As employees and consumers alike are seeking out more socially responsible businesses, companies are taking intentional action to foster more diverse, equitable and inclusive work environments. Explore best practices with national experts and share frank discussion around these critical issues in an interactive, collaborative format. Showcase your support for diversity, equity and inclusion as a supporter of this important event.
8:30 a.m. Breakfast/Registration
9 a.m. Conference kickoff
11:40 a.m. Lunch
3:30 p.m. Conference concludes
This year’s DE&I Conference will be held at the beautiful training facilities of Edward Jones at their North Campus located at: 130 Edward Jones Boulevard, Maryland Heights, MO.
Parking is available complimentary onsite in garage 110 adjacent to the training facility (south of the entrance off of Edward Jones Boulevard). Click here to view a map of the campus and parking.
Join us March 8 from 6-8pm at Westport Social for a networking welcome reception! Take the opportunity to mingle with conference attendees over drinks, appetizers and a game or two! Reception registration is required, but there is no cost for conference attendees.
Lesa BarberLesa Barber is the Director of Business Services for Missouri Vocational Rehabilitation and an active member of the business services team covering the St. Louis region. The main goal of MO VR business services is to make connections between candidates and employers. We build relationships that foster successful outcomes for job seekers who qualify for our services and employers who are building an inclusive environment to hire a diverse workforce. Lesa practices providing quality customer service and has a strong belief in promoting a better quality of life for individuals with disabilities through the development of employment opportunities.
Maxine Clark is the Founder of Build-A-Bear Workshop®, a teddy-bear themed retail-entertainment experience. In 2004, Build-A-Bear became a public company traded on the NYSE. Today there are over 400 Build-A-Bear Workshop stores worldwide, and over 200 million stuffed animals have been sold worldwide. In 2022, Build-A-Bear celebrated its 25th anniversary.
Maxine stepped down from her CEB (Chief Executive Bear) position in 2013 to start her next act – to help unleash the potential of women and minority entrepreneurs and to use her entrepreneurial skills to create platforms and places that give access to more St. Louis families. Her latest venture is the Delmar DivINe™—the transformation of a neighborhood eyesore, the historic St. Luke’s Hospital, into a multi-use real estate development opened in late 2021.
Maxine is a Founding Managing Director of Prosper Women’s Capital, a St. Louis based accelerator for women-led businesses, the Board of Advisors of Lewis and Clark Ventures and an advisor to the TxO Fund. Maxine is a member of the Build-A-Bear Workshop Board of Directors and a recent past member of Footlocker, Inc. Board of Directors. Maxine is also an Emeritus member of the Washington University Board of Trustees and a board member of Barnes Jewish Hospital, Goldfarb School of Nursing, Operation Food Search, PBS national and Nine PBS boards. In 2017, Maxine was named to the Missouri Public Affairs Hall of Fame and in 2015 was named Women of the Year by the Greater Missouri Leadership Foundation.
Maxine is a graduate of the University of Georgia and holds an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from St. Louis University and an Honorary Doctor in Human Letters from the University of Missouri – St. Louis and an Honorary Associates degree from St. Louis Community College
She lives in Clayton, Mo., with her husband, Bob Fox.
Delight is an award winning, passionate people developer with a background in Human Resources and Counseling. At SHRM she is responsible for overseeing the fostering and promotion of memberships, educational programs, certification and services focused on advancing the profession of human resources and creating better workplaces for all. She is an experienced HR professional specializing in an array of HR topics. Prior to joining SHRM, she spent her HR career in the aerospace industry.
Delight holds a Master in Human Resources and Industrial Relations (MHRIR) degree and a Master in Social Work (MSW) degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign and a Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) degree from Virginia Union University.
Brandon Echele
Collaboration Practice Manager, World Wide Technology
Brandon brings more than 20 years of voice and video technology experience including business development, engineering and implementation. As Collaboration Practice Manager he is responsible for the collaboration technologies in WWT’s portfolio that include calling, video conferencing, scheduling, messaging, digital signage, wayfinding applications. Brandon uses his lengthy collab technology experience to help organizations streamline digital workspace tools and deliver seamless experiences that help employees, customers and businesses thrive.
The Reverend Callista Isabelle serves as the inaugural Director for Religious, Spiritual and Ethical Life at Washington University in St. Louis. In this role, she supports students of any or no religious background, offers programming to support students’ spiritual well-being, and coordinates interfaith dialogue and learning opportunities. Callista is an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Callista earned her Master of Divinity degree from Yale Divinity School, and a certificate from the Yale Institute of Sacred Music. Prior to joining the Washington University community, Callista served as College Chaplain at Muhlenberg College and Associate University Chaplain at Yale University.
Mark JonesMark Jones is the Reserve Component Transition Assistance Advisor for Missouri and works out of the Jefferson City area. By law, Transition Assistance Advisors “serve as points of contact to assist eligible members of the Reserve Components in accessing benefits and health care furnished under laws administered by the Secretary of Defense and benefits and health care furnished in the laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs” Public Law 112-239, Sec 513.
Dr. Tiph JonesDr. Tiph Jones is the Executive Vice President, Head of Education & Employment at Concordance. Tiph provides leadership over education, job readiness and employment services, including management of a talented team of career educators, coaches and staffing professionals. She also cultivates hiring partnerships through the Concordance Employment Agency, which employs Concordance associates in food service, manufacturing and retail sectors. Tiph joined Concordance in August 2022 and is excited to help shape the participant journey.
Tiph earned a Master of Science degree in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from Walden University and her Doctor of Education in Organizational Leadership, Learning, and Innovation from Wilmington University. She brings over 15 years of learning development and professional coaching experience. Tiph has vast expertise in workforce development with diverse populations, training program management and development, and DEI leadership. Before joining Concordance, Tiph served as the Director of Workforce & Talent Development at St. Louis Community College.
