Dr. Randal Pinkett, Co-founder, Chairman, and CEO of BCT Partners, uses Precision Analytics to level the playing field for equity.

Apr 10, 2020 | Diversity & Inclusion, Leadership, Women

“To compete in the 21st century, you must be able to leverage technology and data to foster greater insights about diverse people”

Dr. Randal Pinkett, CEO BCT Partners

Dr. Randal Pinkett, Co-founder, Chairman, and CEO of BCT Partners, uses Precision Analytics to level the playing field for equity.

bct Rockefeller foundation grant While I am familiar with the use of analytics to build website traffic, evaluate social media, and determine the return on investment for diversity, inclusion and other initiatives, there was a broader use of analytics that I’ve come to understand and appreciate through my colleague and friend Dr. Randal Pinkett. His company has the analytical ability to answer the questions that lead to the actual transformation of lives, to social change, and to equity.

BCT Partners is a highly regarded and sought after multimillion-dollar research, training, consulting, technology, and data analytics firm headquartered in Newark, NJ. Their mission is to provide insights about diverse people that lead to equity. The company has developed solutions for the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP) US Department of Labor, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation among others. In September 2019, the Rockefeller Foundation awarded grants to fuel plans for Equitable Investment in Opportunity Zones in Washington, DC, Oakland, Dallas, and St. Louis. LISC and BCT Partners were named National Partners. The initiative will help cities build a pipeline of projects and small business investments that move beyond the early stages of planning and attract private investment in economically-distressed areas.

Because of BCT Partners leadership, consulting services, analytical abilities, and corporate culture, BCT Partners is on the Black Enterprise’s BE 100 list of the nation’s largest African American-owned businesses and most recently was named to the Forbes list of America’s Best Management Consulting Firms.

Watch this video of Dr. Randal Pinkett as he talks about the lessons he’s learned from Technology. One lesson, primed for the times for all of us is this:

“Everyone of us can move from being a technology consumer to being a technology producer…Find the harmony in disconnected disciplines and bring them back into the harmony for which they were always destined.”

Dr. Randal Pinkett. Lessons I’ve Learned From Technology. TEDx NJITN

Dr. Randal Pinkett is a thought leader who holds five academic degrees including a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Rutgers University; a Master of Science in Computer Science from the University of Oxford in England; and a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering, MBA, and Ph.D. from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Most notably, he was the first and only African-American to receive the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship at Rutgers University.

He is the author of Campus CEO: The Student Entrepreneur’s Guide to Launching a Multimillion-Dollar Business and No-Money Down CEO: How to Start Your Dream Business with Little or No Cash and, Black Faces in White Places: 10 Game-Changing Strategies to Achieve Success and Find Greatness. Dr. Pinkett has launched the “Campaign to Redefine the Game” which represents a call to action for Americans to level the playing field in the 21st-century workplace. For more information about BCT Partners visit https://www.bctpartners.com/

Dr. Joel P. Martin is the president of Triad West Inc. Dr. Martin is a thought leader in transformational leadership thinking to change lives and businesses for the better. She is the author of How To Be A Positively Powerful Person. She has a Bachelor of Education in Visual Communications, a Master of Psychology, a Ph.D. of Communications, and is a Wharton Fellow of Wharton Business School. Her commitment has taken her to clients in China, Malaysia, Russia, the Republic of South Africa, the United Kingdom, Latvia, France, and across the US.

Her company is a 20-year-old Arizona based coaching, consulting and training company that specializes in leadership development, diversity and inclusion, employee engagement, alignment, and team building. To learn about our Diversity and Inclusion approach, engagements and programs please visit https://www.positivelypowerful.com/Insights/di/

Dr. Joel P. Martin is also the Founder of Triad West Positively Powerful Programs. The April 17, 2020, Positively Powerful Conference featuring the Education Summit and Woman Awards Program with Dr. Randal Pinkett and other esteemed speakers was postponed because of COVID-19. The new date planned for the Positively Powerful Conference: Education Summit and Woman Awards is Friday, October 16, 2020. The event will be held at the Arizona State University 365 Community Union, a collaborative partner for the event.

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Nichol Luoma, MBA, ASU Vice President, will be acknowledged on October 16th with the Positively Powerful Woman Sustainability Leadership Award.

Feb 21, 2020 | Business, Diversity & Inclusion, Women

Nichol Luoma, MBA, ASU Vice President, will be acknowledged on October 16th with the Positively Powerful Woman Sustainability Leadership Award.

