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Lessons from Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Program Leaders

Planned in response to feedback from AWWEE members, this panel of women leaders are deeply committed to creating more diverse, equitable, and inclusive corporate cultures. Join us to hear about their experiences building effective DEI programs, the challenges they encountered in the process and how they approached them, and get advice for how you and your organization can take meaningful steps toward creating workplaces where all people feel welcome, included, and safe to be their true selves.


About Our Speakers

Emily Lam is the Deputy Assistant General Manager of External Affairs for the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC), a $1.8 billion/year San Francisco department that provides water, power and sewer services to 2.7 million Bay Area residents. In this capacity, she helps oversee government affairs, community benefits and communications. Prior to this, she was the Director of Policy and Government Affairs for SFPUC. In this role, she oversaw the agency’s public policy and political strategy at the local, state and federal level around water, wastewater, energy, climate change, infrastructure financing and workforce development.

Previously, Emily was the Vice President of Health Care and Federal Issues at the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, a public policy trade association representing 390 employers on issues, programs and campaigns that affect the economic health and quality of life in Silicon Valley. She also worked for a start-up health care IT company, the San Mateo County Health Department and in Washington D.C. for the research and consulting firm, The Lewin Group.

Emily is a San Francisco native and received a B.A. with Honors in Community Health from Brown University and a Master in Public Policy from Harvard. She is a Public Policy and International Affairs (PPIA) Fellow, Latin American Legislative Fellow, and Royce Society Fellow. She was named in Silicon Valley Business Journal’s 40 under 40 in December 2013.


Dany Kahumoku currently serves as Senior Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Specialist at ICF, a global management consulting and technology services firm headquartered in Virginia. She has been in the utility sector for 4 years, with her experience prior being in the nonprofit sector working in international affairs and human rights. Her primary responsibility is providing consultation to colleagues and clients on embedding DEI practices into the design, implementation, and evaluation of utility programs across North America.

Dany was born and raised in Monterey, California, and has resided in Portland, Oregon for the past decade. Driven by equity, inclusion, justice, and accessibility, Dany has many passions, ranging from environmental and racial justice to organizational behavior and psychology to crafting charcuterie board masterpieces for friends and family.


Rosa Schmidt has been a regional consultant with the Center for Energy Workforce Development for over 10 years and serves as advisor and lead consultant for the Northeast, MidAtlantic, South and Southeast Regions of the country.  She provides coaching to companies and consortia on strategy and workforce development solutions. She also leads the Troops to Energy Jobs initiatives at CEWD, as well as managing the Contractor Community of Practice.  

Before coming to CEWD, Rosa worked at PSEG as a Human Resources leader in various roles, which included organization development, change management, talent acquisition/ management, strategic staffing, and training.   During her tenure, Rosa led the development and implementation of the New Jersey Energy Workforce Consortium.  She has extensive experience in workforce development, leadership development, performance management, career planning, and succession planning.  She is also an adjunct instructor for Executive and Professional Education at Rutgers University, in New Jersey.  

Rosa received her master’s degree in organization development/ human resource management from American University and her bachelor’s degree in human resource management from Upsala College. 


Registration

Registration for this event is free for AWWEE members + up to two guests. Non-member registration is $20.

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The Ins and Outs of EV Battery Afterlives

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New Year Networking Hour