Events

Keynote Speakers

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 30, 8 A.M. - 10 A.M.

Opening General Session Breakfast

Hilary Pennington is the Director of Special Initiatives, U.S. Programs, at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Pennington leads a new effort to focus on one-time opportunities and respond to unique challenges and unanticipated events in the U.S. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has an endowment of over $37 billion. Pennington previously served as a Senior Fellow at the progressive think tank the Center for American Progress and vice-chair of Jobs for the Future (JFF), a research and policy development organization she co-founded.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 30, 11:45 A.M. - 1:30 P.M.

General Session Luncheon

As an entrepreneur, public servant, and education statesman, Gaston Caperton’s career has been distinguished by successful leadership in business, government, and the not-for-profit sector at the state and national levels.

Caperton is the eighth president of the College Board, a not-for-profit membership association founded in 1900 that consists of 5,400 of the nation’s leading schools, colleges, and universities. As the College Board’s president since 1999, Caperton has led efforts to update the SAT, elevate the importance of writing, expand low-income student access to academic rigor, promote college affordability, and increase opportunities for all students to achieve college success.

As Governor of West Virginia from 1989 to 1997, Caperton transformed the state through his ambitious education reform agenda. Under his leadership, the state invested more than $800 million in school construction and modernization. As a result of his commitment to teachers, West Virginia’s average teacher salary jumped from 49th to 31st. Caperton’s vision for educational technology earned him and West Virginia national acclaim as pioneers in the field, including top rankings in Education Week and the Computerworld Smithsonian Award for Education.

After graduating from the University of North Carolina, Caperton began his career with a small insurance agency in Charleston, West Virginia. He quickly became the company’s principal owner and led its growth into the nation’s 10th largest privately owned insurance brokerage firm.

In recognition of his leadership, Caperton has received numerous awards and 10 honorary degrees. In 2007, he received the prestigious James Bryant Conant Award from the Education Commission of the States for his outstanding contributions to American education. He has chaired the Democratic Governors Association, the Appalachian Regional Commission, the Southern Regional Education Board, and the Southern Growth Policies Board, and served as a member of the National Governors Association Executive Committee.

Stuart J. Ishimaru has been a Commissioner of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) since 2003. Mr. Ishimaru was re-nominated by President George W. Bush for a second term and confirmed by the U.S. Senate on December 19, 2007. His term expires July 1, 2012.

As a member of the Commission, he participates with the other Commissioners on all matters which come before it - including the development and approval of enforcement policies, authorization of litigation, and approval of agency regulations. Additionally, he issues Commissioner's charges of discrimination.

Commissioner Ishimaru has worked with his colleagues in pushing the Commission to focus on large, systemic cases and in reinvigorating the agency’s work on race discrimination issues. He was instrumental in the Commission’s adoption of groundbreaking guidance on gender discrimination against workers who have caregiving responsibilities.

Mr. Ishimaru opposed the Commission’s actions to weaken age discrimination protections as well as to suppress collection of full data on workers of two or more races. Mr. Ishimaru also opposed misguided efforts to outsource and reorganize key EEOC functions.

Mr. Ishimaru previously served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice between 1999 and 2001, where he served as a principal advisor to the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, advising on management, policy, and political issues involving the Civil Rights Division. He supervised more than 100 attorneys in high-profile litigation, including employment discrimination cases, fair housing and fair lending cases, criminal police misconduct, hate crime and slavery prosecutions, and enforcement of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Prior to this, as Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Rights Division for five years, Mr. Ishimaru provided advice on a broad range of issues, including legislative affairs, politics and strategies.

In 1993, Mr. Ishimaru was appointed by President Clinton to be the Acting Staff Director of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, and from 1984-1993 served on the professional staffs of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights and two House Armed Services Subcommittees of the U.S. Congress.

Mr. Ishimaru, a native of San Jose, California, received his A.B. in Political Science and in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley, and his law degree from the George Washington University. He is married to Agnieszka Fryszman, an attorney, and they have two sons, Matthew and Benjamin.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 31, NOON - 2 P.M.

General Session Luncheon

Alison R. Bernstein has served as Vice President of the Knowledge, Creativity and Freedom Program since 1996 for the Ford Foundation. Bernstein provides leadership for the Foundation’s work in the U.S and internationally in the fields of education and scholarship, arts and culture, media, religion and sexuality. She co-authored “Melting Pots and Rainbow Nations: Conversations about Difference in the United States and South Africa in 2002.” Bernstein is recognized as an authority on issues related to students transferring from community colleges to four-year institutions, access to higher education for women and minorities, diversity on campus, and the impact of women’s studies. She served on the Board of Trustees of Vassar College and currently serves as a trustee at Bates College.

Joining Bernstein will be Gregory M. Anderson, Higher Education Policy Program Officer for the Ford Foundation. Anderson oversees activities involving research on access, equity, and affordability in the U.S., and is responsible for the Institute for International Education’s Fellowship Program.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 10:15 A.M. - 12:15 P.M.

Closing General Session Brunch

Philip Berry is the Managing Principal of Berry Block and Bernstein LLC, a global management consulting, executive coaching and training practice. They will specialize in the areas of leadership training, global talent management, global diversity, innovation, team building, corporate social responsibility, employee relations effectiveness and affirmative actions compliance.

Philip Berry was previously Vice President, Global Workplace Initiatives for Colgate-Palmolive.  In this role, Philip focused on enhancing Colgate’s efforts to attract and retain the best people from a diverse and broad base of global talent, and to create an inclusive work environment that furthers Colgate’s commitment to Becoming the Best Place to Work.

Philip joined Colgate in 1990 as Associate Director of Human Resources in the U.S. Company. He has subsequently held senior Human Resources positions serving the Central Europe/Russia, Africa/Middle East, Latin America and European Divisions. In each of these areas Philip has made outstanding contributions in focusing the Human Resources function on key business issues, particularly goal alignment, training, plant site rationalization, and acquisition integration.

In 2001, Philip became Vice President, Global Employee Relations - Best Place to Work. and was elected a Corporate Officer in 2003.

Prior to joining Colgate, Philip acquired broad Human Resources expertise at Procter & Gamble, where he worked for eight years in labor relations, organizational development and compensation. He also worked at Digital Equipment as Personnel Director and the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority as VP, Human Resources.

Philip holds an AA degree from Manhattan Community college, BA degree from Queens College in New York, a Master’s in Science from Columbia University School of Social Work, and an MBA from Xavier University. Philip was appointed to the Business Leadership Council of CUNY (City University of New York), and is on the Panel for Education Policy appointed by the Mayor of New York. Further, he is the Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees for City University, which has responsibility for the 23 colleges within the New York City area and is acting Chairman of the CUNY Construction Fund. He is also on the Advisory Board of New York City Center, an arts and cultural institution. In addition, he is Co-Chair of the Corporate Diversity Council for the Asia Society.

Philip has received numerous awards, most recently the Crossing Borders awards from Feminist Press; and other awards from National Hispanic Corporate Achievers, the National Association of Asian American Professionals; the Quality of Work Life award from Work Life Matters magazine; the 100 Most Powerful Blacks in New York award from Crain Magazine, the Communicator of the Year award from Global HR News and the Governor’s award for Distinction in Community Service.