2020 Positively Powerful Award Honoree Nichol Luoma, MBA

Nichol Luoma is the Vice President of University Business Services, University Sustainability Operations Officer, and Chief Procurement Officer. It was my honor to ask her to receive the 2020 Positively Powerful Woman Sustainability Leadership Award at the 12th Annual Awards Luncheon. The title Sustainability Leader took on many distinctions for me. Professionally, she strengthens and supports Arizona State University, the #1 innovation leader, as an institution and those who do business in it and with it. In a boarder sense, Nichol Luoma is also a “sustaining” family member and community leader. And in a personal sense, for my company Triad West Inc., she is are a visionary change maker. The collaboration my company now has with ASU 365 Community Union would not have been possible without her influence.

“Destiny is a name often given in retrospect to choices that had dramatic consequences.”

J. K. Rowling

As a result, Triad West is working closely with Nichol Luoma, Vice President of ASU Business Services, Colleen Jennings-Roggensack, Vice President for Cultural Affairs and Executive Director of ASU Gammage, Lisa Loo, Vice President of Legal Affairs and Deputy General Counsel, Arizona State University, and Victor Hamburger, Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives for ASU Cultural Affairs, the parent department of ASU Gammage, ASU 365 Community Union and ASU Kerr Cultural Center.

Nichol Luoma is a first-generation college graduate and has nearly two decades of global business operations leadership experience. She oversees multiple operations at Arizona State University including supply chain (procurement and materials management), auxiliaries, parking and transit, sustainability practices, risk management, physical security initiatives, and environment health & safety.

She graduated summa cum laude from ASU’s W. P. Carey School of Business and Barrett, the Honors College with a bachelor’s degree in supply chain management. She also was a W. P. Carey School of Business Outstanding Graduating Senior. She received her MBA from Duke University, where she also graduated summa cum laude and was honored as a Fuqua Scholar. Nichol Luoma was a Past President (2018-2019) of the National Association of Educational Procurement (NAEP) and is a faculty member for NAEP and the Western Association of College and University Business Officers.

This is an open invitation to all who know and have worked with Nichol Luoma and those who would like to acknowledge her for her leadership and contributions. Join us. Become a sponsor. Attend as a guest. Connect and make an impact at the Positively Powerful Conference, Friday, October 16th at ASU Community Union, Sun Devil Stadium, 500 East Veterans Way, Tempe, AZ. The Education Summit breakfast and registration begin at 7:30 a.m. Speakers program from 8 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Following the Summit, we host the Positively Powerful Woman Awards in celebration of the accomplishments of the 12th Annual Positively Powerful Woman Award recipients. Sponsorship Information and Registrations are available online.

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Island Liaison founder Claudia Kaercher will receive the Positively Powerful Woman Nonprofit Leadership Award on October 16, 2020.

Feb 21, 2020 | conversation on leadership, diversity and inclusion, Domestic Violence Prevention, empowerment, Leadership, Women

Island Liaison founder Claudia Kaercher will receive the Positively Powerful Woman Nonprofit Leadership Award on October 16, 2020.

2020 Positively Powerful Honoree Claudia Kaercher

I received an email from my friend Marian Yim, Esq. who nominated Claudia Kaercher to be a recipient of the Positively Powerful Woman Awards. Here is her message: “In 2014, at the PPW event, my friend Claudia Kaercher told me that she was inspired to found a nonprofit to aid Pacific Islanders. She founded Island Liasion, dedicated to healthcare, education, and culture. Last fall, when news of a Marshallese baby-selling scheme broke, she had a network in place and was the best prepared person in Phoenix (and perhaps the nation) to get these women the healthcare and resources that were needed.

I met with Claudia Kaercher and discovered that she was also a long-time employee of Southwest Airlines, the Official Airlines of the Positively Powerful Woman Awards, and Triad West client Mountain Park Health Center was the organization she chose to take care of the pregnant Marshallese women so desperately in need of support and medical attention. Claudia Kaercher served with and was mentored for five years by Mrs. Cindy McCain, founder of the American Voluntary Medical Team (AVMT).

Please meet nonprofit leader Claudia Deleon Guerrero Fajardo Kaercher, the Positively Powerful Woman, who will be acknowledged for her many contributions on October 16, 2020:

I am Claudia Deleon Guerrero Fajardo Kaercher of Chamorro-Filipino descent from the Mariana Archipelago in Micronesia a region in the western pacific. My family and I spent 10 years on Majuro Atoll in the Marshall Islands while my father worked for the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands U.S. administration. I graduated from John F. Kennedy High School, Tumon, Guam a U.S. Territory. I was one-year old when the U.S. military on Bikini atoll conducted the thermal nuclear “Castle Bravo” test in 1954.

As a resident of Arizona for over 35 years, I am an active and positive contributor to my community and acknowledge all for embracing my Micronesian background.

