SPEAKER BIOS
-
James Armstrong III, President and CEO, Builders of Hope
James Armstrong III is President CEO of Builders of Hope Development Corporation, a leading community development corporation in Dallas. A certified Urban Community Development expert since 2010, Armstrong excels in nonprofit management, marketing, business development, and finance. Additionally, Armstrong has more than 10 years in the banking industry with knowledge of complex lending and financing. He has worked for Fortune 500 companies, including JPMorgan Chase and New York Life Securities and Investments. He’s also chair of the Sports Arena Tax Increment Financing district, overseeing a multimillion-dollar fund for development in the Victory Park and West Dallas neighborhoods. Armstrong serves on numerous boards, including the Texas Association of Community Development Association, [bc] Workshop, and the Trinity Park Conservancy Community Development Corporation. In 2017, Armstrong was awarded the Dallas Business Journal 40 under 40 award for his accomplishments in business. Armstrong is most proud of his role as lead pastor of The Community Fellowship Church in West Dallas.
-
Peter S. Brodsky, Owner and CEO, Reimagine RedBird
Peter S. Brodsky is an investor and business executive who, through a majority-owned company, owns the Reimagine RedBird development. He’s investing in the mall and its surrounding land to restore it to a place of pride and quality in the community. Prior to acquiring the mall, Brodsky was a founder and partner of HBC Investments LLC, a firm focused on investing both third party capital and the capital of its principals in growth-oriented companies. Prior to co-founding HBC, Peter was a partner at the private equity firm of HM Capital Partners and its predecessor, Hicks Muse, where he was employed for over 15 years. At HM Capital, Peter focused on the media industry and managed over $2.6 billion of equity investments and completed over 100 transactions. Brodsky serves as the Board Chair of the Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance, the lead agency of Dallas and Collin Counties’ homeless response system. Brodsky also serves on the Board of KIPP Texas Public Schools, a network of 59 public charter schools with nearly 34,000 preK-12 students in Austin, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio, as well as the Advisory Board of KIPP Texas-Dallas-Fort Worth, a network of seven schools serving over 3,200 students in grades preK-12 in southern Dallas, which he chaired from January 2011-June 2017.
-
Tim Dismond, Chief Diversity Officer, CBRE
Tim Dismond is Chief Responsibility Officer for CBRE, where he oversees CBRE’s Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) efforts. Dismond is accountable for some of the most highly visible projects, like building a more diverse workforce and creating a culture of inclusion. He is also on the Executive Committee of CBRE’s Black Excellence employee business resource group. Dismond was named CBRE’s first Chief Diversity Officer in 2020 and has been distinguished as a DEI Trailblazer by Business Insider and one of the Most Influential Black Executives in Corporate America by Savoy. Under his leadership, CBRE has garnered top sustainability and DEI recognition, including Barron’s 11th most sustainable company, World and North America Dow Jones Sustainability indexes, Kiplinger 20 ESG company, Bisnow’s Rise Initiative DE&I Progress Leader for our Workforce Representation Program, Forbes’ list of top employers for women and diversity, Bloomberg Gender Equality Index, and Human Rights Campaign Best Place to Work for LGBTQ Equality, and Disability. While at CBRE, Dismond has served as President of CBRE’s Global Workplace Solutions (GWS) Enterprise business, an Executive Managing Director, and an Executive Account Leader for two of GWS’s largest clients in the financial and telecom sectors.
-
Hattie Hill, President and CEO, T.D. Jakes Foundation
Hattie Hill is a senior executive and transformational leader with more than 30 years of experience in diversity and inclusion strategy, board governance, profit and loss management, and risk mitigation for multinational industries. Hill currently serves as the President and CEO of the T.D. Jakes Foundation, which provides the skills, education, and training to lift communities, increase diversity and inclusion, gender equity, and power the modern global economy through science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) jobs. Previously, Hill was President and CEO of Women’s Foodservice Forum (WFF), the premier leadership development organization for the food service industry accelerating the advancement of women and gender equity. Hill is credited with driving up WFF’s revenue, increasing its membership, and growing attendance for the organization’s flagship events. During her prior career as founder and CEO of Hattie Hill Enterprises, Hill served as a strategy growth and development consultant for many of the world’s largest multinational companies such as IBM, McDonalds, and Southwest Airlines. Hill’s work has spanned across more than 70 countries worldwide.
