ALEXANDRIA, Va.—SHRM is honored to announce that Rich Tafel, founder and CEO of Public Squared, will speak on Wednesday, Nov. 1, to close out the SHRM INCLUSION 2023 conference. He joins a slate of the nation’s leading diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) experts who will be speaking at the conference on how to drive change in the world of work. INCLUSION 2023 will be held at the Savannah Convention Center in Savannah, Ga., from Oct. 30 to Nov. 1. Those unable to attend in person can still register for virtual passes.
Tafel is a strategist who has spent his career building bridges between unlikely partners to create successful coalitions that address the most significant challenges of our day. His prime focus now is on overcoming the polarization in our culture. Tafel's goal is to create what he calls a “revolution of the heart” increasing empathy for our diversity, while decreasing the contempt in our culture.
“We are losing the ability to engage and understand those who are different from us. If we don’t change and find new ways to address this crisis, we will descend from dialogue to violence. The workplace must take leadership by respecting diversity and increasing true inclusion,” Tafel points out.
Tafel’s cutting edge Cultural Translator workshops offer new successful strategies to increase diversity intelligence in the workplace. This training has been well-received by senior government leaders, including White House fellows, as well as leaders in the business and faith communities.
“I am honored to welcome Rich Tafel to the stage for INCLUSION,” said Johnny C. Taylor, Jr., SHRM-SCP, president and chief executive officer of SHRM. "By providing training to today’s leaders, Rich is addressing toxic polarization head on. His message of transformative change will leave our INCLUSION attendees with the knowledge and tools to head back home ready to get to work building better workplaces for a better world.”
Tafel’s approach is not theoretical. He has a history of bringing diverse people toward inclusive solutions. As a graduate school student, Tafel began engaging diverse perspectives to bring about world-changing results in the AIDS crisis.
Working in the social entrepreneurship space, Tafel facilitated the nation's first statewide social venture competitions. He co-founded the Workplace Wellness Council of Mexico, helping business leaders increase wellness and health in the workplace. He is a co-founder of SameSky Health, the nation’s leading health equity telehealth company, providing health care access to underserved patients in their own language. He provided strategic support to the creation of the PEPFAR program, bringing lifesaving drugs to African nations.
As a pastor, he’s been a leader in intra-faith dialogue serving on the Governing Board of National Council of Churches, where he has led dialogue between Christians and Muslims. Rich chairs the board of Citizen University, the nation’s leading civic engagement nonprofit that equips Americans to be civic society catalaysts. Rich is a co-founder of the American Project at Pepperdine School of Public Policy, where he has sought new insights to address alienation and loneliness in American culture. Tafel is also a senior fellow at George Washington University’s Center for Excellence in Public Leadership, where he provides transformational leadership training and coaching to senior executives in federal and local government."
More speaker announcements are coming soon. To find out more information about INCLUSION 2023, visit: https://conferences.shrm.org/inclusion.
Press interested in covering the conference may email press@shrm.org to request credentials.
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