Plenary Session 

Leveraging Our Positions to Disrupt Bias and Build More Equitable Pathways to Success

Forum members are among the most influential women in the region.  It behooves us to educate ourselves about the unseen barriers women face -- those faced by women as a whole and the added barriers of women in underrepresented groups, including women of color, women with disabilities, women of minority religious faiths, and LGBTQI women. This panel will discuss gender and confirmation bias and explore how we can leverage our positions as leaders to break down these barriers and build more equitable pathways to success for all women. 

Moderator: Sheryl Axelrod, President, The Axelrod Firm, PC; Forum member

Panelists:

Kisha Hortman Hawthorne, Ph.D., FACHE

SVP and Chief Information Officer, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia; Forum Member

Eileen Letts

Partner, Zuber Lawler; Past Co-Chair, ABA Commission on Diversity & Inclusion 360; Past ABA Margaret Brent Awardee; Co-author (along with Destiny Peery and Paulette Brown) of “Left Out and Left Behind, The Hurdles, Hassles, and Heartaches of Achieving Long-Term Legal Careers for Women of Color” 
 

Melissa Pang

Past President, Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Pennsylvania (APABA-PA); Member, Chancellor’s Diversity Advisory Panel of the Philadelphia Bar Association; Assistant General Counsel,The School District of Philadelphia

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Breakout Session #1 

2020 Vision: Progress and Barriers to a Fully Participatory Democracy

This panel aims to put the unprecedented 2020 election into a broader historical context, considering both the progress we've made, and the barriers that still exist, toward achieving a fully participatory democracy. We will discuss how this election will look and feel different than previous elections, and consider what changes from this year might outlast the 2020 election cycle. Further, we'll discuss how those lasting changes might help or harm the cause of full enfranchisement. Finally, we want to think big, with respect to what our election system might look like if we were to redesign it without the limitations of political realities. What does transformation in our election administration look like, and what will it take to make that happen?

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Moderator:

Sara Manzano-Diaz                                           

Former PA Executive Deputy Attorney General for Public Protection and Director of the Women’s Bureau at the Department of Labor; Nonprofit board member; Forum member

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Panelists:

Kathy Boockvar

Secretary of the Commonwealth, Pennsylvania Department of State

Sharmain Matlock-Turner

President and CEO, Urban Affairs Coalition; Forum Member 

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Sozi Pedro Tulante

Partner, Dechert LLP; Former Philadelphia City Solicitor

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Breakout Session #2 

Reimagining Culture in Times of Accelerating Change

Reimagining culture in times of change requires strong leadership with

a vision for the future. As we focus on the profound social and cultural changes facing business today, we will discuss actions that boards and executive leadership are taking to address the issues of social equity, inclusion, engagement and the accountability of leadership for results.

Our discussion will include:

• Actions that leaders are taking to support their employees and communities in a workplace complicated by its virtual or hybrid remote work environment, 
• Ways to create opportunities for under-represented groups that are unique and authentic to the organization,
• How leaders are addressing systemic racism in the workplace, and
• How the results of these actions will impact your business.  

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Moderator: 

Lorina Marshall-Blake 

President, Independence Blue Cross Foundation; Forum Member

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Panelists:

Phoebe Haddon

Chair, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia

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Kate Shields

CEO, Vault Communications; Forum Board Member

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Erika Whyte

Assistant Vice President, Enterprise Diversity & Inclusion, Lincoln Financial Group