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| About the Diversity Factor: |
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Published since 1992, The Diversity Factor — now a quarterly electronic journal — has been recognized as a leading source of information in the fields of diversity and organizational development. Our authors — executives, thought leaders, academicians, consultants and researchers with years of experience — keep you informed of what's really happening in the business sector, as well as in education, government, non-profits, the arts, media and in the communities. We provide both theory and practice since neither alone can provide sustained impetus for change.
Our relationships with major companies, such as IBM, American Express, Hewlett-Packard, AT&T and the U.S. Postal Service, allow us to monitor and report on best practices and success stories that may inspire you in your diversity efforts.
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Elsie Y. Cross, CEO Emeritus
Widely respected as one of the nation's top organization development and diversity consultants, Elsie Cross built her reputation on a personal commitment to ameliorate oppression as it affects the productivity and profitability of organizations and society as a whole. For more than 30 years Ms. Cross guided critical change initiatives in major corporations, government agencies, universities and financial institutions in the U.S., Europe and the Caribbean.
Ms. Cross contributed to President Clinton's Initiative on Race and Harvard Business School's case study collection. She is a founding member of the Women's subgroup in the Organization Development Network; an advisory board member of The Poynter Institute, and; former chair of the National Training Laboratories Institute for Applied Behavioral Science (NTL) board of directors. Ms. Cross also led managing diversity seminars at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton Executive Education Center and has been a speaker for many professional organizations.
Often quoted by the media, such as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Los Angeles Times and Philadelphia Inquirer, she has also been featured in television and radio shows, including The Today Show. She is editor of The Promise of Diversity and The Diversity Factor: Capturing the Competitive Advantage of a Changing Workforce. Most recently, Ms. Cross authored Managing Diversity — The Courage to Lead.
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Barry Cross, Jr., President & CEO
With more than 20 years experience in the field of human resource development, Barry Cross consults to corporations, institutions and non-profit organizations. As President and CEO of the firm, he helps organizations assess their readiness for change and recommends organization development processes that drive the progress of diversity culture change initiatives. Working in partnership with the Elsie Y. Cross Associates extensive network of consultants and trainers, Cross delivers a strategic approach to solving diversity issues in organizations.
A seasoned trainer, facilitator and account manager, he also designs and delivers workshops that support client's business objectives. He specializes in facilitating issues related to differences among and between various diverse groups of people. He conducts team building, strategic planning, leadership development, customer service, continuous improvement and train-the-trainer programs. As an adjunct professor at the Community College of Philadelphia, he has taught students about Group Dynamics.
Cross was a contributor to President Clinton's Initiative on Race and received the 1996 Fielding Institute's Annual Social Justice Award for his participation as an advisor and trainer for a joint research project sponsored by the Fielding Institute, the Philadelphia Human Relations Commission, the Balch Institute and the Kaleel Jamison Foundation. He currently serves as a member of the board of directors of the Diversity Leadership Forum and is also an active member of the National Training Laboratories Institute for Applied Behavioral Science, the Organization Development Network and the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland.
Cross served previously as Chief Financial Officer of Elsie Y. Cross Associates, Inc. Prior to his career in organization development, he worked for Raytheon Service Company, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Department of the Navy and served in the U.S. Navy for six years. He also was a social worker at a community mental health center in Philadelphia.
Barry holds his Masters degree in Human Service from Lincoln University in Oxford, Pennsylvania and is a graduate of the Organization and System Development Program at the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland.
April W. Klimley, Editor
April is an award-winning editor and writer with more than 15 years of experience in the field of diversity communications. Over the years, she has written about diversity for many business publications, including Black Enterprise and Fortune, as well as for many corporations. She is also editor of Visions, a quarterly published by PDMA in the field of product development and innovation. Her other specialties include media relations, web publications and digital magazines, marketing/communications and speech writing.
April is principal of Klimley Communications, which is based in Red Bank, New Jersey. Before founding her own firm, she worked as a journalist, first in the United States as a radio and television writer for Westinghouse Broadcasting and then as a foreign correspondent in Hong Kong and Taiwan for The Christian Science Monitor and Far Eastern Economic Review. Subsequently, she entered the field of public relations at Citibank in retail media relations. She then moved to Adams & Rinehart as a senior account supervisor for The Bank of New York and The Arizona Bank. After that, she was named vice president for public relations at Chemical Bank.
April received her B.A. cum laude from Vassar College. She spent a year in Turin, Italy, on a Fulbright Fellowship, and earned her M.S. from the School of Journalism at Columbia University. April is a member PRS/NY, a media group based in NYC, and the Jersey Shore Human Resource Association. She is membership-co-chair of the Jersey Shore Sierra Club and a trustee of the Red Bank Public/Eisner Memorial Library.
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Wendy Conklin, Former Editor
Wendy Conklin's career spans 25 years of corporate, institutional and humanitarian accomplishments. Before joining The Diversity Factor in 2000, she was an independent communications consultant to more than half of the world's top ten pharmaceutical companies, as well as corporations in the financial services, energy and computer industries. She has conceptualized and managed a wide variety of communications targeted to physicians, patients, shareholders, employees, customers and other specialty audiences, and has worked with a broad spectrum of communications media, including print, audio, electronic, video, meetings and special events.
Earlier in her career she worked as a communications manager for Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS); public relations director for a regional banking institution; and as a medical education administrator at the University of Miami School of Medicine.
Conklin has served as editor of numerous publications and been honored with several awards for editorial excellence, including the International Association of Business Communication's Silver Quill and IRIS Awards, two Apex Awards for publication excellence and an American Heart Association Award of Excellence for cardiovascular reporting. A graduate of the University of Connecticut, Conklin is listed in Who's Who of American Women.
A 25-year advocate of basic human rights, she has played a leadership role in the issue of ending hunger nationally. She is currently a member of the Advisory Board for Partners in Ending Hunger, a non-profit organization working with communities to end the persistence of hunger.
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