Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Strategy Workshop

Speakers

Darlene King, CDP

Executive Director, Michigan Diversity Council

Darlene King began her career with the Michigan Diversity Council-MIDC, a division of the National Diversity Council, in 2015. As the executive director, her charge is working with corporations and organizations in developing diversity and inclusion initiatives, programs, processes, and procedures. She also oversees the growth of the council in the area of business development throughout the entire state of Michigan.

Prior to her tenure with the MIDC, she held the role of director of events, consultant services, training, and development for all 34 school districts under the Wayne County Regional Educational Service Agency for over 10 years. Her territory covered implementation and execution of all workshops and conferences as well as maintaining CEU’s for teachers and administrators within Wayne County MI. She managed more than 60 consultants as well as county-wide, signature events such as the Teacher Job Fair, County K-12 Art Fair, and the Cultural Collaborative for Learning. Darlene was also an inaugural member of the Diversity Strategic Planning Committee, which rolled out a county-wide diversity plan for all districts.

Darlene’s background is widespread. She spent six years as a national concert promoter, traveling around the world with some of today’s most popular artists in the industry. She has produced and promoted shows at every concert venue in Detroit and beyond.

In 2008, she launched her consulting company, Life’s Journey Training and Consulting. Competing in today's global market, Life’s Journey offers services in industries ranging from education to automotive, medical, non-profits, and manufacturing. Its area of expertise consists of diversity and inclusion, leadership development, marketing, and public relations. Life’s Journey has provided service deliverables to Wayne County Head Start Programs, Wayne Metropolitan Community Action Agency, The Order of the Fisherman, The Detroit Medical Center, Revival Home Health Care, RTM Music Group, Real Times Media, Stonecrest Behavioral Health, Detroit Area Agency on Aging, Universal Studios, Detroit Community Schools, MASCO Corporation, Diversity Lansing and many more.

Darlene is a native of Michigan and enjoys spending time with her family, nephews, and niece. She says her faith in God, family, passion for people, and her love of traveling and gardening are the drivers which keep her on a Life’s Journey. Darlene has a passion for people and earned a bachelor’s degree in public relations and marketing from Wayne State University in Detroit. She has been operating in this capacity as well as in education and organizational development for 25 years. Darlene earned her National Certification as a Certified Diversity and Inclusion Professional in 2018.

Sandy Harvey

President and CEO, Exodus Consulting Group, LLC

Sandy Harvey is the founder and President of Exodus Consulting Group, LLC, which specializes in providing strategic organizational, operational, and human resources consulting services. She has provided strategic development, coaching, diversity, and leadership training for Fortune 500 organizations throughout the US and Canada. Her reach extends across many industries in for-profit and non-profits organizations of all sizes, including financial services, nonprofits, higher education, marketing, automotive dealership, to name a few.

As a sought-out speaker, executive/leadership coach, and D&I consultant who is passionate about bringing innovation and sustainable solutions to individuals and organizations, Sandy has over 25 years of organizational development experience specializing in designing and delivering leadership, diversity, and other strategic training, implementing people enhancement and performance management and defining strategic human resources and operational initiatives. She has expertly delivered diversity and leadership training for employers and clients, including a week-long leadership academy for a multinational client.

With experience in human resources, human behavior, and operations, she has created and redesigned human resources and training departments and is skilled in assessing, acquiring, and implementing HRIS and Learning Management Systems to support organizations. With over 20 years of financial services experience, within both banks and credit unions of all sizes, her expert knowledge of helping teams navigate through mergers & acquisitions has proven to be invaluable in defining and implementing strategic processes. This knowledge extends beyond working with employees and includes her work with board development. She takes goals and initiatives and makes them realities by analyzing systems, people, and processes to provide efficient and sustainable solutions.

As Sandy has navigated her career, she has served in senior leadership and executive roles in various industries. In the early 2000s, Sandy was a diversity training consultant for Coca-Cola and provided training for employees in Michigan and northern Ohio. In addition, as a Master Facilitator, she provided leadership training for Raytheon Professional Services and provided additional services for Raytheon's clients. She is certified by Myers &Briggs, American Management Association (AMA) in Situational Leadership, AchieveGlobal, Franklin Covey, Development Dimensions, Intl, and J. Howard & Associates.

A native Texan, Sandy has a BA in Business and MBA in Organizational Management from Texas Wesleyan University, and a MA in Evangelism & Church Planting from Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary. Sandy began serving as a board member for the Michigan Diversity Council in 2011 and chaired the council's annual Women in Leadership Symposium. Since leaving the Board in 2018, she currently serves as a Consultant and Faculty Member for the National Diversity Council (NDC) and completed a week-long training in June 2019 to become a NDC Certified Diversity Professional. In May 2016, Sandy was recognized by Corp! Magazine as a Most Valuable Professional, as a Most Valuable Entrepreneur in 2018, and as a Diversity Business Leader in 2019.
Sandy is an ordained minister and a pastor at Serenity Christian Church in Hazel Park, where she provides leadership development training, and Marketing & Media expertise. She is President of Serenity Community Outreach and is a New/Transformational Coach and coaches Pastors throughout the country. Sandy resides in a Detroit suburb with her husband, John Harvey, senior pastor, and founder of Serenity Christian Church.