The Riley Institute at Furman University has chosen 40 leaders to participate for its Upstate Diversity Leaders Initiative program, the organization announced Jan. 19.
During the five-month program, participants will follow a curriculum that includes interactive case studies, scenario analyses and experiential learning tools. The program will touch on a variety of topics including the differences between bias and discrimination, the role of context, differences in mental and physical abilities, generational diversity, and diversity frameworks. The leaders will also undertake community-action projects, where they will identify challenges in their communities and will work together to address them.
The spring 2023 Upstate class includes:
- Selena Anderson of Girl Scouts of South Carolina Mountains to Midlands
- Robyn Andrews, Buket Oztas and Lauren Payne of Furman University
- Adam Artigliere of Burr & Forman LLP
- Yobany Banks-McKay of United Way of Greenville County
- Andy Beasley of Michelin Connected Fleet – Atlanta
- Barrett Black, Karras Cohen, Warren Hamrick, Cortney Mehaffey and Elizabeth Palmore of BMW Manufacturing
- Guy Boyle of Spartanburg Water
- Jeff Brown of Greenville Drive
- Anne Lee Buck of Greenville County Schools
- Tamika Cannon of South Carolina Victim Assistance Network
- Philip Cody of Greenville Technical College
- Will Dillard of WYFF4
- Heath Dillard of VisitGreenvilleSC
- Polly Edwards-Padgett of Spartanburg Regional Foundation
- Joseph Fields of Habitat for Humanity of Greenville County
- Kelly Fields, Blair Landreneau and Matt Staab of Michelin North America
- Jennifer Fouse Sheorn of Triune Mercy Center
- Katie Grove of McAngus Goudelock & Courie
- Kathryn Harvey of Neue South
- Laura Hayes of National Educational Telecommunications Association — Columbia
- Jay Jenkins of OneSpartanburg Inc.
- Shontavia Johnson of Savannah River National Laboratory — Aiken
- Mark Johnston of Community Journals
- Josh Kendrick of Kendrick & Leonard PC
- Dorian Lane of St. Joseph’s Catholic School
- Kristin Manske of Greenwood Regional Rehabilitation Hospital
- Monique McDaniels of Goodwill Industries of Upstate/Midlands SC
- Shivani Nadarajah of Cytiva — A Danaher Operating Co.
- Mike Panasko of city of Greenville
- Mike Sarvis of First National Bank
- Fernanda Sieverling of European American Chamber of Commerce Carolinas
- Kaitlin Watts of Spartanburg Academic Movement
“Today’s leaders are responsible for making positive contributions that benefit everyone, particularly the most marginalized among us,” said Riley Institute Executive Director Don Gordon. “This program creates opportunities to tackle challenges faced by diverse segments of our community and introduce enduring solutions and systems-level change within organizations and businesses across South Carolina.”
For more information, visit furman.edu/riley.
