Lehigh joined a regional summit Thursday that virtually brought together more than 120 CEOs, presidents and senior executives from throughout the Lehigh Valley region in an effort to improve discussions around diversity and encourage a more inclusive workforce and community.
The summit, coordinated by the nonprofit Lehigh Valley Inter-Regional Networking & Connecting Consortium (LINC), focused on the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion practices in leveraging collective voices and recruiting talent that better represents the community. The first of its kind in the region, the summit was held in collaboration with the national organization CEO Action.
Lehigh President John Simon ’19P joined an interactive CEO discussion panel moderated by William Spence, former chairman and CEO of PPL.
Donald Outing, Lehigh’s vice president for equity and community, university diversity and inclusion, joined the D&I [Diversity and Inclusion] Practitioner Discussion Panel moderated by Orville Trout, executive vice president of human resources at Crayola.
“The CEO Action Regional Summit seeks to improve D&I discussions and encourage a more inclusive workforce and community,” said Donna Cornelius, CEO and executive director of LINC., in a statement. “A diverse and vibrant community not only assists with talent recruitment but retention as well.”
Henry Odi, deputy vice president for equity and community and associate vice provost for academic diversity at Lehigh, served on the planning committee with the LINC consortium staff and two corporate executives.
