Redia Anderson Banks is responsible for driving Deloitte's Diversity & Inclusion Initiative. As a nationally recognized leader in the field of diversity, Redia has more than 23-years of experience in human resources and handling diversity issues.  Her expertise includes Diversity Strategy Design and Implementation; Diversity Education; Diversity Leadership Development; Organizational Change and Workplace Harassment Prevention and Intervention. Before joining Deloitte, Redia was Chief Diversity Officer for Equiva Services LLC, a Houston-based joint venture between Shell Oil Co., Texaco, Inc., and Saudi Aramco. Previously, she served as Corporate Director of People and Cultural Diversity at Sears Roebuck and Co. and as Corporate Director of Work-Family Life and Workforce Diversity at Abbott Laboratories, both in Chicago.

In addition to holding numerous human resources positions at the directorship level and for multinational operations, Redia worked as a special agent in the Federal Bureau of Investigation's white-collar crime and organized crime units. She received her undergraduate degree in psychology from Incarnate Word University and her graduate degree in clinical psychology from Trinity University, both in San Antonio, Texas. She has served on numerous boards focused on health, children and women issues.

Redia is a popular keynote speaker, known for her thought-provoking and dynamic presentations. Her speaking engagements include national conferences for the Society for Human Resources Management, the Conference Board and the International Quality and Productivity Conference. She brings a unique style and approach to creating a positive and safe environment for consulting and education as she helps organizations develop comprehensive, practical and systemic intervention to foster environments of inclusion. Redia lives in Houston, Texas with her husband and has two children, Jarred and Taylor, and a Samoyed dog named Tundra.

Sushma Bhan is currently the Geosciences Information Manager at Shell International Exploration and Production Company. Sushma's career at Shell has spanned over two decades, where her wealth of knowledge of real time applications, databases, and IT has enabled her to have global roles as Information Management Discipline Chief, Shell Chemicals Global IT Manager, and E-Commerce Business Manager for Oil Products.

Sushma has served as President of Shell's Asian Pacific and Women's Employee Networks, Board member of Asian Chamber of Commerce (Houston) and is currently the President of the Indo-American Charity Foundation of Houston. Sushma was the 2003 recipient of Association for Women in Computing Leadership in Technology Award in Houston. Sushma has Bachelor's and Master's of Science from Delhi University (India) and an MBA degree from University of Houston. She is married and has two teenage boys ages 17 and 15. She enjoys community work, running, and trekking.

 
Helen has provided consulting and staffing services to companies in all areas of human resources management and compliance, conducted diversity assessments, feedback and recommendations for development of diversity business plans, and diversity development seminars and train-the-trainer sessions including cultural diversity and anti-sexual harassment workshops.  In the past, Helen has acted as a Houston Community College Instructor on special projects.  She is also a certified Empowerment Workshop Facilitator & Diversity Trainer.

Beverly Denver is the editor and publisher of Houston Woman Magazine. Her experience is unique, having worked in all facets of the newspaper industry. She has worked in the newsroom, as a reporter and editor, but also in the boardroom, holding positions as marketing director, advertising sales manager and publisher. In the mid-980s, the entrepreneurial bug bit, and Beverly launched a community newspaper in the North Harris and South Montgomery County area. In 1991, she sold that publication and, immediately, launched another in the City of West University Place, which she owned and operated for nine years. Before launching Houston Woman Magazine in March 2004, Beverly worked as a print media consultant, working with individuals and newspapers, including The West University Examiner, The Houston Chronicle and The Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

Carol Evans serves as President of Working Mother Media and CEO of Diversity Best Practices which are part of the Bonnier Corporation. Carol’s involvement with Working Mother magazine dates back to 1978, when she played a critical role in the launch.  She grew Working Mother magazine from $100,000 to $14,000,000 over the next decade, serving first as advertising director and then as VP Publisher.  In 1986 she founded the Working Mother 100 Best Companies, still the most important workplace benchmark in the country.

Between 1989 and 2001, Carol ran two publishing companies. She was President of Stagebill, serving 110 arts organizations nationwide.  In 1996, she became Chief Operating Officer of The Chief Executive Group, where she launched a highly successful conference division, hosting more than 600 leading CEOs per year.

In August 2001, Carol Evans founded Working Mother Media by acquiring Working Mother magazine and the National Association for Female Executives (NAFE), becoming the first mom to own Working Mother. She has launched several key initiatives to support the advancement of women including Best Companies for Multicultural Women, Best Law Firms for Women, Best of Congress, and Best Companies for Hourly Workers.

In 2006, Working Mother Media acquired Diversity Best Practices (DBP), the leading membership organization supporting diversity and inclusion in the workplace.  DBP’s sessions, conferences, research, and publications allow companies to leap ahead on their diversity journey.  At DBP, Carol has launched the Network and Affinity Leadership Congress (NALC), CEO Roundtables, the DBP Benchmarking and Assessment Tool and the Global initiative.

A graduate of Empire State College/SUNY, Carol serves as Vice Chairman of the Board of the March of Dimes. Carol has won numerous awards including the Admiral Grace Hopper Women’s Diversity Champion Award/ U.S. Navy; Dr. Martin Luther King Visionary Award/ Walmart; Work-Life Legacy Award/ Families and Work Institute; the Highest Leaf Award/ Women’s Venture Fund; Excellence in Women’s Health Award/ Jacobs Institute and the YWCA Hall of Fame.  

She is a highly acclaimed keynote speaker on the advancement of women, work life balance, barriers facing women of color and leadership. She has appeared on every major talk show including Today Show, Oprah, Good Morning America and PBS To the Contrary. Her opinions have been heard on hundreds of radio shows and published in newspapers nationwide.

Carol’s book, the award-winning This is How We Do It: The Working Mother’s Manifesto was published in May 2006 by Penguin Group. She is most proud of being mom to Julia Rose (20) and Robert (23), and wife of Bob Coulombe, a Major in the New York Guard.  

Rosi F. Hern

Marilyn Johnson is Vice President, Market Development based in Armonk, New York.  In this capacity, she leads an organization responsible for developing IBM’s strategy for and marketing to businesses owned or operated by Asians, Blacks, Hispanics, Native Americans and Women in the Americas.  Her mission includes women owned and women led businesses in selected markets around the globe.

She is an executive with extensive management experience in sales and marketing in the information technology industry. Ms. Johnson’s previous IBM positions, with US and worldwide responsibility, include director of financial services sector marketing, director of eBusiness infrastructure, and director of worldwide sales operations.  She has held executive positions in key  IBM business units. Marilyn has had management and operational responsibility in North America, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and Asia.  In 1999 Marilyn led the merger of IBM and Sequent Corporation Web-server sales.

Marilyn is a graduate of John Marshall University and holds two Masters in Education degrees.  She has held positions on the Executive Board of the Council for Better Business Bureaus and the Executive Boards of the Asian Pacific Islander American Scholarship Foundation,  the National Council of Negro Women and American Airlines Marketing Advisory Council.  She has been applauded for her active commitment to mentoring and coaching activities. Marilyn has been a featured speaker for numerous professional organizations around the world, including The World Diversity Conference in the City of Prague in the Czech Republic, the Black Women Executive Roundtable hosted by the Mayor of Paris, France, and B.I.G. (Blacks in Government), Washington, DC.

Sandra has served a wide range of clients from small, privately held entities to large, multinational public companies. She has specialty experience in serving and managing large SEC engagements and extensive research experience involving technical accounting issues. The clients that Sandra currently serves are National Oilwell, Varco and Cameron Corporation.