(Black PR Wire) SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- For the second year running, our Diversity Stars editorial team has selected 50 leaders who have demonstrated that they are among the most influential Chiefs of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) of 2020. These leaders are all bonafide trailblazers.. Their work has global relevance and has had a significant impact on the innovation and validation of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the enterprise sector across all industries and verticals.

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We are delighted to welcome 35 new Freshmen into the TOP50 Most Influential Diversity Stars of 2020 rankings. This year’s field of honorees is impressive, we are eager to discover who will be presented with the 2020 top honors at our Virtual Diversity Summit on May 13-15, 2020, hosted online at our Virtual DEI Campus.

2020 TOP50 Freshman, Michael Lopez, VP & Chief Diversity Officer at Hewlett Packard Enterprise ​posted on his LinkedIn profile, “Grateful to be recognized as a TOP50 Most Influential Diversity Stars of 2020. Honored to work with 60,000 team members at Hewlett Packard Enterprise who, like me, believe in Yes We Can. Thank you Christian Monk for your leadership.”

Another new addition, Amir Kabel, Global Head/Director of Diversity and Inclusion at Burberry, posted on his profile, “In these testing times across the world, it's nice to get some good news for a change. I was completely surprised and grateful to have been recognised in the Top50 Most Influential Diversity Star 2020. Candidates were selected based on a proprietary algorithm that considers social media influence, speaking experience, D&I program enhancements, overall perceived influence and genuine willingness to share thought leadership with their D&I peers. Selections are 100% unbiased and independent based solely on research. This recognition is for the people who have helped me in my journey so far. What these last few weeks have taught me is that we will get through these tough times as a collective, as a community, and as one unit.”

There are also 15 executives graduating to the Sophomore class of the TOP50 Diversity Stars that have been honored for a second consecutive year, including Ben-Saba Hasan, SVP, Chief Culture Diversity and Inclusion Officer at Walmart, who last year, went on to be chosen as our “Most Influential Diversity Star of 2019”. When Ben was notified by Diversity Stars that he was awarded the top honors in 2019, he humbly replied, "Thank you to the team at Diversitystars.com for this wonderful recognition of the work we are doing at Walmart to foster a culture of inclusion. I'm honored to accept this award on behalf of my entire Culture, Diversity & Inclusion team as well as our many partners throughout the Walmart enterprise who help move us forward on our road to inclusion. I'm looking forward to joining some of my D&I peers from across the retail industry for what I know will be a thought-provoking conversation as part of the Retreat for Diversity."

Unfortunately, the Retreat for Diversity was postponed due to growing concerns stemming from the COVID-19 outbreak. It has since been rescheduled to Oct 6-8 at the original venue the Beverly Hills Marriott. While most startup organizations would have been forced to close their doors and lay off employees, we opted to take a gamble and invest in transforming the way we connect and engage thought leaders. Our Co-Founder, Christian Monk, was recently quoted, “With these uncertain times come unprecedented challenges, as an organization I felt that we were failing our customers with our initial response; however, I am extremely proud of our team who have since pivoted and have harnessed their emotions into innovating our organization and now our value proposition to our customers is stronger than ever. We are steadfast in our commitment to helping other businesses impacted by this global pandemic and will continue to seek out ways to improve the future of work for those in the DEI space.”

n response to the recent COVID-19 pandemic, we built an always-on, 3D immersive, collaborative event campus that fosters community engagement, togetherness and presence for global DEI executives. As a company, we pivoted to provide a safe and engaging environment that will cultivate innovation in the fields of diversity, equity and inclusion.

Everything has changed in the last few weeks in wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Once the virus subsides, work as we remembered in the past will forever be altered. The enterprise sector is generally unprepared and going through a complex stage of metamorphosis:

• Their employees are facing unprecedented diverse challenges
• There is tremendous stress on the workforce due to health and financial burdens
• Social isolation is affecting employees in complex ways
• Organizations find that they must reconsider expectations and think out of the box for solutions and tools to get work done
• Preserving a healthy and productive workforce with a sense of togetherness and presence comes with more complexities
• Leaders must weather-the-storm to achieve economic survival of their organization

However, in the face of adversity, presents unique opportunities for leading brands to differentiate themselves through empathetic leadership, organizational equity, and inclusion of the diverse needs of their workforce. The DEI leaders in these organizations will take the stage as the front-line communicators and thought leaders, paving the way. These leaders will set new precedents for the future of work. Diversity Stars is honored to take part in shaping the future of their important work in innovative and exciting ways.

There will be a Virtual DEI Campus launch party on Friday, April 07, 2020 at 4pm - 6pm PST. The event will feature keynote speaker, Christina Thakor-Rankin,Co-Founder at the All-in Diversity Project, based out of London, UK. Christina will deliver a thought provoking presentation, "Building a global framework for standardization in D&I”.This concept has the potential to solve one of the most complex challenges faced by global Chief Diversity Officers. The keynote will be followed by an hour of open networking in the TOP50 Diversity Stars Pavilion. If you are a D&I professional, you are going to want to join us on Friday. You can register for this complimentary event here. You will receive an email with your beta campus pass access link and instructions on how to access training for the campus.

If you are curious how we select our TOP50 honorees, or would like to learn more about who has been honored this year, you can visit our website ​to view the 2020 TOP50 Most Influential Diversity Stars ​profiles and read more about our program. We encourage all DEI professionals to take a tour of our Virtual DEI Campus​ and will be issuing complimentary beta campus passes throughout the rest of the month. Click here ​to arrange a personal tour of our campus and to claim your complimentary beta pass.

Connect with us on our social accounts, you can now follow DiversityStars.com on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube​ and Instagram. Our followers will get access to Virtual DEI Campus calendar updates, exclusive D&I Management related content, access to research polls, invites to industry events and advice from Diversity and Inclusion thought leaders.

Diversity Stars are advocates for Diversity and Inclusion, on a mission to amplify the efforts of Diversity and Inclusion Leaders who evangelize a corporate culture where everyone has a voice and is respected. Innovators, Diversity Stars has built the world’s first, always-on, 3D immersive, collaborative event campus dedicated to fostering community engagement, togetherness and presence for DEI professionals. Each year DiversityStars.com recognizes the TOP50 Most Influential Diversity Stars, TOP50 CEOs Driving Diversity and the TOP100 Employers for Diversity. Organizers of the Retreat for Diversity and Virtual Diversity Summits..

For more information, please contact the author Ayesha Khan, Marketing & PR Coordinator, DiversityStars.com at +1 (425) 615-6868 or by email to hello@diversitystars.com

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Source: Diversity Stars