Usbln Conference 2014
TRANSCRIPT
USBLN CONFERENCE 2014
ORLANDO, FLORIDA
OCTOBER 1, 2014
7:30 p.m. ET
CRYSTAL D/E
ANNUAL LEADERSHIP AWARDS DINNER
Services Provided By:
Caption First, Inc.
P.O. Box 3066
Monument, CO 80132
1 877 825 5234
+001 719 481 9835
Www.captionfirst.com
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This text is being provided in a rough draft Format. Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) or captioning are provided in order to facilitate communication accessibility and may not be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings.
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> JILL HOUGHTON: Good evening. Good evening. And welcome to the Annual Leadership Awards dinner. On behalf of the USBLN, welcome. We invite you at this time to eat. We're going to take some time to eat your salads and be served. And visit with your fellow attendees at each table. Thank you.
Welcome to the 2014 USBLN Annual Leadership Awards dinner. Please enjoy your dinner, and the program will begin promptly at 7:50 p.m.
> Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the stage Jill Houghton, the executive director of the USBLN.
> JILL HOUGHTON: Welcome. Thank you. On behalf of the USBLN, we want to welcome you to the Leadership Awards Dinner. It's a very special evening. And we're so pleased that AMC and Barnes & Thornburg is supporting this event this evening. We want to encourage you to continue to finish eating while we get this program started. But first what I'd like to do most importantly is recognize some distinguished guests that we have in our presence this evening. First and foremost we're joined this evening by John Kemp.
(Applause)
John really needs no introduction because he is a he's a he's a father in our movement. But he's also the founding director of the USBLN. And this organization would not exist had he not taken those six boxes of paper and turned us in to who we are today. He's currently the president and CEO of the Viscardi Center in New York. And we're so pleased and honored to have him with us this evening.
We're also joined this evening by Assistant Secretary Kathy Martinez, who leads the Office of Disability Employment Policy at the U.S. Department of Labor. Thank you, Kathy for being with us. We've really enjoyed having you with us throughout the whole week.
And last and certainly not least, we're joined by Mr. Mark Perriello, the president and CEO of the American Association of People with Disabilities. AAPD.
(Applause)
We're so pleased to be working together with AAPD on the launch of the first ever Disability Equality Index. Thank you.
(Applause)
We've many of you have been with us throughout the week. But for those of you who have not been with us, the USBLN is a trusted advisor to business on disability. We're here to help business leverage disability inclusion in the workplace, in the supply chain, and in the marketplace.
And we couldn't do it without the assistance of our corporate partners, without the assistance of our BLN affiliates, without the assistance of our certified disability owned businesses, and without the assistance of our many, many strategic partners. So to each of you in the room this evening, you're all part of our family. And we thank you.
(Applause)
Next what I'd like to do is invite you to join us in viewing a short video. This video actually depicts how this year's public service announcement was made. And it concludes with a public service announcement. Now, for those of you that are not familiar, we are so honored that one of the wonderful things that AMC does for the USBLN is throughout the whole month of October for about the last four years, they have allowed and created the opportunity for the USBLN to air a public service announcement in their 5400 theaters across the nation during the month of National Disability Employment Awareness Month.
So now I invite you to turn and watch a video about how it was made and once again, it concludes with the actual public service announcement.
(Cheers and applause.)
> JILL HOUGHTON: So we're so pleased that this evening seated here at table number 3, we're joined by Anna as well as Dan. And here are you ready for the best news ever? To all you businesses out there that thought that you could hire Anna, well guess what? Northrop Grumman already did.
(Cheers and applause.)
Anna just was hired in to a professional development rotation program. And wow. Northrop Grumman is one lucky company. So
(Applause)
Now it gives me great honor to introduce to you this evening tonight's emcee. This man really needs no introduction. Keith Wiedenkeller. He is the board chair. He recently retired as the Chief People Officer from AMC. He currently serves as the president and CEO of a nonprofit organization in Kansas City. And he is a man who is deeply committed to disability inclusion, demonstrated through his actions every day at AMC. And continues to demonstrate those through his actions in serving as the president of our board. Without further ado, Keith Wiedenkeller.
(Applause)
> KEITH WIEDENKELLER: So thank you, Jill. I hope you like the PSA. That is a project that, as Andy mentioned in the video, we started that I mean, this is our 5th year. And it is really a labor of love to see what Andy and the team can put together. It's always entertaining and always high quality and always something I'm very proud to have shown on the screens at AMC theaters. That video, that PSA will be seen by 18 million people.
(Cheers and applause.)