-
Bridget Lopez, Managing Partner, Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson, LLP
Bridget Lopez joined Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson, LLP as an associate attorney in 2004, where she served as the administrative attorney over the Litigation Division for seven years before she was appointed as Managing Partner of the Dallas Office. In 2005, she was named a Texas Monthly magazine “Texas Rising Star,” for her contributions to the legal profession and was recently named one of Dallas’ Best Lawyers by D Magazine. An active member of her community, Lopez was appointed commissioner for the City of Dallas’ Redistricting Commission in 2001, and in 2005, she served as an advisory member of the Bachman Lake Land Use Study. Lopez is a Board Member of the Dallas Regional Chamber (DRC), a member of the DRC’s Executive Women’s Roundtable, Dallas Bar Association, the Dallas Hispanic Bar Association, the Hispanic 100, the Dallas Assembly, the Dallas Breakfast Group, the Charter 100, the North Texas Chapter of the Texas Association of Assessing Officers, and the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials. Lopez has served on the Board of Trustees for the Dallas Children’s Advocacy Center and as the Board’s Chair of Governmental Relations. In 2013, Lopez was appointed to the Board of Trustees for the Friends of the Latino Cultural Center, and is currently the vice chair.
-
Fred Royall III, Managing Director and National Head of Diverse Businesses, JPMorgan Chase
Fred Royall III is the Managing Director and National Head of Diverse Businesses at JPMorgan Chase. Royall partners with Middle Market Banking & Specialized Industries segment leaders and bankers across the country to identify new opportunities and build upon existing relationships with diverse, women, and veteran-owned businesses. In addition to driving new business, Royall also focuses on developing an integrated diversity strategy that aligns with Global Supplier Diversity, Advancing Black Pathways, and Women on the Move. Royall has over 20 years of capital markets experience. Most recently, he was the CEO and founder of Royall Capital Holdings, LLC, a boutique investment bank that raises capital for private, diverse middle market companies. Prior to that, he was the Head of Investment Grade Debt Syndicate and Equity Capital Markets at Blaylock Robert Van. Prior to joining Blaylock Robert Van, Fred worked in the equity capital markets group at Credit Suisse First Boston. He began his career at Merrill Lynch & Co. He serves on the Board of Trustees for the New York Hall of Science. He earned his undergraduate degree from Syracuse University and MBA degree from Columbia Business School.
-
Dr. Lorin R. Carter, Founder and CEO of C-Suite Equity Consulting
Dr. Lorin R. Carter is passionate about facilitating healthy, vibrant communities and equipping people with tools needed to be independent determinants of their destiny. With almost two decades of education and experience spanning civil engineering, law, higher education, public policy, and urban planning, Dr. Carter is now the founder and CEO of C-Suite Equity Consulting, where she works to foster equity through community-focused solutions, strategy development, research, and capacity building to make urban spaces equitable places to live, work, and play. Her work to facilitate equitable communities and policies in Dallas has led to a record-breaking $6 million equitable development investment by the JPMorgan Chase Foundation in the Dallas communities of South Dallas, Oak Cliff, and West Dallas, and the creation of community-driven programming and initiatives for the neighborhoods surrounding the Trinity River. Dr. Carter also led the equitable development process for the upcoming Southern Gateway Deck Park during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in a community-driven plan leveraging over $80 million in infrastructure investment for community benefit to increase access to opportunity and redress existing racial disparities in the Oak Cliff community and an additional $11 million (and counting) investment as a result of the plan. Dr. Carter is also a sought-after speaker, strategic partner, thought leader, and a 2020 Dallas Public Voices Fellow through the OpEd Project with published articles in national news outlet such as The Grio, Thrive Global, Blavity, Take The Lead, and Visible.
-
Cynt Marshall, CEO, Dallas Mavericks
Cynt Marshall has been a dynamic force for inclusion and diversity within the Mavericks organization and over a 36-year career at AT&T. When Marshall was hired as the CEO of the Mavs in March 2018, she set her sights on a culture transformation. Her vision was for the Mavericks organization to become the NBA standard for inclusion and diversity. Marshall brought transparency, trust, and her values-based leadership style that evolved the company culture in her first 100 days.