Jennifer KingstonJennifer Kingston leads Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) at Edward Jones, helping to build a diverse workforce and grow the firm’s impact on clients, colleagues and communities. She and her team provide strategic direction and thought leadership in collaboration with functional leaders and key stakeholders across the firm to create and support DEI business plans and initiatives. She is responsible for helping develop long-term firm DEI strategies and objectives that drive short-term initiatives and activities, as well as prioritizing and sequencing DEI initiatives to address systemic opportunities.
Jennifer joined Edward Jones in April 2019 to lead the legal division’s employment area, which provides legal counsel, guidance and support to business areas – including Inclusion and Diversity, Talent Acquisition and Human Resources. Over the next two years, her leadership expanded to include leading the leaders of Tax, Intellectual Property, Commercial Transactions, Fiduciary and Cash and Lending. In January 2021, Jennifer was appointed to serve as interim co-leader of Enterprise Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and in October 2021 she was selected as the head of Enterprise Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
After obtaining her undergraduate degree from Washington University in St. Louis and her law degree from the University of Missouri in Columbia, Jennifer served as a law clerk for the U.S. District Court, Western District of Missouri. She then joined Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner and worked in the product liability, class action and commercial litigation groups, served on the firm’s recruiting committee and led the summer internship program. She left the firm as a partner, and from 2010 to April 2019 was a partner in the law firm of Dowd Bennett LLP. She represented clients facing significant, complex and high-stakes civil litigation in state and federal courts throughout the country. Before joining Edward Jones, she frequently represented Edward Jones and its associates in employment and litigation matters.
Jennifer has served on Susan G. Komen® Missouri’s board of directors since 2011 and currently serves as the board president. Komen Missouri works to save lives by meeting the most critical needs in communities and investing in breakthrough research to prevent and cure breast cancer. Jennifer has also served on the board of directors of Downtown STL, Inc., which serves as a catalyst for creating and promoting a downtown that attracts investment opportunities, economic activity and vibrancy in downtown St. Louis.
A native of Rolla, Mo., Jennifer resides in St. Louis with Robert Epperson and their children: Ellie, Sam and Jack.
Emma LumpkinsEmma Lumpkins is a dynamic, results-driven leader with more than 25 years of business and leadership experience obtained while working in corporate America. She is an accomplished people leader who has led several cross-functional teams driving global change management initiatives. Emma enjoys facilitating professional development seminars, fostering continuous improvement, and she is known by many as an advocate and leader in the diversity, equity and inclusion space.
Emma is currently working at Schnuck Markets, Inc. as the Senior Director of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion. In her role, she is responsible for helping teammates and leaders understand and embrace the importance of equity and inclusion in an effort to foster and sustain a culture of belonging.
Emma also has more than 10 years of experience as an adjunct instructor at Fontbonne University where she has designed and taught courses at the graduate and undergraduate level.
Emma holds a master’s degree in business administration from Webster University and a graduate certificate in human resource management from Washington University-STL.
Micha Mims, native of Cedar Rapids, IA, saw much success as a collegiate basketball player. After one year at Wayne State (Neb.) she transferred to Mount Mercy (Iowa) and enjoyed a decorated three-year career. She was a two-time first-team all-Midwest Collegiate Conference performer, three-time academic all-conference selection, and garnered two NAIA All-American honors. She has since been inducted into the Hall of Fame at George Washington High School and Mount Mercy University.
Micha graduated with Bachelor of Science Degrees in Business Management and Business Marketing. She earned her Master’s Degree in Business Administration with a Leadership Concentration at Southwest Minnesota State where she also began her collegiate coaching career as a Graduate Assistant Women’s Basketball Coach. Micha returned to her alma mater in 2016 as the Head Women’s Basketball Coach after serving as the Assistant Women’s Basketball Coach at Culver-Stockton (Mo.). She has bottled up her knowledge of cultivating culture through her coaching career and experiences to share with organizations.
As the President & Founder of Valued LLC., Micha has dedicated her coaching to empower organizational culture by helping teams look inward to best serve outward. Through Culture Development with focus on Team Building and Leadership Development she works with organizations to achieve internal and external alignment. As a Certified Diversity Professional, she is passionate in helping organizations dive into tough conversations around Diversity, Equity & Inclusion to provide a deeper understanding for growth and sense of belonging. Micha is committed to building connections to enhance trust and collaboration for a long-term sense of organizational identity and shared understanding.
Daryl Muhammad, PHR, SHRM-CPDaryl Muhammad is a HR Leader and Business Partner for Spire. Daryl has over 20 years’ experience in the profession of Human Resources and has worked in a variety of industries including entertainment, non-profit, civil engineering, and currently energy.
Daryl is a long-time member of the Society of Human Resources Management (SHRM), has earned both the Professional in Human Resources (PHR) and Society of Human Resources Management Certified Professional (SHRM-CP) designations and a Bachelor’s in Industrial Organizational Psychology.
Daryl currently serves on the Board of Directors for Human Resources Executive Network (formerly, SHRM’s HR People + Strategy); Past-Chairman of the Board for St. Charles County Workforce Development; the Director of Workforce Readiness for the SHRM’s Missouri State Council were he previously served as the Director of Diversity and Inclusion; and SHRM’s National Together Forward at Work Taskforce.
Bio coming soon!
Attendees can earn up to 5 PDCs for attending the conference.
The Missouri Bar has approved this conference for 6.0 total hours, including 6.0 ethics hours and 6.0 elimination of bias hours.
If you’re interested in learning more you can click below to view our sponsorship opportunities or call 573-634-3511.
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If you have questions about the event, contact Ashley Schwab.
