Featured Speakers | About The Convening | What is Juneteenth
Friday, June 19, 2020 | 12:00 – 1:00pm EDT
About The Convening
The Executive Leadership Council convening will
- Provide you with insights from current and former Fortune 500 CEOs and other leading experts.
- Engage in conversation with each other to understand thoughts and initial plans.
- Provide you with bold steps as we begin to navigate through this very real crisis in our country.
This is an off the record, “Safe Space” conversation for our member company CEOs and our ELC members. Because of the critical nature and timing of this convening, we are inviting all ELC members to participate on Friday.
What is Juneteenth?
On June 19, 1865, slaves in the deep south learned they were free – more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued. June 19th — or “Juneteenth”— is a day of celebration for Black people all over America. It represents Freedom.
Featured Speakers
CEOs of ELC Member Companies and ELC members will gather on the day that commemorates “America’s Second Day of Independence” to discuss the systemic racism against the Black community that is alive and thriving in our world.
Marvin R. Ellison
President and CEO of Lowe’s Companies, Inc.
Marvin R. Ellison has served as president and chief executive officer of Lowe’s Companies, Inc. since July 2018, when he also joined Lowe’s board of directors.
Ellison has more than 30 years of leadership and operational experience in the retail industry, including expertise in managing a large network of stores and employees as well as global logistics networks. He most recently served as chairman and CEO of J.C. Penney Co., where he implemented a turnaround strategy that improved the company’s balance sheet, increased store productivity, optimized operations and grew key categories.
He has extensive experience in the home improvement industry, having spent 12 years in senior-level operations roles with Home Depot, Inc., where he served as executive vice president of US stores from 2008 to 2014. At Home Depot, Inc., Ellison oversaw US sales, operations, install services and pro strategic initiatives, dramatically improving customer service and efficiency across the organization to serve both do-it-yourself and pro customers. Prior to joining Home Depot Inc., Ellison spent 15 years at Target Corp. in a variety of operational and leadership roles.
Ellison earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Memphis and an MBA from Emory University. He serves on the boards of FedEx Corporation, the Retail Industry Leaders Association and the National Retail Federation. He also serves as a member of the board of trustees for the University of Memphis. Ellison was named to Fortune’s World’s Greatest Leaders in 2016 and was recognized as the 2016 Corporate Executive of the Year by Black Enterprise.
Clarence Otis, Jr.
Former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Darden Restaurants, Inc.
Clarence Otis, Jr. is the former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Darden Restaurants, Inc., the largest company-owned and operated full-service restaurant company in the world. He served as CEO of Darden Restaurants from 2004 to 2014 and as Chairman from 2005 to 2014. After joining Darden in 1995 as Vice President and Treasurer, Mr. Otis served in a number of positions of responsibility, including Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President, and President of Smokey Bones Barbeque & Grill, a restaurant concept formerly owned and operated by Darden. Mr. Otis also served as a director of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta from 2010 to 2015. He has served as a director of The Travelers Companies, Inc. since 2017 and VF Corporation since 2004. He has also been a director of 138 funds within the MFS Mutual Funds complex since 2017.Mr. Otis provides the Board with valuable insight into consumer services, retail operations and financial oversight. His experience over his 20 years at Darden Restaurants provides him with critical perspectives on operations, strategy and management of a complex organization and a large-scale workforce, and his board service at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta and The Travelers Companies provides extensive risk management expertise.
Carol Tomé
Chief Executive Officer, UPS
Carol Tomé is the Chief Executive Officer of UPS. She is the 12th CEO in the 113-year history of the company.
Before joining UPS, Carol served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of The Home Depot, Inc., one of the world’s largest retailers. She was responsible for all corporate strategy and finance matters including financial reporting, financial planning & analysis, financial operations, divisional finance, internal audit, investor relations, treasury and tax. She joined the company in 1995 as Vice President and Treasurer.
Carol began her career as a commercial lender with United Bank of Denver (now Wells Fargo) and then spent several years as Director of Banking for the Johns-Manville Corporation. Prior to joining The Home Depot, Carol was vice president and treasurer of Riverwood International Corporation.
Carol serves as a trustee or board member for a number of organizations including Grady Hospital. She also serves as Chair of the Policy Advisory Board for the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies and Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees for the Atlanta Botanical Garden. She is also a member of The Committee of 200 and The Buckhead Coalition.
Carol joined the UPS Board of Directors in 2003.
A native of Jackson, Wyoming, Carol holds a bachelor’s degree in communication from the University of Wyoming and a master’s degree in finance from the University of Denver.
David Clunie
Executive Director, Black Economic Alliance (BEA)
David Clunie is Executive Director of the Black Economic Alliance (BEA) – the nation’s only coalition of business leaders and aligned advocates committed to economic progress and prosperity in the Black community with a specific focus on work, wages, and wealth. From the Obama Administration, where he helped advance economic policies to improve the lives of all Americans, to JPMorgan Chase & Co., where he helped lead the firm’s engagement with public policymakers across the country on expanding more inclusive economic growth, David brings a wealth of invaluable experience and perspective to BEA from the public and private sectors.