Prior to her joining the Mavs, Marshall founded Marshalling Resources, a consulting firm specializing in Leadership, Diversity & Inclusion, Culture Transformation and overall optimization of people resources. Upon the company naming its first Chief Inclusion Officer in June 2017, Marshall worked with The Dow Chemical Company to develop and implement a strategy for institutionalizing an inclusive culture. Dow was named to DiversityInc’s Top 50 list in 2018 and has since been identified on Fortune’s Great Place to Work lists.
Marshall’s notoriety began many years ago as a young Officer at AT&T and grew exponentially when she served as Senior Vice President – Human Resources & Chief Diversity Officer at AT&T. There she was responsible for identifying and developing leaders, aligning employees with the company’s vision and priorities, overseeing major business unit HR support, performance development, employee engagement, skills transformation initiatives, EEO and Affirmative Action. Marshall also led the team that created a world class diversity and inclusion culture, landing AT&T in the top 3 on Diversity Inc’s 2017 Top 50 list of companies. She also spearheaded the work that for the first time placed AT&T on Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For list in 2017, one of only two Fortune 50 companies.
Widely recognized for her visionary leadership and ability to get things done, Marshall is the recipient of several honors and awards. Most recently, Forbes named Marshall one of 15 of the world’s most inspiring female leaders, Dallas WISE (Women In Sports and Events) honored her with the inaugural Women of Inspiration award, The Women’s Forum of New York bestowed the Elly award, and Texas Women’s University recognized Marshall with the Virginia Chandler Dyke Leadership award.
Marshall graduated from the University of California-Berkeley with degrees in Business Administration and HR Management and holds four honorary Doctorate degrees. Marshall has chaired a variety of non-profit boards and currently serves on the board of Dallas CASA (chair), Dallas Regional Chamber (DRC), Texas Women’s Foundation, Texas 2036, T.D. Jakes Foundation, Pro Sports Assembly, Executive Leadership Council (ELC), and is a member of the International Women’s Forum. She is also on the Board of Directors of BGSF Staffing, JELD-WEN, Chime Financial, Inc., and Blinkcns, Inc.
The fourth of six children, Marshall grew up in Richmond, California, and lives in the Dallas area. She and her husband, Kenneth Marshall, have four adult children.
-
Mandy Price, Co-founder and CEO, Kanarys
Mandy Price is an advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) as the CEO and co-founder of Kanarys, Inc., a technology company focused on providing the tools organizations need to create long-term systemic change around DEI challenges. Kanarys uses a data-based approach to pinpoint what companies may not have been able to see before, so DEI strategies and interventions are precise, measurable, and result in lasting transformation. Price was named a Top 100 HR Tech Influencers of 2021 by Human Resource Executive, and she and her co-founder, Star Carter, were named two of Inc.’s 2021 Female Founders 100 for helping companies address systemic racism in the workplace. They were also recognized as two of Entrepreneur Magazine’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women of 2020. Price regularly speaks at notable DEI, tech, and leadership conferences and has been featured by outlets like Good Morning America, Entrepreneur, Inc., Forbes, TechCrunch, Business Insider, The Wall Street Journal, and more. Price practiced law as a Harvard-educated attorney for over 12 years before leaving to co-found Kanarys. Her interest in DEI began early in her career when she helped create the division of diversity and community engagement at the University of Texas at Austin as an undergrad.
-
Juan Suarez, Vice President Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Southwest Airlines
Juan Suarez is Vice President of DEI at Southwest Airlines, serving as the executive-level champion for DEI organizational goals both internally and externally. Suarez partners closely with peers throughout the organization on DEI efforts as it applies to supplier diversity, diversity hiring and recruiting, and training. Suarez serves as the executive sponsor for the Diversity Council and is an active member of Southwest’s Social Topics Committee. Since joining Southwest in 2000, Suarez has served as Managing Director and Deputy General Counsel. Suarez received his Juris Doctorate in 1993 from Cornell University Law School and his Bachelor of Arts in Public Administration in 1990 from the University of Oklahoma. Suarez began his career as a Dallas County Assistant District Attorney in Dallas in 1993, before joining the government relations team of Trinity Industries, Inc. Suarez worked in private practice with a national law firm representing employers in employment litigation and other employment-related matters. In addition to his dedication to Southwest Airlines, Suarez is the former Chair of the Board for Dallas Area Habitat for Humanity, is a member of the Dallas Regional Chamber (DRC) serving on its Diversity in Leadership Sub-Council, and is on the Board of the Dallas Hispanic Law Foundation. Suarez is a graduate of the DRC’s Leadership Dallas Class of 2014.