2020 ACTIVATOR EVENT
The Ultimate Economic Multiplier: Closing Racial Wealth Gaps | January 21, 2020
Speaker: Duwain Pinder, co-author, The Economic Impact of Closing the Racial Wealth Gap (McKinsey & Company, Aug. 2019)
>> Jan. 21, 2020, DOWNLOAD/VIEW: Full presentation (PDF) and data on the MSP racial wealth gap (PDF).
The persistent racial wealth gap in the United States is limiting economic opportunity for black Americans and other communities of color, as well as economic growth in the United States, overall. New research by McKinsey & Company quantifies the impact of closing the gap and identifies key sources of this socioeconomic inequity.
Duwain shared findings from the research, The Economic Impact of Closing the Racial Wealth Gap (McKinsey & Company, Aug. 2019), illuminating the impacts of the racial wealth gap and the profound benefits to our economy, communities of color, and country when we close it. Following Duwain’s presentation, Tawanna Black, founder and CEO of the Center for Economic Inclusion, moderated a panel of local experts to discuss the local implications and opportunities of this research.
Panelists: René E. Isuk, founder and president, ProsperLink, LLC; Audrey Lucas, senior partner, McKinsey & Company; David McGee, executive director, Build Wealth, MN, Inc.; Neeraj Mehta, director of learning, McKnight Foundation; and Samuel Yamoah, associate partner, McKinsey & Company.
About the Speaker
Duwain Pinder is Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Company (New Jersey). Over his tenure at McKinsey, Duwain has served several higher education and state/local government clients, helping to identify opportunities for performance improvement and to transform their organization and operations to accelerate towards their goals. He is also a leader of the Black Economic Forum event that is hosted by McKinsey, the Executive Leadership Council, and Boule.
He is the co-author of three recent McKinsey reports, Automation and the Future of the African American Workforce, The Economic Impact of Closing the Racial Wealth Gap, and The Future of Work in Black America.
>> Read media coverage about the report and learn more about The Economic Impact of Closing the Racial Wealth Gap:
- (CBS News, Aug. 15, 2019) If black families were as rich as white ones, U.S. economy would be $1.5 trillion bigger
- (NY Daily News, Aug. 14, 2019) Racial wealth gap could cost U.S. economy at least $1 trillion in next decade, study says
2019 ACTIVATOR EVENTS
Is the Gig Economy the Future of Work? | October 3, 2019
Speaker: Linda Nazareth, economist, futurist, and journalist
From freelance to side hustle, workers are taking their talent on the road, finding an entrepreneurial spirit, and taking full advantage of the new gig economy. But who is really winning? As employers cut traditional benefits and offer fewer permanent positions, workers are creating their own space, opting for gigs that allow flexible hours and higher hourly pay. Still, despite the opportunities these new ventures bring, there are also risks and trade-offs for both employer and side hustler. How can employers stay committed to equity and inclusion as they elevate a gig-focused business model? How can we ensure people of color participate in the expansion of the gig economy in our region?
About the Speaker
Linda Nazareth is an economist, a futurist, and a respected authority on the future of work. As a newspaper columnist and author, she knows how to frame things in a way that both educate and entertain, and as the Senior Fellow for Economics and Population Change at the think-tank the Macdonald Laurier Institute, she knows what she is talking about.
Linda’s career has taken non-traditional turns. She has worked as a government economist, specializing in labor market planning, followed by several years working as a senior economist at a major financial institution. She spent a decade as an on-air economist for Canada’s Business News Network. Linda is able to take big ideas and distill them into information that can be used to inform strategic plans and has worked with organizations such as American Express and The Economist Magazine.
As a noted author, Linda’s fourth book, Work is Not a Place: Our Lives and Our Organizations in the Post-Jobs Economy draws decades-long research and interactions with cross-sector audiences nationwide. Linda is eager to engage people in thinking about what the world might look like when we replace the idea of ‘jobs’ with that of ‘work.’
Linda is a frequent media commentator and has been quoted everywhere from The Wall Street Journal to Wired Magazine.