Before joining BEA, David most recently worked at JPMorgan Chase & Co., where he was a senior member of the Corporate Responsibility department, which uses JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s resources to increase opportunities for all people—particularly in the areas of workforce development, financial health, small business expansion, and community development. David led a team of government relations managers who forged partnerships with state and local government officials nationwide on local community investments as well as public policy challenges and opportunities. He was a champion for diversity, equity, and inclusion—chairing the firm’s coalition of Black managing directors, The Black Executive Forum; sitting on the firm’s Diversity Advisory Committee; leading CR’s Equity & Inclusion working group; and serving as an ambassador and mentor for The Fellowship Initiative leadership development program for young men of color.
Prior to joining JPMorgan Chase & Co., David was the Executive Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Treasury. As an appointee of President Barack Obama at the Treasury Department, David was a member of Secretary Jacob J. Lew’s senior staff and ran what is often referred to as the Department’s “nerve center.” There, he was responsible for quality control and policy coordination of all workstreams associated with Secretary Lew.
David reached beyond the responsibilities of his role at Treasury to improve economic prospects for all Americans, including his work to support and help grow the Department’s Office of Minority & Women Inclusion, and his contribution to various initiatives on issues including financial capability, financial inclusion, community development, small business, and affordable housing.
From 2010 to 2012, David served as Deputy Associate Counsel at the White House, where he vetted incoming presidential appointees, and served as a mentor in the White House Mentors Program – a predecessor to the My Brother’s Keeper Initiative. He was previously a senior member of President Obama’s 2008 Campaign legal team in Iowa.
Before joining the Obama Administration, David was a litigation associate at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, where he worked on commercial litigation cases and pro-bono matters involving voting rights, police-community relations, prisoners’ rights, affirmative action, and disability rights, among other issues. David partnered with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and Brennan Center for Justice, among other leading public interest groups, to oppose restrictive voter ID laws in Georgia and Indiana, and support thousands of voters displaced by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. David was also the firm’s lead attorney in Davis v. City of New York, a 2010 class action lawsuit on behalf of public housing residents and visitors alleging unlawful stops, frisks and arrests on public housing grounds in New York City. The case was filed as a related case to the major stop & frisk lawsuit, Floyd v. City of New York.
David clerked for the Honorable Cynthia M. Rufe in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. He is a graduate of the Howard University School of Law and the University at Albany, State University of New York. He currently lives in New York City.
Dr. Robert W. Livingston
Lecturer of Public Policy, Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government
Dr. Robert W. Livingston is a Lecturer of Public Policy at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. Prior to joining Harvard, he held full-time faculty positions at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, and the University of Sussex in England, where he was also Director of the Centre for Leadership, Ethics, and Diversity (LEAD). In addition, he has held visiting faculty positions at Princeton University and Carnegie Mellon University.
Broadly speaking, Dr. Livingston’s research focuses on diversity, leadership, and social justice. His work has been published in multiple top-tier academic journals such as the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Psychological Science, and the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, and has been featured in prominent media outlets such as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, BBC, Newsweek, Forbes, Bloomberg Businessweek, Financial Times, ABC News, The Guardian, CNN, Yahoo, and MSNBC. He has also authored several book chapters and co-edited an award-winning book on social identity and intergroup relations (with Roderick Kramer at Stanford University).
More specifically, Dr. Livingston’s research ranges from micro-level experimental investigations of the psychological and physiological processes that underlie implicit bias (e.g., stereotyping, prejudice)—to more macro-level examinations of discrimination in society and the workplace, particularly in upper-level leadership positions. For example, his research on the “Teddy Bear Effect”, finding that Black CEO’s (but not White CEOs) uniquely benefit from “disarming mechanisms” (e.g., babyfaceness) that make them appear warmer and less threatening, has been widely cited. He is also known for his research on “intersectionality” which explores variability in perception and treatment of individuals within the same gender (e.g., Black women–White women) or racial (e.g., Black men–Black women) categories.
Dr. Livingston has delivered diversity training and has served as a management consultant for numerous Fortune 500 companies, as well as public-sector agencies/municipalities and non-profit organizations. He also teaches in executive education programs and has received multiple awards and recognition for excellence in teaching. In his spare time, he enjoys jazz, wine and whiskey tasting, philosophy, art and interior design, real estate investing, outdoor activities, and wildlife documentaries. He has resided in five countries and is fluent in four languages.
Crystal E. Ashby
ELC Interim President & CEO
Crystal Ashby is the Interim President and CEO of The Executive Leadership Council (ELC), the preeminent membership organization for black CEOs, board directors, and the most senior black executives at Fortune 1000, Global 500 and equivalent companies. She leads the organization’s efforts to increase the number of global black executives in C-Suites, on corporate boards, and in global enterprises. She is the first woman president and CEO of the organization and traces her association with The ELC to her participation in the first class of The ELC’s Strengthening the Pipeline leadership development program.
Ms. Ashby is an accomplished senior executive, board member and lawyer with more than 33 years of leadership success, significantly in the energy sector. Her corporate leadership experience was gained over a twenty-two-year career with BP where her roles spanned government and external affairs, law, compliance and ethics, university relations and retail.
Ms. Ashby is an NACD Fellow and member of the International Women’s Forum and has or is currently serving as a Director on the boards of several organizations. Most recently she was Vice Chair of The ELC. She served on the National Board of Genesys Works, the Holocaust Museum Houston Board and the University of Michigan College of Engineering Dean’s Leadership Advisory Board. She recently left the board of the Women Business Collaborative (WBC) and effective January 2020 is a Director on the Board of Texas Reliability Entity, Inc. (Texas RE).
Crystal earned her Juris Doctor from DePaul University College of Law and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree, with a double major in English and Psychology, from the University of Michigan.
