This past year, communities, nonprofits, and policymakers have joined the global movement for racial justice. With racial equity at the forefront of our national conversation, the public and private sectors have addressed inequalities and expanded opportunities for justice-impacted individuals. Various cities, organizations, and sectors are reimagining how they can maximize productivity while advancing and advocating for financial wealth, sound infrastructure, and the potential for exponential growth to make us all well-positioned to boost economic mobility for underserved groups.

Please join SVLG's Racial Justice and Equity (RJE) team for our "Racial Equity Across Organizations" roundtable on Friday, September 17th, from 9:30 AM - 11 AM. This event will feature racial equity leaders from various sectors and industries such as Brandon Hicks, Social Justice & Racial Equity Policy, Project Manager, HP, Inc., Kathleen Wong(Lau) Ph.D., Chief Diversity Officer, San José State University, and Zulma Maciel, Director of Racial Equity for the City of San José . We will focus on hearing their perspectives and approaches to building and sustaining racial justice and equity within their professional organizations.

As this is such an important topic, this is open to SVLG members and interested members of the public.

We hope to see you there!

BIOS

Brandon Hicks is the Social Justice & Racial Equity Policy, Project Manager for HP, Inc. Prior to his role at HP, Inc, Brandon served as Director of African American Affairs. Brandon brings nearly a decade of organizing and management experience for national civil rights and community organizations. He served as the National Organizer for the National Action Network where he developed a national campaign to advance special prosecutor legislation and organized diverse campaigns surrounding police brutality, marijuana legalization and criminal justice reform. Mr. Hicks holds a Bachelor's degree in Political Science from North Carolina Central University and his Juris Doctor from Washington and Lee University School of Law.

Kathleen Wong(Lau), Ph.D. (she/her/hers) is San Jose State's chief diversity officer. Wong(Lau) leads the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, providing vision and direction for university-wide efforts to ensure a welcoming, safe climate for every member of our community and serving as a liaison to community partners and constituents on a wide array of diversity initiatives. She was selected by and will report directly to President Papazian, and will serve on the president's cabinet.

Wong(Lau) joins San Jose State from the University of Oklahoma where she served since 2014 as director of the Southwest Center for Human Relations Studies and the National Conference on Race and Ethnicity in Higher Education (NCORE). Her noteworthy accomplishments at Oklahoma included launching faculty training institutes on inclusive teaching, and administrator training on management and leadership for diversity and innovation. In addition, she designed and led an inaugural, mandatory, five-hour Freshmen Diversity Experience training for more than 5,000 students. She also consulted with other academic institutions, with an emphasis on helping faculty and staff support underrepresented and first generation students.

Earlier in her career, Wong(Lau) served as a tutor and advisor for Upward Bound and as a bilingual education counselor for the TRIO program, where she encountered and directly addressed the challenges facing underrepresented groups in higher education. She also served as an assistant professor of intercultural communication at Western Michigan University from 2005-2012, and has actively consulted with Michigan State University on diversity issues since 2012.

Wong(Lau) received a bachelor’s degree in speech communication from CSU Hayward (now CSU East Bay) before completing a dual master’s/doctorate program in communication with an intercultural concentration at Arizona State University. She was named in 2015 by Diverse Issues in Higher Education as one of Women’s History Month's "Top 25 Women in Higher Education," contributing to transformation and change in the United States.

A California native, Wong(Lau) grew up in the East Bay where her parents still live. She and her partner have two teenage children and four rescue dogs. Bilingual since childhood, she speaks fluent Cantonese.

Zulma Maciel is the Director of San Jose’s Office of Racial Equity, where she aims to institutionalize equity and support sustainable, transformational change so that, ultimately, Black and Brown communities experience better outcomes. Her diverse leadership experiences, track record of authentic community partnerships, results-driven approach, and commitment to racial justice has enabled Zulma to live out her calling in this new role.

Zulma has served the public for over two decades in various capacities, such as, policy development, administration, and management of a $15M grant portfolio. In 2015, she became the first Director of San Jose’s Office of Immigrant Affairs committed to creating an environment of belonging for people who call San Jose home. Collaboratively with community partners, Zulma developed the City’s first Welcoming San Jose Plan that outlined an ambitious set of goals and strategies in service of immigrants and refugees.

In her spare time, Zulma volunteers on local non-profit boards and regularly enjoys hiking and Pilates. Zulma is binational (México and US citizen), bilingual, and bicultural. She earned a B.A in Sociology from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Racial Equity Across Organizations Roundtable