DEI Symposium

Reflecting on the 2024 DEI Symposium

The Buffalo Niagara Partnership was proud to host our 7th Annual DEI Symposium on June 13, 2024 at The Atrium at Rich's - in person for the first time since 2019! This half-day event brought nearly 300 employers and DEI professionals together as we unveiled the results of the 2024 Employing DEI in WNY Assessment.

The Symposium began with an in-depth analysis of the 2024 Employing DEI in WNY Assessment, presented by BNP's Kenya Hobbs, Director of Community Engagement & Equity Initiatives, and Andrea Berki-Nnuji, SVP of Data Analytics at Crowley Webb and Praxis, revealing how regional companies have progressed in diversity, equity, and inclusion since 2020. Panelists, including Chantele Campbell, Chief Health Equity Officer at BestSelf, Ed Moore, Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer at Rich Products, Rene Petties-Jones, President of The National Federation for Just Communities of WNY (NFJC), and Tom Quatroche, PhD, President and CEO of ECMC, shared insights on current trends and best practices for advancing DEI initiatives.

The event featured Impact Chats, facilitating interactive discussions on critical, timely DEI topics. We were thrilled to see an incredible level of engagement from the regional business community. Keynote speaker Maggie Rivera rounded out the day with practical tools for building a lasting and effective DEI movement within organizations.

The DEI Symposium was filled with engaging and informative sessions about how organizations can take the next step on their DEI journeys.

Check out our blog for 5 key takeaways from the event.

What Past Attendees Have To Say

This is the first event I’ve been to like this—where the whole day was dedicated to diversity and inclusion topics and the focus was on getting started...You could feel that everyone in the room knew the importance of diversity and inclusion efforts but wanted to learn more about getting started, get questions answered, or share ideas.

Claire Petrie, MBA, PHR, SHRM-CP

I just wanted to take a moment to thank you for putting together and hosting such a great symposium! In addition to being on the panel, I was also able to attend and found all of the sessions incredibly informative and eye-opening. Fantastic job!

-Danielle Evancho Bozich VP HR Heritage Ministries

“What an exciting opportunity to learn and celebrate D&I with the BNP team. It was no surprise the event included some of the most thoughtful leaders in our community. It was time well spent. Thank you, BNP, for hosting the 2021 Diversity Symposium. We look forward to seeing everyone next year.”

- Tracey Gordon, District Human Resources Manager, The Home Depot.

“I thought the Symposium was excellent. Definitely collected a lot of jewels that will help an organization on out DE&I journey.”

- Jason T. Daniels, Corporate Attorney, Catholic Health

“Today I had the opportunity to attend the BNP D&I Symposium and what an awe-inspiring experience it was. From the guest speaks to the breakout session a whole day of empowering, teaching, sharing, and coaching the gens of knowledge provided us today were priceless. Thanks for the awesome event BNP.”

- Constance McMillian Human Resources Professional, Buffalo Niagara Human Resources.

SHRM Credits

For SHRM HR professionals:

This event is valid for a total of 3.5 PDC for the SHRM-CP® or SHRM-SCP®.
Buffalo Niagara Partnership is recognized by SHRM to offer Professional Development Credits (PDCs) for the SHRM-CP® or SHRM-SCP®. For more information about certification or recertification, please visit www.shrmcertification.org.