Candi Castleberry-Singleton, the Chief Inclusion and Diversity Officer at UPMC, an $8 billion, 20-hospital global health system and heath plan. She is responsible for developing UPMC’s inclusion strategy, including its Cultural Competency in Patient Care Initiative and the Dignity and Respect Campaign (which has been adopted by the City of Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh Foundation), as well as overseeing progress toward system-wide goals involving 50,000 employees. In 2008, she launched the Center for Inclusion in Health Care.

Candi will be speaking at the opening session of the Minorities in Pittsburgh Conference on Friday, January 29 (2:30-3PM)

Candi has an exceptional record of coaching senior executives and partnering with key business process owners and community leaders to build sustainable inclusion practices for the workplace, marketplace, and workforce. Her successful initiatives have been implemented at Motorola, where she was Vice President of Global Inclusion and Diversity, and at Sun Microsystems, where she led the Global Inclusion Center of Expertise.

An experienced strategist, Candi created The Integrated Inclusion Model ^TM, a systems integration model that helps companies transition from compliance-driven processes led by human resources, to integrated activities that shift the responsibility for achieving an inclusive culture to every employee. The model is featured in Crossing the Divide: Intergroup Leadership in a World of Difference (Harvard Business School Press, August 2009).

Candi’s business acumen enhances her approach to inclusion. At Sun Microsystems, she led teams in operations and employee development, and she acquired extensive experience in sales, product marketing, training, and account management at Xerox Corporation. Candi received an MBA from Pepperdine University, a bachelor’s degree in legal studies from UC Berkeley, and graduated from the Stanford University Human Resources Executive Program.

Candi has received numerous sales, customer satisfaction, and diversity leadership awards. Recently she was named one of the Top 100 African Americans in Corporate America by Savoy Professional Magazine, as well as one of the 50 Women of Excellence by The New Pittsburgh Courier.  In 2009, she was recognized by Diversity MBA Magazine as a Top 50 under 50 Executive Leader.

“I don’t know what I’m not supposed to do.”

That statement not only defines the man many refer to as “Q.”, but it paints the picture that is Fuzion.  Having graduated from Northwestern University with degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Manufacturing Engineering, Quency has always had a strong desire to design and find ways to implement his ideas. 

Some may call it luck, while others may call it destiny, but while furthering his education after being accepted into Columbia University’s Master degree program, Q. landed an opportunity within the pharmaceutical marketing arena to transition his skill set into the field marketing.  Over the next 6 years, Quency was able to make his mark by managing multi-million dollar accounts and winning awards and acclaim along the way. Known by his clients as an innovative marketing mind, Quency had the dream to walk away and create opportunities for clients inside and outside of the pharmaceutical industry.  That dream is now a reality with Fuzion.

With Fuzion, Q. has built a legacy founded on marketing, but with a key attention to detail and opportunities. Those opportunities led Mr. Phillips to now be called upon as an acclaimed public speaker, philanthropic spirit, and one of the most called upon artist and athlete managers in the industry. With a client roster that includes the likes of Madison Square Garden, Superbowl Champions, and WNBA Champions, Q. has clearly exceeded expectations. His impact on the growth of the WNBA will be clear during the 2010 season, with a series of programs and events being launched to increase the awareness of the growing league.

ROBERT 'BIKO' BAKER, The Executive Director of the League of Young Voters, Rob "Biko" Baker is a nationally recognized young leader. In his home community of Milwaukee, he has organized town hall meetings and used the power and agency of art to inform, mobilize, and motivate young people to participate in civic life. Baker has served as the deputy publicity coordinator and young voter organizer for the Brown and Black Presidential Forum.

Robert will be speaking at Saturday''s Opening Session (9:30-10 AM) and will be also be sitting on the Creative Careers Panel during the informative workshop session Saturday afternoon (2-2:20 PM).

He has appeared on C-SPAN, Fox News and CNN, has interviewed luminaries Cornell West, Russell Simmons, and Howard Dean, and has been on panels with many of the nation's strongest progressive voices.  Baker is a Ph.D. candidate at UCLA, a frequent contributor to The Source, serves on CIRCLE's research advisory board and is a board member of the New Organizing Institute.