer for the Latino professional community and uses his network to help drive the collective leadership development of the Latino everywhere.

Anthony is entering his 13th year with the leading vertical transportation company worldwide, Otis Elevator. He is the founder and chair for New Talent Network which launched in fall of 2018. NTN exists to create a seamless transition for new talent joining Otis by offering an improved new hire experience, internal networking, and continued career development.
Anthony joined Otis as a Business Development Manager in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He transitioned into a Service Sales Account Manager role in 2014 and became Sr. Service Sales Account Manager in 2015 where he managed key accounts such as Amway Hotels and Steelcase. He was promoted to Branch Sales Manager in late 2016. He was assigned his most recent role as Regional Sales Manager, Repair nearly 2 years ago and now covers 6 states, 64 account managers, and 9 larger branch offices.

He has a bachelor’s in general management from Michigan State University, and an MBA from Grand Valley State University.

Tshombe is the deputy director for Open to All, where he manages the program’s educational offerings, from the monthly briefing series to the Mitigate Racial Bias in Retail Working Group to the annual convening. For nearly two decades, Tshombe worked in nonprofit community development creating opportunities for the underserved to improve their lives and strengthen their communities. He has extensive experience directing the evolution of impact programs that build sustainable change. Tshombe is a certified (PMP) Project Manager Professional and holds a master’s in organizational development.

Beverly Passos is a forward-thinking and dedicated professional specializing in workplace culture and DEI. With a master’s degree in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from New York University and a stellar academic record, Beverly brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to her role as Global Diversity & Inclusion Specialist at Capri Holdings Limited.
Beverly’s experience in DEI underscores her ability to drive initiatives that cultivate inclusive cultures while optimizing people operations. Her approach to strategic implementation and diversity is not just about meeting the immediate needs of an organization; they are about laying the groundwork for sustained success and growth.

Calla Devlin is the managing director of Open to All, where she convenes the nonprofit sector with businesses to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. Calla has nearly 20 years’ nonprofit experience creating and implementing national and state-level communications and public education campaigns focusing on discrimination and civil rights. She has worked extensively in coalitions, including with civil rights groups, businesses, labor unions, faith leaders, and advocacy organizations. She started her career in the book and publishing industry, where she specialized in news-driven marketing and communications campaigns that positioned authors as experts, addressing such topics as Islamophobia, the freedom to marry for LGBTQ people, and religious tolerance. An accomplished author, Calla’s educational background includes a Bachelor of Arts degree in Humanities, Master of Arts degree in Fiction, and a certification in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion from Cornell University.

Elena Richards is a Principal and Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer at KPMG LLP. She is an accomplished HR, talent management and diversity professional with deep knowledge of the professional services industry.

As CDEIO, Elena leads the firm’s national Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) team and works closely with KPMG’s management committee and board of directors to advance the firm’s Accelerate 2025 strategy, a commitment for more underrepresented talent to choose KPMG as their employer of choice, experience thriving careers within an inclusive culture, and advance to partnership and leadership levels. Elena further collaborates with KPMG’s functional business leaders on the business integration of the firm’s strategic priorities. The outcome of her leadership has earned the firm recognition as a top workplace by Fortune, DiversityInc, Seramount, Human Rights Campaign, and more.

Elena leads key firmwide initiatives including the ‘people’ section of KPMG’s annual U.S. Impact Plan outlining progress against the commitments set forth by Accelerate 2025, the Business Resource Group (BRG) Leadership Council which oversees 200+ national and local BRG chapters and inclusion councils. She serves on the Talent and Culture Leadership Team, driving the collaboration with people-centric processes to further embed DEI in talent acquisition, people strategy and solutions, learning and development, communications, and total rewards.

As a thought leader, Elena recently published KPMG’s first-ever survey on corporate DEI progress (The Diversity Journey), along with a whitepaper series on embedding DEI into hybrid and return-to-office work strategies and making hybrid work, work with a DEI lens. She has hosted a series of chief diversity officer (CDO) peer exchange, bringing together CDOs across various organizations to discuss DEI strategies and challenges impacting businesses across all industries.

With over 20 years of experience, Elena’s north star is to create psychologically safe workplaces and equitable experiences for underrepresented talent. She is an ambassador of the firm’s DEI commitments, and has been the driving force behind KPMG being a signatory on pledges holding the business community accountable with organizations including Business Roundtable, the Gender and Diversity KPI Alliance, and Disability:IN. In 2021, she was the recipient of the NJCPA Ovation award, recognizing her passion and contributions towards promoting diversity and inclusion across the finance and accounting profession.

Elena earned her BA in criminal justice at the University at Albany, State University of New York, and is a certified executive coach.

