Yvette Pittman
Chairman
Global Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Manager, Biogen
Yvette Pittman serves as the DE&I site leader at the Biogen RTP manufacturing campus. She has over 15 years of managerial experience and transitioned to her DE&I role within Biogen about 4 years ago. In her global DE&I role, she is responsible for managing external partnerships, delivering global workforce initiatives that embed diversity, equity, and inclusion practices into workplace culture, overseeing leadership development programs for employees of color and supporting Biogen’s seven employee resource networks. Pittman earned a bachelor’s degree from UNC-Chapel Hill and continued her diversity and inclusion studies at Cornell University ILR School.
Blake Tinsley
Vice-Chairman
Founder CEO, Prosyntix
Blake Tinsley is the founder and CEO of Prosyntix located in Charlotte, NC. Since 2017, his team at Prosyntix have been helping clients around the region fill the talent gap by identifying IT professionals specializing in analyzing and safeguarding data. Prior to that, Blake was in an advisory role for 9 years helping companies bridge the gap between business and technology through various IT solution offerings. He is a 2008 graduate from The Citadel, Military College of South Carolina holding a bachelor’s degree in business administration.
As an experienced sales director and entrepreneur, Blake has acquired significant expertise in budgeting, data center, contact centers, cloud computing, and virtualization. He has worked in several executive roles with a variety of high-profile IT companies, including Enterprise IT Security, High Performance Technologies, and Robert Half Technology.
Blake has received praise from various colleagues at his previous companies, who have cited his superb work ethic, his expertise as a team member, and his attention to detail and quality results. A member of DI-NC since 2017, Blake’s company, Prosyntix, is a certified disability-owned business enterprise.
Brian Wright
Treasurer
Founder and CEO of WorkPath Partners
Brian began his career in Charlotte in 1990 with Unum Insurance Company as a Benefits Consultant advising companies throughout the Carolinas. Subsequently, he spent 5 years as a Recruiting Manager with Robert Half International.
In 2001, he founded WorkPath Partners, a Disability Owned Business Enterprise (DOBE), based in Charlotte that provides full-service human capital management and contingent recruiting services and has worked with over 500 companies and more than 25,000 candidates across the United States. Brian is recognized in the industry for creating innovative solutions in many areas including: talent acquisition and retention, skill assessment and leadership development, organizational restructuring, compensation analysis, recruitment process outsourcing and economical MSP and SOW programs.
Tim Edwards
Head of Global Hosting and Networking Technology, MetLife
Prior to joining Metlife in 2022, Tim spent over two decades in Financial Services Technology at multiple Fortune 100 companies. His focus has been on managing large scale technology teams and programs. Tim has been recognized in his field with multiple awards for technology and leadership and serves on several leading industry advisory boards.
However, his passion is in giving back to his community and causes. Tim is actively involved in a number of local and national nonprofits included the Charlotte Ballet, The Talent Company (Children’s Musical Theater) and The Canopy Housing Foundation.
Gabriela Francisco
Manager of Health Equity Operations, Novant Health
Gabriela Francisco is a health care professional with experience in corporate health strategy and background as an international board-certified lactation consultant (IBCLC). As a manager of health equity operations, she is responsible for the development and execution of strategic plans that address health care inequities, build measures for inclusion, and leverage the voices of diverse populations. She is passionate about learning diverse perspectives, intentionally engaging with groups that have been historically disinvested, and implementing initiatives that focus on equity for all people. She believes firmly that health care can and should be made accessible to all.
Lashae Johnson
Executive Director, Wells Fargo National Bank
Lashae Johnson brings over 29 years of experience at Wells Fargo National Bank serving most recently as the Operations Senior Manager over 150 employees within the Specialty Print, Fulfillment and Warehouse Operations in Charlotte.
Lashae is also deeply involved in community service and advocacy, particularly in areas of sustainability, disability inclusion, and diversity initiatives. He has held several leadership and service roles including with Habitat for Humanity, American Heart Association, and Vocational Rehabilitation (VR). His work with VR has led to over 140 team members at Wells Fargo. His is an avid supporter of Well’s Fargo People with Disabilities Network.
Lindsey A. Kroeger
Distribution and Logistics Operations Leader, Ingersoll Rand
Lindsey A. Kroeger brings over 16 years of experience to the table, which has involved leading highly complex supply chain, engineering, and customer facing operations for a $60B retailer. Her expertise includes large-scale multi-site leadership, regional start-ups, and process/performance optimization. During the last four years, Lindsey has worked at Ingersoll Rand, where she currently serves as the Distribution Center Leader. In her previous role as Ingersoll Rand’s Distribution and Logistics Center Operations Leader, she accumulated experience overseeing average shipments of $800k-$1M COGS daily worldwide; creating proactive On Time Shipment visibility for operations to track daily; creating an internal development culture for future leaders, moving 11 colleagues into salary roles over three years; and managing through the COVID-19 pandemic with no layoffs of the hourly workforce while maintaining record productivity.