Claudia Deleon Guerrero Fajardo Kaercher

I founded the nonprofit organization Island Liaison to serve as a resource providing awareness of locally available health and educational agencies and providers to help Pacific Islanders with focus on the Independent island nations of the Freely Associated States (FAS), i.e., the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), and the Republic of Palau. They are under the Agreement of Compact of Free Association (COFA) with the US and living in Arizona which allows them to freely travel within the US without a visa and with no time restraints. These Islanders are not eligible for many federal or state services. Unlike our neighboring Islanders from the US Territories of Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), who are U.S. citizens and have the ability to access many federal or state funded services.

I’m a Fellow of Leading For Change Fellows 2014/2015 I’m a member of Lau Kanaka No Hawai’i Hawaiian Civic Club of AZ, Phoenix Chinese American Citizens Alliance and, Mountain Park Health Center (MPHC) Diversity Site Council. I serve on the Board of Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) AZ and the City of Phoenix Police Chief’s Advisory.

I provide community outreach to Arizona State University (ASU) Asian Pacific American Studies (APAS) program Asian Pacific Advocacy, Culture, and Education (APACE) Academy and Maricopa Community Colleges Chancellor Advisory.

My previous community service includes Commissioner for the City of Phoenix Pacific Rim Advisory Council (PRAC), Board member of Asian Chamber of Commerce AZ and, Member of Governor Janet Napolitano’s Asian-American Advisory Council.

During the 2010 U.S. Census, I was the Partnership Assistant for the Pacific Islanders in Arizona and on occasion assisted the state of Nevada.

My Awards include the Arizona Aloha Festival “2011 Kokua” Fostering a better understanding of Pacific Islanders, ASU “2015 Excellence in Diversity and Inclusion” and, the Pan Asian Community Alliance Tucson “2019 Friend of Pan Asian Community”.

This is an open invitation to all who know, would like to know or whose lives were touched by Claudia Deleon Guerrero Fajardo Kaercher. Join us. Become a sponsor. Attend as a guest. Connect and make an impact at the Positively Powerful Conference, Friday, October 16th at ASU Community Union, Sun Devil Stadium, 500 East Veterans Way, Tempe, AZ. The Education Summit breakfast and registration begin at 7:30 a.m. Speakers program from 8 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Following the Summit, we host the Positively Powerful Woman Awards in celebration of the accomplishments of the 12th Annual Positively Powerful Woman Award recipients. Sponsorship Information and Registrations are available online.

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Dynamic researcher and scientist, Dr. Angela M. Allen will receive the Positively Woman Award for Medical Leadership on October 16, 2020.

Feb 21, 2020 | ageing, Scientist, techology, Women

Dynamic researcher and scientist, Dr. Angela M. Allen will receive the Positively Woman Award for Medical Leadership on October 16, 2020.

Dr. Angela M. Allen, 2020 Positively Powerful Woman Honoree

Dr. Angela M. Allen is the Clinic Research Program Director of Banner Research Institute and Medical Center and ASU Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation.

I first met Dr. Allen when we were speakers for the Women’s Day event given by Reverend Ozetta Kirby, Pastor, Holy Trinity AME. Dr. Allen is a passionate and powerful speaker who blew me away with her knowledge of Alzheimer’s and dementia research and caregiving. She delivered superior information that was “just right”, easy to understand and easy to act on. She’s a phenomenally caring and dynamic individual who I knew I wanted to bring to the Positively Powerful stage as an honoree so that she could communicate her ability to touch the hearts of her audiences and give more people a sense of hope and understanding as we each approach aging and caregiving.

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October 16th, the Positively Powerful Woman Entrepreneur Leadership Award will be presented to Stephanie Vasquez, owner of Fair Trade Café.

Feb 20, 2020 | conference, Diversity & Inclusion, Women

October 16th, the Positively Powerful Woman Entrepreneur Leadership Award will be presented to Stephanie Vasquez, owner of Fair Trade Café.

Arizona is seeing a growth in women entrepreneurs… The number of women-owned firms in the state has climbed by 15.9 percent in the past five years, and revenue from these businesses has grown by 10.5 percent. As of the beginning of 2019, more than 220,000 firms in Arizona are owned by women.

Geri Stengel, Research Adviser for American Express

Travel, life experiences and passion for being socially conscious, have brought Stephanie Vasquez, owner of Fair Trade Café, to this exact moment in her life. She is one of the women entrepreneurs who is growing her business in Arizona.

Stephanie Vasquez is an Arizonan native who graduated from Arizona State University with a degree in education and began her professional career as a middle school science teacher, Stephanie was always inclined and passionate about helping her community.

In 2006, after a life-changing trip to Costa Rica, Stephanie experienced an “a-ha” moment. Moved by the culture, love, and respect that Costa Ricans displayed for their coffee fields and land, she returned to Arizona knowing she would one day own her own socially-conscious coffee shop. Stephanie had the concept and vision in mind, now her focus was on making it a reality.

It wasn’t until 2007, in a moment Stephanie calls destiny, she was presented with the opportunity to take over the operations of Fair Trade Café. Since then, Fair Trade Café has become a staple of Roosevelt Row and a gathering place for ASU students, local organizations, business leaders and politicians.

