MeadowView Convention Center in Kingsport, TN
Attend the 2025 DEI Summit to gain essential insights and skills for fostering a more inclusive and equitable workplace. Network with industry leaders, expand your knowledge, and be part of a community committed to creating positive change in your organization and beyond.
Together, we’re building a stronger regional economy thanks to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
More than ever, fostering and protecting diversity, equity, and inclusion is critical in our Appalachian Highlands region. That’s why we come together each spring to network, learn, and advance DEI initiatives in our area. When you attend the DEI Summit, you’ll gain invaluable knowledge from thought leaders and business experts, but also the rich perspective from your neighbors, colleagues, and new faces who are also passionate about DEI.
Award-Winning Author, Citizen of Eastern Band of Cherokee Indian
Bio
Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle, an enrolled citizen of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and resides in Qualla, NC with her husband, Evan and sons Ross and Charlie. She holds degrees from Yale University and the College of William and Mary. Her debut novel, Even As We Breathe, was released by the University Press of Kentucky in 2020, a finalist for the Weatherford Award and named one of NPR’s Best Books of 2020. In 2021, it received the Thomas Wolfe Memorial Literary Award. Her first novel manuscript, Going to Water is winner of the Morning Star Award for Creative Writing from the Native American Literature Symposium (2012) and a finalist for the PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction (2014).
Clapsaddle’s work has appeared in Yes! Magazine, Lit Hub, Smoky Mountain Living Magazine, South Writ Large Our State Magazine, Bon Appétit, Travel + Leisure Magazine and The Atlantic. After serving as executive director of the Cherokee Preservation Foundation, Annette returned to teaching at Swain County High School for over a dozen years. She is the former co-editor of the Journal of Cherokee Studies and serves on the Board of Directors for the Museum of the Cherokee Indian and is the President of the Board of Trustees for the North Carolina Writers Network. Clapsaddle established Bird Words, LLC in 2022 and works as an independent contractor and consultant. In 2023, in partnership with Museum of the Cherokee People, Clapsaddle launched “Confluence: An Indigenous Writers’ Workshop Series” that seeks to bring Indigenous writers to the Qualla Boundary (Cherokee, NC) to work with aspiring writers several times throughout the year.
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.
Senior VP of Partnerships & Programs, Fahe
Bio
With almost 30 years of experience in affordable housing, Pam Johnson develops innovative programs that transform the lives of families in communities throughout Appalachia. Ms. Johnson is an expert at building relationships, working with partners to bring innovative solutions and resources to the region. She collaborates with local leaders to develop opportunities that create lasting impact and provides support and institutional knowledge around pilots and initiatives and has overseen the development of Fahe’s recent Disaster Resilience efforts. Under her guidance, Fahe established the organization’s successful loan servicing business and has secured millions of dollars in funding for the region, including six funding awards from the Appalachian Regional Commission.
Workforce Employer Manager
Bio
Kristina Peters is a native of Louisville, KY having come to Tennessee to attend Milligan College. She fell in love with this area and has called Johnson City, TN home for close to 40 years. Kristina came to the First Tennessee Development District in January 2021 after a 22-year career as Director of Corrections with the First TN Human Resource Agency. As the Workforce Employer Coordinator with FTDD, she helped launch the Caring Workplaces Initiative by recruiting employers to become recovery friendly and creating an ecosystem of workforce development focused on the recovery and justice involved pipelines to employment and the reduction of stigma associated with substance use disorder and justice involvement. Kristina has been in the role of Workforce Employer Manager for the Caring Workplaces since 2023 and currently oversees the day-to-day operations and staff for Caring Workplaces. She continues to recruit employers, promote the Caring Workplaces program, and build additional, mutually beneficial partnerships within the community that enhance the Caring Workplaces. Through these efforts she hopes to reduce the stigma associated with substance use disorder and continue creating a true recovery friendly workforce ecosystem in our region.
President & CEO
Bio
As president and CEO of Frontier Health, Kristie Hammonds’ personal passion is to see that anyone struggling with addiction or a mental health need would feel safe reaching out for help. As a regional community behavioral health care organization, Frontier is on the frontline of the surge of substance abuse care needs throughout the community. One of her goals is to build sufficient capacity to serve each need in the moment. Having many years of experience in a variety of health care services, she brings a unique perspective on both clinical and community-based programs. She joined the DEI Alliance to have an opportunity to learn, share and be a part of change in our Region as it relates to diversity, inclusion and systemic racism. At Frontier, we are committed to providing hope and healing. The effects of trauma and re-traumatization are real and it is vital that we understand how that affects our communities as a whole. Sharing a home in Gate City with her husband and two daughters, she relishes the beauty of the mountains. However, she is most appreciative of the generous people who are quick to help and willing to come together to help each other.