Using Tech to Build Inclusive Workplaces | September 5, 2019
Speaker: Andrea Guendelman, technology leader, co-creator and CEO of Wallbreakers
Workplaces of tomorrow must consider prioritizing inclusion as a business strategy to attract and retain top talent, increase innovation among teams, improve sales and increase profitability. How does a company ensure success at building inclusive workplaces and its competitive advantage? Join us to hear Andrea Guendelman, a leader in creating career platforms connecting Latinx to the tech industry, shares how to create inclusive workplaces.
About the Speaker
Andrea Guendelman is a leading force in creating platforms for professionals of color and the tech industry. Through her own experiences as a Harvard-trained corporate lawyer and an entrepreneur, she co-created Wallbreakers - a solution to connect talented students from underrepresented backgrounds (including Latinx, African American, and other underrepresented minorities) with companies hungry for talent and looking to build inclusive teams.
Andrea grew up in Chile, at the end of the Pinochet dictatorship. As the country awoke, Chilean women were starting to face the same opportunities and the same perils the women in the U.S. were confronting a decade earlier. Seeking to escape the net of expectations created by others, Andrea went to the U.S. to study at Harvard Law School. After practicing corporate law in New York and Washington, D.C. and upon becoming a mother, Andrea felt a need to give back to the community and to younger generations of aspiring Latinas.
Inspired by her grandparents who were immigrants and entrepreneurs, she founded BeVisible, a social media and career platform for underrepresented talent. She was also helped form a tech community of women in 2012 and held an advisory position creating media strategy with the Colorado-based National Center for Women & Information Technology.
Wallbreakers now helps recent and soon-to-be college graduates become well-rounded candidates, prepared to enter the tech industry. In addition to her role at Wallbreakers, Andrea serves as a consultant for the Office of Diversity, Equity and Community Engagement at the University of Colorado Boulder.
Andrea Guendelman Helps Young Latinx Professionals “Break Walls,” Hispanic Executive
2018 ACTIVATOR EVENTS
POWERING INCLUSION | HIGHLIGHTS | NOVEMBER 13, 2018
POWERING INCLUSION | FULL VIDEO | NOVEMBER 13, 2018
Accelerating Regional Growth By Investing in Businesses Owned By People of Color | November 13, 2018
Speaker: Arlan Hamilton, Founder & Managing Partner, Backstage Capital (full bio)
About the Speaker
Arlan Hamilton founded venture capital fund Backstage Capital to minimize disparities in tech by investing in high-potential founders who are people of color, women, and/or LGBT. Hamilton has been profiled by Forbes, Fast Company, The Wall Street Journal, and others.
Black women are among the most educated groups in the U.S. and fastest growing segments of entrepreneurs, but among the least likely to receive funding. The misconception of risk involved in investing in Black women specifically, and in businesses of color generally, permeates across sectors from business to philanthropy to public sector programs, and is accompanied by lower expectations for outcomes, and a view of investments as charity. “Less than 10% of all venture capital deals go to women, People of Color, and LGBT founders,” Hamilton has said. “Other venture capital firms see this as a pipeline problem. We see it as the biggest opportunity for investment.”
POWERING INCLUSION | HIGHLIGHTS | OCTOBER 9, 2018
POWERING INCLUSION | FULL VIDEO | OCTOBER 9, 2018
Achieving the Growth We Want By Engaging All of the Talent We Have | October 9, 2018
Speaker: Dr. Andre Perry, David M. Rubenstein Fellow in the Metropolitan Policy Program, The Brookings Institution (full bio)
About the Speaker
Dr. Andre Perry of the Brookings Institution identified inclusive practices, policy levers, and proactive roles each sector - business, government and philanthropic - must play to ensure our region grows because of our diversity not in spite of it. Doing so will align our actions with our values and position Minneapolis-St. Paul as a hub for talent, investment, and innovation. Dr. Perry’s op ed in The New York Times, “Who Gets Left Out of the Urban Tech Boom,” contrasted regions which invest in communities of color as assets vs. those which exclude them and the resulting impact on a region’s competitiveness, growth and vitality.
Dr. Perry was joined by panelists Ravi Norman (CEO, THOR Companies), Marcus Owens (Executive Director, African American Leadership Institute), Bo Thao-Urabe (Executive & Network Director, Coalition of Asian American Leaders), and Jai Winston (Director / St Paul, Knight Foundation).
