Workplace Unifying Diversity: Turning Differences into Strengths for High-Performing Teams

Rich Tafel is the Founder and CEO of Public Squared.

Rich is a strategist whose passion is to build bridges between unlikely partners to create successful coalitions to solve the most significant challenges of our day. He works at the intersection of faith, business, and policy.

A minister by training, Rich is the pastor of the Church of the Holy City in Washington, DC, where his ecumenical ministry translates spirituality for a rising generation. He focuses on addressing toxic polarization by offering training to leaders in his Cultural Translator model. A graduate of Harvard Divinity School, he served as an Assistant Minster at Harvard’s Memorial Church. Today, he serves on the governing board of the National Council of Churches.

Rich is a pioneer in the social entrepreneur field, having provided strategy to over one hundred social ventures. He facilitated the nation’s first statewide social entrepreneur competition for Michigan. He strategically supported creating the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. He co-founded the Workplace Wellness Council of Mexico and SameSky Health, which connect patients with doctors in their language using a phone app. Today, he is the Director of Social Capital Advisers at Marcum LLP in Washington, DC, where he works with for-profit and nonprofit entities to build business models to create transformative change.

He has long sought to bridge the divide in the public policy sphere in America in Washington, DC, building successful right-left coalitions in the battle to treat AIDS and support same-sex marriage. He served as Adolescent Health Director for the State of MA.

He has led programs at Pepperdine School of Public Policy, Johns Hopkins University, and today serves as a Senior Fellow at George Washington University’s Center for Excellence in Leadership. He is the President of the board of directors of Citizen’s University, a national organization focused on educating the rising generation on civic engagement.

Alexander Alonso, Ph.D., SHRM-SCP, is SHRM's Chief Data & Analytics Officer, leading the organization’s intelligence, insights, and innovation divisions. As leader of SHRM’s Thought Leadership & Business Intelligence operations, his total career portfolio has been based upon practical thought leadership designed to make better workplaces and grow revenue across industry.

Alonso’s thought leadership has been featured in numerous media outlets including USA Today, NBC News, BBC, CNN, and more. He has served as a member of several speakers bureaus with more than 400 speaking engagements on human capital topics and driving productivity over the last decade.

His works have been acknowledged for their contributions to real-world human capital issues. This includes being recognized with the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP’s) 2007 M. Scott Myers Award for Applied Research in the Workplace for developing the federal standard for learning and development of healthcare providers; a 2009 Presidential Citation for Innovative Practice by the American Psychological Association for designing performance management systems; and the 2013 SIOP Distinguished Early Career Contributions for Practice Award for extensive applied research on the link between human resource management and organizational sustainability.

Throughout his career, Alonso has published works in peer-reviewed journals, authored several chapters on community-based change initiatives in workforce readiness, and authored books such as The Price of Pettiness, Talking Taboo: Making the Most of Polarizing Topics, and Defining HR Success: A Guide to the SHRM Competency Model in Practice. He has served on several advisory boards including The Secretary of Defense’s Defense Business Board (DBB) and the Zeal Capital Investor Advisory board. He is a Fellow of SIOP, Division 14, of the American Psychological Association.

Tamla Oates-Forney is an innovative thought leader and speaker, women’s advocate, wellness champion, philanthropist and investor. She serves as Chief Executive Officer of SHRM Linkage, a leadership development firm empowering organizations to achieve business success by unlocking the full potential of women in the workplace.

Oates-Forney previously served as EVP, Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) for USAA, where as a member of the Executive Council she led USAA’s team of more than 500 HR professionals spanning talent development, talent acquisition, pay and benefits, culture and employee services for 37,000 teammates.

Prior to joining USAA, Oates-Forney served as Senior Vice President and Chief People Officer at WM (previously Waste Management). She spent the majority of her career (20 years) at General Electric, where she held multiple leadership roles, including HR Leader for GE Africa, Chief Diversity Officer for GE Appliances and Lighting, and Vice President of HR for GE Energy Connections.

Oates-Forney is also an independent director and member of the Human Capital and Compensation committee for Summit Materials. She serves as a member of the Board of Advisors for her alma mater, UNC Chapel Hill’s Kenan-Flagler Business School, and is a sought-after speaker, advisor and thought leader for several HR-related technology startups.

She is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she earned her Bachelor of Science in business administration. A renowned expert in her field, she has received multiple honors, including being featured in The New York Times, Fast Company, The Network Journal’s 25 Influential Black Women in Business and Savoy’s 2020 Most Influential Black Executives in Corporate America. She is also a member of the Executive Leadership Council (ELC), a network of black CEOs and business leaders who support the development of diverse talent and the promotion of social justice.