Founder and CEO of High Places Coaching & Consulting, Inc.
Bio
Dr. Natalie Pickering, PhD, BCC, ACC, is an internationally recognized speaker, psychologist, and board-certified executive coach specializing in leadership development, resilience, and organizational effectiveness. As the Founder and CEO of High Places Coaching & Consulting, Inc., she partners with executives, teams, and organizations to foster sustainable leadership, prevent burnout, and create people-centered workplaces.
With a background spanning education, psychology, fitness, and global experience, Dr. Pickering brings a multidisciplinary approach to leadership transformation. She has worked with hundreds of leaders across industries—including emerging executives, mid-level managers, entrepreneurs, and women in leadership—helping them refine their leadership identity and build high-impact, high-trust teams.
She is the creator of Leading Becomes You, a research-backed framework designed to help leaders uncover, implement, and sustain their authentic leadership style for long-term success. Her upcoming book on this methodology will be published in September 2025.
Passionate about leadership that blends performance with well-being, Dr. Pickering is committed to helping organizations develop cultures that drive both results and human flourishing. Learn more at: www.drnataliepickering.com.
Director, Global Public and Community Affairs & Executive Director, Eastman Foundation
Bio
Paula Bulcao joined Eastman Chemical Company as its Director, Global Public and Community Affairs, working to ensure Eastman continues to be a valued and trusted neighbor of the communities around the world in which it operates. Additionally, Bulcao serves as Executive Director of the Eastman Foundation. She brings with her a career record of success, transforming external communications models, building relationships and alliances, negotiating with stakeholders for business development, strengthening corporate image to mitigate business risk and establishing strategic advocacy and sustainable community investment approaches to advance business objectives. Well regarded and trusted as the right leader for change management, emergency/crisis situations and highly effective engagement strategies, Bulcao has a reputation for energizing and breathing new life into enterprise-wide initiatives and leadership confidence to transform reputation and public challenges into mutual benefit opportunities.
Prior to joining Eastman, Bulcao held leadership roles working 20 years for global energy company BP, where she oversaw external relations, community engagement, advocacy, public policy development, issues management and social investments. Bulcao brings to Eastman deep experience in the government and public affairs arena, having worked in different operating environments in places such as Los Angeles, where BP’s assets stretched across five Western states; Denver, where BP’s assets traversed Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico and Utah; and Texas, where Bulcao was the chief lobbyist and public affairs advocate for BP’s chemical, refining, exploration and production, shipping, alternative energy and natural gas marketing operations in Texas. During the Deepwater Horizon accident, Bulcao served as BP’s public information officer and state lead for Texas and held similar roles in Louisiana and Florida.
Bulcao’s international experience includes serving as Regional Coordinator for BP’s external affairs operations in the Western Hemisphere, which included the US, Canada, Mexico, Bolivia, Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina and Trinidad and Tobago. In addition to the regional coordinator role, Bulcao served as Executive Assistant to the Group Chief of Staff, while based in BP’s corporate headquarters in London, England.
Prior to joining BP, Bulcao worked in Washington, DC, where she spent a decade advocating at the federal level and developing influential advocacy campaigns for trade associations representing the US textile industry, the offshore oil and gas industry and independent oil and gas operators.
Bulcao is a 1988 graduate of Texas A&M University and now resides in Kingsport, TN, with her husband Doug and their three daughters (Waylon, Gigi and Silvie) and menagerie of horses, dogs and cats.
Thank you to our regional partners and sponsors who are supporting the critical work of DEI in the Appalachian Highlands.
7:45am: Registration Opens
8:00am: Breakfast
8:45am: Taking seats
9am: Welcome
9:15am: Keynote Speaker: Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle
10:15: Break
10:30: Enneagram Activity: Natalie Pickering
11:30: Lunch – Open Mic/Short Discussion
12:15: Explain Break Out Sessions
12:30: Break-Out Sessions: (45 minutes each)
2:20pm: Closing Remarks
What are you waiting for? We welcome you to attend the 2025 DEI Summit this May 2, 2025 at Meadowview Convention Center.