Moderators
Kessler
Báez
Isaac Baez joined Summa Health as their Primary Prevention and At-Risk Populations Manager at their Health Equity Center in May 2021. His responsibilities are providing leadership and expertise to reduce chronic disease rates and health disparities in at-risk populations through ongoing community-based health programs and with a team of Certified Community Health Workers who support Chronic Disease patients. He also supports and collaborates with Summa’s Diversity Advisory Council and Employee Resources Groups, such as A+PLUs and Excel. He received his Master in Public Health from NEOMED and his Certified Diversity Executive (CDE) certificate through the Institute of Diversity Certification. In addition, he has conducted training throughout Stark and Summit Counties, including Cultural and Linguistic Competency, Cultural Humility, Language Access, and LGBTQ+ 101. His passion for working with those in need has been why he pursued a career in Public Health. It has also allowed him to work with different groups such as Chair of the March for Akron Pride Festival’s Steering Committee, Akron-Canton Latino Committee, Refugee Task Force, and Chair of Outreach & Education Committee for the Board of Plexus LGBT + Allied Chamber of Commerce.
Walton
Javay Walton is Vice President of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) at Vituity Physician Partners. As a leader in the healthcare industry for more than 15 years, he has a rich background in developing and supporting organizational practices, processes, and policies that ensure equity and address systemic issues affecting historically marginalized communities. In his work at Vituity, Javay believes that the infinite DEI goal is Zero Barriers—a call to action to eliminate limitations that prevent people from achieving their full potential and leading healthy lives. Therefore, his work is narrowly focused on building inclusive workplaces that promote allyship, education, equity, and cultural competency. Javay holds a degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Human Resource Management from San Jose State University and is a Certified Diversity Professional through the National Diversity Council. In addition to his work at Vituity, Javay is active in his local church, is a mentor to serval young adults, and his motto is "Be You. Inspire. Empower." He resides in Houston, Texas with his wife and two children.
Bradley
Thompson
Tiff Thompson (they/them) works at ProMedica Healthcare System in Toledo, OH as a DEI Manager. Their work includes managing the organization’s ERG program, helping employees from across the company tell their stories, and improving healthcare through education, inclusion, and health equity initiatives. Tiff is passionate about ways DEI can help employees thrive at work and provide excellent clinical care.
Parker, MS, LSSBB
V. P. Parker, Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) with Arkansas Children's, is filled with energy, laughter and direction any time he is a moderator, keynote, presenter, facilitator or advisor. He is sure to move the conversation to another level. For 30 years, Mr. Parker has been in the trenches as a DEI practitioner, trainer and consultant with fortune 500 companies across the nation. Most of that time has been as an Organizational Development consultant/business owner and the role of Master Trainer/Facilitator with Korn Ferry working with clients such as Proctor & Gamble, Caesar’s Entertainment, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Energizer to name a few. With a Master’s degree in Strategic Leadership, he consistently urges leaders and professionals to “raise the bar” on what Inclusive Leadership looks like and feels like. As a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt and instructor/practitioner of the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence methodology, he is no stranger to the nature of high-performance cultures and high reliability organizations. Recognized by the National Diversity Council as a Certified Diversity Professional, V.P. asserts that moving the needle on DEI is an art and a science. The art of vision, strategy and leadership has to be coupled with the science and pragmatism of systematic, effective processes, analytics, attainable milestones and structured accountability. DEI and Inclusive Leadership success is an incremental journey measured in increased cultural humility (identity work), building relationships and trust across diversity dimensions, improving the lives of team members, caregivers and patients, addressing the practices, beliefs and biases that impede team members’ maximum contribution and a patient’s full access to quality healthcare (now) and meaningful healthcare outcomes (future). While participants consistently share he is passionate and enthusiastic about leadership development and team member engagement, they are equally consistent in sharing “his use of humor engages the audience” and “his ability to make the content relevant to leaders is a skill.” He readily admits he is still on his journey toward increased self-awareness and Brene Brown’s definition of “Daring Leadership”. Because a leader’s own self-awareness is one of the first steps toward personal and professional development, V.P. often shares this quote: “The truest form of reflection…never involves a mirror.”
Leichtle-Chalkle
Dr. Warren Leichtle-Chalklen advances cultural competency, diversity, equity, and inclusion outcomes at CHRISTUS Health. He leads language access services as well as the execution of system-wide diversity and inclusion educational and operational strategies. Within his broad scope of responsibilities, Dr. Leichtle-Chalklen achieves patient, associate, and organizational transformation through the integration of data, technology, and high impact learning experiences. His team increases patient access and improves patient experience through coordinating language access equipment, providing Qualified Bilingual Staff training, and harnessing language data to inform strategic decisions. Concerning diversity and inclusion, Dr. Leichtle-Chalklen serves as an instructor, resource, and subject matter expert to ministries throughout the system. He designs high quality, cost-effective learning solutions by collaborating with system-wide, clinical, non-clinical, and leadership teams, community partners and other experts. Dr. Leichtle-Chalklen began his career as an urban schoolteacher in South Africa where he witnessed the impact of inequity on educational outcomes. He pursued a Master’s degree in Public Administration focusing on education policy and a PhD in Urban Education from Texas A&M University with a focus on curriculum and instruction. Dr. Leichtle-Chalklen has authored three book chapters and published peer reviewed articles on topics such as racial equity, pre-service teacher education, and technology-based learning. Upon graduation, Dr. Leichtle-Chalklen moved to New York City where he trained teachers how to use data to advocate for equity in their classrooms while working for an education nonprofit organization. He was also responsible for supporting the diversity and inclusion training and development program for internal staff members. Dr. Leichtle-Chalklen has a PhD in Curriculum and Instruction and a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from Texas A&M University as well as a certificate in Advancing Racial Equity in the Workplace from Harvard University.