Fair Trade Cafe, Phoenix, AZ

She has been recognized as Stylos 2010 Entrepreneur of the Year, 2014 Cox Latina Entrepreneur of the Year, 40 Hispanic Leaders Under 40, and most recently a recipient of the 40 Under 40 Award by Phoenix Business Journal. Aside from Ms. Vasquez’s professional accolades, she is deeply rooted in her community and is the first to do what she can to help advance causes near and dear to her. From being a Hispanic Leadership Institute alumna to a board member of AGUILA Youth Leadership Institute, serving in multiple advisory boards and volunteering for Justice that Works where she assists in transitioning recently incarcerated women into the workforce and community. Stephanie is engaged in making her community a better place to live, which is one of the reasons she created #WomenofPhoenix, a group of women in the Phoenix area whose endeavor is to empower other women in their life’s journey

Her belief that embracing socially conscious business practices creates a fruitful outcome for all and has guided her professionally and personally. As a mother of three, she is working not only to continue her success through her love of coffee but also to make the world a brighter place for her children and her community.

This is an open invitation to all who know about Fair Trade Cafe and those who would like to acknowledge Stephanie Vasquez for her success. Join us. Learn, connect, and design your future at the Positively Powerful Conference, Friday, October 16th at ASU Community Union, Sun Devil Stadium, 500 East Veterans Way, Tempe, AZ. The Education Summit breakfast and registration begin at 7:30 a.m. Speakers program from 8 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Following the Summit, we host the Positively Powerful Woman Awards in celebration of the accomplishments of the 12th Annual Positively Powerful Woman Award recipients. Sponsorship Information and Registrations are available online.

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October 16th, Intel Vice President Barbara H. Whye will be acknowledged as the 2020 Positively Powerful Woman Global Leadership Award recipient.

Feb 19, 2020 | Business, Domestic Violence Prevention, global, Leadership, PPW Awards, Women

October 16th, Intel Vice President Barbara H. Whye will be acknowledged as the 2020 Positively Powerful Woman Global Leadership Award recipient.

2020 Positively Powerful Award Honoree Dr. Barbara H. Whye Intel Corporation @BarbaraWhye

The Positively Powerful Woman Awards Mission is to shine the light on women who are creating a pathway so that all people can follow in their footsteps, be “self-actualized”, and live their dreams. Barbara H. Whye is a visionary and a role model who walks her talk in the technology space. It is for this reason that I was delighted and honored when Barbara H. Whye said “Yes” to receiving the Positively Powerful Woman Global Leadership Award.

Barbara H. Whye is Intel’s Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer and Vice President of Human Resources. She leads Intel’s Diversity in Technology $300M initiative which resulted in reaching full representation in Intel’s U.S. workforce in October 2018. The company’s workforce now reflects the percent of women and underrepresented minorities available in the U.S. skilled labor market.

A champion of Intel’s culture of inclusion, with 24 years of experience, she develops strategies that accelerate progress and integrate diversity and inclusion across the ecosystem to enhance innovation and drive business results. Barbara joined Intel in 1995 as an engineer and held a number of leadership roles driving large scale and enterprise wide change. Prior to joining HR and Global Diversity and Inclusion in 2015, she spent 15 years in key leadership and project engineering roles responsible for acquiring and starting up new facilities for Intel Corporation worldwide, including Talent Management as an expatriate in San José, Costa Rica.

Barbara also led the investment strategy for Intel’s global (STEM) education portfolio, with an emphasis on girls and underserved populations, and was a strategist on Girl Rising, a global campaign for girls’ education and empowerment. Barbara earned her bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of South Carolina and her MBA from the University’s Darla Moore School of Business.

Recognized as a force for positive social change, she has been awarded with the 2014 National Society of Black Engineers Career Excellence Award, a 2015 Society of Women Engineers Spark Award, a 2016 Inspiring Women of South Carolina Award, 2019 BLACK ENTERPRISE Most Powerful Women in Corporate Diversity Award, 2019 Most Influential Women in Corporate America Award, and 2019 NAFE Women of Excellence Corporate Women’s Champion Award.

Dr. Maya Angelou said, “My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.” Dr. Angelou’s quote describes Barbara H. Whye to me. Dr. Joel P. Martin, Triad West Inc.

Join us for Positively Powerful Conference, Friday, October 16th at ASU Community Union, Sun Devil Stadium, 500 East Veterans Way, Tempe, AZ. The Education Summit breakfast and registration begin at 7:30 a.m. Speakers program from 8 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Following the Summit, we host the Positively Powerful Woman Awards where we will acknowledge Barbara H. Whye as one of this year’s 12th Annual Positively Powerful Woman Award recipients. Sponsorship Information and Registrations are available online.

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