So I'm glad that AMC is there to be able to support the BLN in that manner. It's you know, frankly, my affiliation with BLN has been the highlight of my career at AMC. And I tell my friends back at AMC that all the time. So it's really been a privilege to be able to facilitate that connection between these two organizations.
So thanks for that. And thanks for allowing us to be part of that.
So now I'll put on take off my AMC hat and put back on my USBLN board chair hat. Because we want to get on with the business of recognizing leaders. As I've said before, at the Business Leadership Network, that's what we're really about is leadership. The idea of being examples of being committed to a cause of actually being outstanding paragons of what you do in your field so that you're a model for all these other folks that want to follow in your footsteps.
Leadership, as we've said before, is not necessarily so much about making someone do what you want them to do. But making them want to do what you want them to do.
And I think that that's what the leaders that you'll hear about tonight have done through their example, through their hard work and through their commitment.
So in order to kick that off, though, be have one special leader in the room who's going to join me here in a second. As he's coming up to the stage, I'll introduce Jack Smith. Jack Smith is the founder and president of Charlotte International Partners, a USBLN certified disability owned business that imports and sells European and Asian commercial lighting. Jack has a special treat for us today. And we're going to do a drawing here in a minute. But before we do that, Jack is going to treat us to a song. What you may not know about Jack is, in addition to being a DOBE and a DOBE sponsor and part of the host committee, Jack sings in a Gospel quartet.
(Cheers and applause.)
And when, we talked about that and the idea came to us that Jack could sing here for us and be a great way to get things kicked off. And we said is there a song that's especially well suited to what we do here together? And Jack said there really he couldn't just think of one song that was perfect. So Jack has a colleague who sings with him in this quartet who has a daughter with MS and whose wife works as a special education teacher. And Jack's colleague John Douds wrote and composed a song about what we do in terms of leadership and advocacy in the disability inclusion space. So Jack, come one up and treat us to this great song.
You've probably heard it said before, sometimes life's not fair.
You've seen the awkward glances, you've felt the lasting stare.
But you are undaunted, you take it in your stride,
You're focused and relentless, and will not be denied.
Just because a mountain's steeper, does not mean it can't be scaled, or because a sea is deeper, does not mean it can't be sailed.
From belief in yourself there will grow, all the strength you need, to release your potential and let the world know, you have the power to succeed.
Some have their preconceptions, that give you little due,
They may have good intensions, while underestimating you.
But there are allies strong, who help to show the way, and want to be a part of a new enlightened day. Just because a mountain's steeper, does not mean it can't be scaled, or because a sea is deeper, does not mean it can't be sailed.
Deep within yourself, there will grow, all the strength you need,
To release your potential and let the world know, you have the power to succeed.
It's not an easy path to follow, it comes with no guarantee,
But with the risk comes the reward, of a sweeter victory.
Just because a mountain's steeper, does not mean it can't be scaled,
Or because a sea is deeper, doesn't mean it can't be sailed.
Within in yourself, there will grow, all the strength you need,
To release your potential and let the world know,
You have the power to succeed.
You have the power to succeed.
(Cheers and applause.)
> KEITH WIEDENKELLER: Thank you, Jack.
I have to sort of get myself back together now after that.
One of the things I forgot to do earlier as a special treat, our final drawing of today's events, AMC wanted me to give away an annual gold pass tonight. This pass to AMC theaters will allow two people, it's a pass for two, you can see as many movies as you want for a year. So I should have said that before I really would have gotten your attention.
Luis Cruz.
(Applause)
Congratulations Luis! Okay.
All right. So the next part of our presentation I think you're going to really enjoy.
We've got two people that one of whom needs no introduction, although I'll introduce her anyway. But as you may know, Deb Dagit is here tonight. Deb is
> Yay!
> KEITH WIEDENKELLER: Yeah, Deb Dagit is in the house! Deb is going to be working her way up to the stage as is Ted Childs, recent retired from IBM. So I'll invite them to the stage and as they're walking up, I'm going to talk about them.
Ted retired from IBM in August of 2006, after a distinguished 39 year career as a member of their corporate human resources team. Upon retiring, he founded Ted Childs, LLC. The role of Ted Childs LLC is to serve as a global strategic diversity advisor to senior management and a client's workforce diversity team.
While at IBM, Ted held a variety of human resource assignments, including 15 years of executive responsibility for Global Workforce Diversity program and policies. In addition, he served as executive assistance to Dr. Benjamin J. Hooks, executive director of the NAACP, on an IBM social service leave from March 1982 to September 1983. Ted is a graduate of West Virginia State University, a member of the board of director and a past president of the universe's foundation and a life member of the West Virginia State University national alumni association.
