2024 DEI Summit
Highlights from the 2024 event
Our third annual DEI Summit brought world-class speakers to the Tri-Cities to provide invaluable guidance on how to persevere through challenges when pursuing DEI best practices.
2024 DEI Summit Speakers
Each session featured in the 2024 Summit was focused on helping business owners, employers, and individuals understand and adopt DEI best practices in order to create a S.A.F.E. space and region for all.
Attendees enjoyed learning from these dynamic professionals in 2024.
2024 DEI Summit Speakers
Calvin Butler
President & CEO, Exelon
Bio
Calvin Butler is president and chief executive officer of Exelon, the nation’s largest utility company by customer count, serving 10.5 million electric and gas customers in New Jersey, Maryland, Illinois, Delaware, Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia, through six local electric and natural gas companies. Butler serves on Exelon’s Executive Committee and is a member of the company’s Board of Directors.
Professional History
Prior to being named CEO at the end of 2022, Butler was president and chief operating officer of Exelon with responsibilities for Exelon’s six local energy companies: Atlantic City Electric, BGE, ComEd, Delmarva Power, PECO and Pepco. Butler also served as CEO of BGE from 2014 to 2019. Previous roles at the company include senior vice president of Corporate Affairs at BGE and vice president of Governmental and Legislative Affairs at ComEd.
Before joining Exelon in 2008, Butler held senior leadership roles with the print, digital and supply chain solutions company R.R. Donnelley. Butler spent his early career with Central Illinois Light Company
(CILCORP, Inc.), where he worked in government affairs, legal and strategy.
Industry and Civic Involvement
Butler serves as the vice chair of the Board of Directors for the Edison Electric Institute (EEI). He is on the Board of Directors and serves as the vice chair of the Institute of International Education (IIE) and on the Board of Governors for Argonne National Laboratory. He is a member of the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago, on the Board of Directors of the Economic Club of Chicago and is immediate past chair of the Greater Baltimore Committee. Butler also serves on the Board of Directors for the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation, Batelle, Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose, the Caves Valley Golf Club, and the Annika Sorenstam Foundation, in addition to the James Madison Council of the Library of Congress.
He has been recognized by several organizations for his leadership and community commitment. The Daily Record listed him three times as one of Maryland’s “Most Admired CEOs.” In 2020, he was named among Black Enterprise magazine’s “Most Influential Black Executives in Corporate America.”
In 2022, the Boy Scouts of America recognized him with the Distinguished Citizen Award. That same year, The Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture announced Butler as the first recipient of its “Titan Award.” Butler is an active member of the Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.
Education
Butler earned a bachelor’s degree from Bradley University in Peoria, Ill., and a Juris Doctor degree from Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, Mo. He received an honorary doctorate of Humane Leters from Morgan State University in 2014.
Dr. Dannie Lynn Fountain
Disability Accommodations Program Manager, Google
Bio
Dannie Lynn Fountain is a multipassionate human – by day, she’s a Disability Accommodations Program Manager at Google and by night she supports clients and brands with HR-focused diversity, equity, and inclusion strategies. Her focus is on expanding disability inclusion within DEIB efforts by equipping people with the tools to craft change within their own situations, regardless of their seniority at work or authority within their team. Dannie Lynn has been interviewed or quoted in the New York Times, Harvard Business Review, Forbes, Bustle, Bloomberg, Business Insider, Cosmopolitan, Digiday, The Everygirl, Girlboss, and more. Dannie Lynn’s latest book, Ending Checkbox Diversity: Rewriting the Story of Performative Allyship in Corporate America, was a #1 Amazon new release and is available everywhere you buy books.
Dr. Anthony C. Hood
EVP and Chief DEI Officer, First Horizon Bank
Bio
Dr. Anthony C. Hood serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer for First Horizon Bank. Dr. Hood’s tenure as a DEI executive has garnered a number of leadership awards including from Savoy Magazine, the American Marketing Association and the Birmingham Business Journal. He previously served as the Director of Civic Innovation in the Office of the President at UAB as well as a Tenured Associate Professor of Management in the Collat School of Business at UAB. An electrical engineer by training, Dr. Hood enjoyed a 10-year career with Bellsouth and AT&T supporting startup telecom companies in the firm’s wholesale division. He was honored with the Pinnacle Award, the company’s highest honor for productivity and leadership. He holds a PhD from the University of Alabama (Roll Tide!), and has completed studies at the Harvard Business School, Stanford University, and the Morehouse School of Medicine. Dr. Hood holds his undergrad and MBA from UAB (Go Blazers!), where he has been honored by the UAB Alumni Association with the prestigious Distinguished Alumni Award. Dr. Hood is a member of the Kiwanis Club of Birmingham and serves on the boards of a number of organizations including the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. He is also the Immediate Past Board Chair of the Housing Authority of the Birmingham District, the largest affordable housing provider in the state of Alabama.
April Lomax-Means
Director, Corporate Workforce Diversity, BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee
Bio
April Lomax-Means is the director of corporate workforce diversity at BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee. In her role, she oversees all aspects of the BlueCross diversity and inclusion program. This includes developing and implementing an effective strategy within the organization and maintaining an environment that is sensitive to the needs of today’s workforce and enhances the BlueCross competitive advantage in the market. Lomax-Means has more than 10 years of experience in diversity and inclusion, and before joining BlueCross, most recently served as assistant director of DEI for Liberty Mutual. Prior, she was a senior manager of diversity and inclusion for Change Healthcare and served as an adjunct instructor of humanities at Georgia State University. Lomax-Means holds a master’s degree in corporate communication from Austin Peay State University and earned a bachelor’s in mass communications from Middle Tennessee State University with minors in African American studies and Spanish.
2024 DEI Summit Sponsors
Thank you to our regional partners and sponsors who are supporting the critical work of DEI in the Appalachian Highlands.
2024 DEI Summit Schedule
| Time | Session | Location |
| 7:00am | Fireside Chat with Dr. Anthony C. Hood
(Invite Only – Financial Professionals) |
Private |
| 7:30am | Registration + Breakfast | Lobby |
| 8:30am | Welcome + Kickoff | Grand Ballroom |
| 9:00am | Opening Keynote with Calvin Butler (Exelon) | Grand Ballroom |
| 10:00am | Break | |
| 10:15am | Navigating the DEI Landscape in the Midst of Negativity and Change with Dr. Anthony C. Hood (First Horizon)
Panelists:
|
Grand Ballroom |
| 11:15am | Table Discussions | Grand Ballroom |
| 11:30am | Lunch + Networking | Grand Ballroom |
| Breakout Sessions
(Attendees will be grouped in to A, B, or C groups and rotate through each 30-min. breakout session. 10-minute breaks between each session.) |
||
|
12:45pm – 2:45pm |
DEI Foundations: Getting Back to the Basics with Dr. Dannie Lynn Fountain (Google) | Breakout Room 1 |
| DEI: Going Beyond Checking the Box to Impactful Work with Tracey L. Wright (Emory & Henry) | Breakout Room 2 | |
| Strategies for Diversifying Your Talent Pipeline with April Lomax (BCBS of TN)
Panelists:
|
Breakout Room 3 | |
| 2:45pm | Closing Comments + Call to Action | Grand Ballroom |
| 3:00pm | Event Concludes | |
Join us at this year’s Summit
What are you waiting for? We welcome you to attend the 2024 DEI Summit this May 17, 2024 at Meadowview Marriott.