Sustainable Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Programs

On this week’s episode of Humanize Your Workplace, I am joined by Jason Thompson.

Jason Thompson is a thought leader in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, having spent the past twenty-five years building DE&I programs in sports, health care, technology, and education. Jason is currently the Vice President for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) at Western Governors University (WGU) one of the largest fully accredited online universities in the US with over 121,000 students.

Thompson is regularly sought out for advice and leadership on how to create, grow, measure, and sustain a DE&I program by DE&I officers across the corporate and non-profit sectors struggling to have their DE&I efforts impact their organization. Thompson developed the initial diversity and inclusion program for the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee and created the D&I scored cards to measure diversity within the US Olympic movement. As a result of this path-breaking innovation the USOC became the first large sports organization in the US to release their diversity data.

The diversity and inclusion programs developed by Jason have won several awards at the local and international level. Most recently the D&I Scorecard developed by Jason received the top honor in the 2016 International Innovations in Diversity Awards program from the Profiles in Diversity Journal. Jason was also recognized as a 2017 and 2018 Diversity Leader by the Profiles in Diversity Journal. In 2015, the USOC D&I department received the Diversity Champion Award for Excellence from the Colorado SHRM. Jason has served on local, regional and national committees for multiple organizations, including the founding member of the Diversity and Inclusion Sports Consortium (DISC) one of the largest sports organizations in the US with participation by the NBA, NFL, MLB, PGA of America and the NCAA. He also works with Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy, Oklahoma Diversity Officers and Practitioners Consortium, and the Advisory Board and the Center for African-American Health.

Thompson earned a master’s and bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of Wyoming. Jason’s work has been highlighted and quoted in USAToday, Washington Post, CNN, The New York Times and The Guardian.

We chat about:

Equity and Equality
Biggest challenge to equity and equality
Metrics to consider as companies make long term changes

To listen to this week’s episode, head over to Google Podcasts, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or check it out below:

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Alissa Carpenter

Workplace Communication Speaker and Trainer at Everything's Not OK and That's OK

Alissa Carpenter is the Owner of Everything’s Not Ok and That’s Ok, author of How to Listen and How to Be Heard: Inclusive Conversations at Work, TEDx speaker, and host of Humanize Your Workplace.She works directly with organizations to bridge communication gaps across generations, job functions, and geography and has worked with non-profits to multi-billion-dollar enterprises.She has an MEd in Social and Comparative Analysis in Education, is a Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach and is certified in the Strong Interest Inventory and Myers Briggs Type Indicator.Alissa has been featured on ABC, CBS, NPR, FOX, Forbes, and quoted in multiple media outlets including CNN Money and Fast Company.

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