Welcome Ted to the stage.
(Applause)
I'll read this. But you know it all already, most of you. Deb Dagit retired as chief diversity officer for Merck in 2013 and launched her own company, Deb Dagit Diversity to deliver the consulting services and products she wished were available when she was a Chief Diversity Officer. While at Merck, Deb was responsible for global equal opportunity, employee relations, recruiting, staffing and diversity and inclusion. Under her leadership, the company was recognized for its exemplary work in diversity and inclusion by Diversity Inc. and "Working Mother" magazines, the Families and Work Institute and the Human Rights Campaign. Merck also received the Department of Defense Freedom Award and the Department of Labor new freedom initiative award during her tenure. So for the next 20 minutes or so, Deb is going to engage Ted in a thoughtful discussion on his pioneering work to introduce disability in corporate diversity and inclusion initiatives at IBM. Deb, I'll turn it over to you.
> DEB DAGIT: Thank you, Keith. Thank you, everyone, hopefully you all got a chance to enjoy the nice dinner we had tonight. And I'm just so honored and privileged to sit here with my very close friend, actually, I actually think of Ted more as my big brother of another mother.
(Laughter)
And like a good big brother, Ted has given me a lot of encouragement and what we call in the corporate world as constructive criticism. But just as been extremely helpful throughout my career. And what I wanted to share with everyone here tonight whether you're an executive or a diversity leader, a service provider or person with a disability, is just a glimpse into the wisdom that I've had the privilege to experience. And what Ted and I decided to do is talk about through storytelling, some experiences that he's had as an early adopter around disability.
So for my first question tonight to Ted to get the conversation flowing, is IBM is a company, even before Ted's arrival, was an early adopter of disability. And then Ted in turn as a Chief Diversity Officer was one of the first. He completely included disability as a dimension of diversity and inclusion and the priorities he put forth with the corporation with his considerable influence. And I wanted to talk to him a little bit about when that started, why it started and how that happened. And include some stories about the people along the way that impacted his experience. So Ted?
> TED CHILDS: Thank you. I joined the IBM company in 1967. And I made it a point to learn about the culture and the heritage.
And I found out that the company hired its first disabled employees in 1914.
And had actively engaged in promoting job training for the disabled in the '40s. For me personally, I have and those of you who know me, I'm pretty relentless and I have an unyielding commitment to fairness. When I was first appointed to the executive role, I knew that there were people who were quite sure that I was going to focus on the black community. And I made it a point not to do that.
I wanted to identify the groups that I knew the least about and who didn't have a voice inside the company. And there were three: The disabled community, the gay community, and the Native American community.
(Applause)
And I knew I could get things done for women and people of color particularly black and Hispanic if I focused on those groups, I would move the team the leadership team away from worrying about me attacking them on black or women's issues. I'd get that done.
But I needed to ensure that everybody had a seat at the table. That was my strategy right until the day I left.
Now, there was one situation that I think defines my commitment to fairness.
It was my first major defeat. My first year of recruiting I was responsible for IBM's recruiting at all the black colleges. And we had a record setting year. The second year of recruiting they said look, you've done what we asked you to do. We want you to take on all the big schools in the northeast.
I came into my office one day and there was an application laying on my desk. I had no idea where it was from. I read the application. The pedigree was impeccable. 3.5 grade point average, trinity college. Psychology and mathematics.
When I got to the last page on the application where you gave all your security stuff, have you ever been arrested, whatever, and you sign the thing, scribbled across the page was three words. "I am blind."
I called. His name was David Michelle. I invited him in. He came in with his dog. He took the program and aptitude test. He blew the test away. Interviewed for programming jobs. A few days later, my manager called me in. He said Ted, I want to talk to you about your disabled applicant. He said close the door. Now, I had kind of a reputation of being a smart ass. I was 23, 24 years old and all I'm thinking is I've been good, I haven't done anything. Why does he want to close the door? He said about your applicant, we're not going to hire him. They're not going to send him an offer. What I said to him, I can't say here. He said that's why I wanted you to close the door. I called David. I couldn't send him a letter to explain what had happened. And I cried and David cried. I found out later that David cried because he felt sorry for me. He never expected to get hired.
This was in 1969. Two or three months later, I get promoted to White Plains, New York.
I'm driving around White Plains, New York, looking for a place to live. I have the CBS news on my radio. And this news story comes across that President Nixon had honored three students at the White House that day for academic excellence. And one of them was David.