Culture, talent development, and engagement are some of her core strengths, which Lindsey has demonstrated through her experience in customer facing final mile delivery and direct customer satisfaction management; engineering design of building flow, network profiling strategy, and compliance management; and leading large multi-level teams in new business functions and bringing cross-functional teams together.
Dr. Anne McIntosh
President, CEO, and Founder, Safe’N’Clear
Dr. Anne McIntosh is President, CEO, and Founder of Safe’N’Clear located in Davidson, NC. Dr. McIntosh turned an “uh-oh” moment into an “ah-ha” moment! She noticed a barrier with traditional PPE, specifically face masks. That’s when she created a solution to help millions of people access inclusive communication. Her modernized design includes a clear window that shows the user’s mouth. This clear window mask allows the deaf and hard of hearing an opportunity to lip-read and see facial expressions. Safe’N’Clear is changing the face of healthcare, dental care, and other industries with this groundbreaking product. Undoubtedly, mask protection is a new reality in the post-COVID world.
Dr. McIntosh holds a bachelor’s degree in Speech Communication from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a master’s degree in Interpersonal Communication from the University of Montana at Missoula, and a Ph.D. in Communication Sciences and Disorders from the University of Texas at Austin.
Combining her knowledge of communication, speech and hearing, and problem-solving, she founded Safe’N’Clear. The company aims to offer a solution that helps healthcare professionals overcome communication barriers while ensuring their safety with mask protection. Safe’N’Clear is a certified disability-owned business enterprise.
Mary Terrell Robinson
Senior Program Manager of HR Compliance, SAS
Mary brings over 20 years of experience championing workplace diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives specializing in developing and implementing comprehensive affirmative action programs, equal employment opportunity policies, and inclusive hiring practices.
A native of Louisburg, NC, Mary is a graduate of North Carolina Central University and holds her Professional in Human Resources (PHR) and Certified Affirmative Action Professional (CAAP) certifications. Mary has managed over 100 affirmative action programs ensuring federal regulation compliance and leveraging detailed workforce analyses. She is well versed in understanding and engaging with diverse and underserved communities
Mary is on the Board for the Cultivating Resources & Opportunities Community Foundation, where she serves as Financial Secretary and Scholarship Chair.
Ali Rutz
Teammate Relations, Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist
Currently, Ali Rutz serves as the VP of Teammate Relations for Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist, which is part of Advocate Health, the nation’s 5the largest nonprofit integrated health system. Together with her team, she actively works to align best practices for cultivating a positive and productive work environment that fosters teammate engagement and healthy work relationships.
Prior to joining Wake Forest Baptist, Ali served as Human Resources Program Manager for Atrium Health Greater Charlotte since 2019. In this role, she significantly contributed to organizational success by driving process improvement in numerous critical areas along with successfully updating and modernizing HR policies through strong partnerships. She was also instrumental in supporting a Teammates First strategy throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
Before joining Atrium Health, Ali held a variety of HR roles ranging in areas of responsibility from Division HR Leader at a large consulting firm based in St Louis, MO, to an HR Director at a major food retailer, where she spent 16 years in Human Resources and operations. She holds a Paralegal Certificate and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania and a Master of Business Administration degree with an emphasis in Human Resources from Lindenwood University in Missouri.
Greg Young, C.P.M., CPSM
Senior Category Manager-Indirect, Global Business Services, Trane Technologies
Greg Young has been with Trane Technologies since 2004 in various roles across Procurement and currently holds a role as Indirect Category Manager, Global Business Services. Greg is a co-chair for VisAbility, Trane Technologies Employee Resource Group for individuals with disabilities and has been instrumental in developing information programs for employees of Trane Technologies on disability inclusion strategies. Greg is a graduate of NC State University, College of Management where he earned an MBA in Operations and Supply Chain Management.
Chauncy Barnhill, MBA
Ex Officio Board Member
Retired Senior Vice President, Operations Area Manager, Wells Fargo
Chauncy Barnhill is Senior Vice President and Leader of the Document Capture Center of Excellence Team within the Payments Virtual Solutions and Innovations Group at Wells Fargo. With over 25 years of management experience, Chauncy leads a diverse organization of approximately 450 employees who are accountable for the image capture, scanning, indexing, and research of documents in support of various lines of business across the Wells Fargo footprint. Born with limited hearing in his left ear, Chauncy has a passion for working with and hiring people with disabilities. In addition to representing Wells Fargo on the Disability:IN North Carolina board, he is an active member of Wells Fargo’s People with Disabilities Community of Practice, whose goal it is to provide a forum to build and exchange knowledge of talent acquisition practices and retention of people with disabilities in the workplace. Since 2010, teams under his leadership have hired over 100 people with disabilities as contractors and received multiple national awards and recognition for their efforts.