She currently serves as a board member for the KPMG U.S. Foundation, Inc. and the Community Foundation of New Jersey. She is on the board of advisors for Catalyst, a member of the Boston College Center for Work & Family advisory board and a member of Seramount’s Diversity Best Practices collective. She is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants’ National Diversity & Inclusion Commission and was previously an advisory board member for Howard University’s Center for Accounting Education.

As Vice Chair, Talent and Culture, Sandy is responsible for leading all aspects of KPMG’s talent strategy – positioning the firm to attract, develop, and retain the best people. A member of the firm’s Management Committee, Sandy collaborates closely with KPMG’s leadership team to develop and implement initiatives that advance the firm’s growth strategy by unlocking the power of its more than 35,000 professionals and improving employee and partner experiences. Some of her key areas of focus include fostering a supportive, inclusive and values-based culture and work environment, developing future leaders and championing new ways of working that enable KPMG’s people to succeed and thrive in a hybrid work environment.

Throughout her career, Sandy has consistently demonstrated a keen ability to drive change and make a positive impact on the firm’s business and culture. Prior to leading the Talent and Culture organization, she was the National Managing Partner of Advisory and was responsible for advancing the Advisory strategy, in alignment with the global and U.S. firm strategy and driving growth across the organization. Sandy was also the co-leader of KPMG Advisory’s One Americas initiative, focused on driving growth across the Americas region.

Previously, Sandy led the Risk Advisory Solutions organization, helping clients navigate risk and regulation to ensure stakeholder trust. Earlier in her career, Sandy served as the Service Line Leader for the Risk Assurance practice and led the IT Audit business globally. Sandy’s client-service work has focused on helping organizations in the Financial Services and Technology sectors with their technology, financial and operational risk agendas. This included leading the IT portion of integrated and financial statement audits of public companies, providing outsourced and co-sourced IT Internal Audit and SOX services, and providing third-party assurance.

She has been recognized by the Hispanic Information Technology Executive Council (HITEC) as one of the Top 100 most influential and notable Hispanic professionals in the technology industry in 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022. In addition, the Association of Latino Professionals for America (ALPFA) has lauded her multiple times, including as a Latina Rising Star and more recently as one of America’s 50 Most Powerful Latinas in 2021 and 2022, under the category of Corporate Trailblazer that celebrates those who are running a major business while providing guidance and leadership to a world that requires new thinking. She was also named to Crain’s New York Notable Women in Accounting & Consulting list in 2019 and Consulting Magazine’s Women Leaders in Consulting list in 2018.

Sandy is known as an impactful leader both inside and outside KPMG and is active in non-profit and community outreach efforts. She currently serves on the Audit Committee for the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, which works with a network of local partner agencies to help combat hunger and stabilize lives and confront issues of chronic hunger, poor nutrition and health. She also sat on the Board of the KPMG U.S. Foundation, the nonprofit organization that functions as the charitable arm of KPMG U.S. and focuses on areas where the firm can have the greatest impact on society, mobilizing the unique strengths of its business, people, knowledge, and experience to address some of the largest social challenges and drive systemic change. In addition, she was the Philadelphia Advisory Board Chair and served on the New York Advisory Board of Back on My Feet, a nonprofit organization that promotes self-sufficiency of homeless individuals through running.

As the firm’s Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer, Amanda supports the development of an inclusive culture so that attorneys and staff are best equipped to meet client needs.

The granddaughter of migrant workers, Amanda has a lifelong passion for diversity and inclusion. Her enthusiasm for civil rights matters led her to begin her legal career in labor and employment, helping clients create more inclusive environments. She soon joined Michigan State University’s Office for Inclusion and Intercultural Initiatives, where she led Title IX investigations and delivered educational programs across the campus on inclusion, anti-harassment and implicit bias. Amanda later took a role with Jackson National Life Insurance, serving in the General Counsel’s office while simultaneously building the company’s first diversity and inclusion working group and developing an initial diversity and inclusion strategy.

Amanda is especially passionate about the diversity, equity and inclusion work she does today at Husch Blackwell: law firms, she believes, are uniquely positioned to affect their communities for good and to encourage the spread of best practices. Law firms have the opportunity to connect clients with talented teams of diverse individuals. Many Husch Blackwell clients already identify diversity as an important issue, and Amanda loves supporting a diverse pipeline of talented professionals who can assist with their legal needs.

However, Amanda sees her most significant role as ensuring that the firm acts on its goals of equity and inclusion. Diversity is a matter of representation, of working to recruit and retain a diverse group of professionals. Inclusion, on the other hand, means creating a culture where individuals of all backgrounds feel that they belong and are valued. At Husch Blackwell, we don’t merely hire diverse professionals; we make it a high priority to support the equitable and inclusive environment that will allow our diverse teams to function at their best. An important part of our commitment to employee engagement, Amanda ensures that diverse team members have a supportive environment where they can thrive.

At the end of the day, Amanda’s efforts support the firm’s clients as well: attorneys and staff who perform at their best deliver excellent client service.