Schedule of Events

We’ll unpack pressing topics so that you have the tools and know-how to empower your staff and community.

Day 1, Thursday, July 28

TIME (All times are ET)	EVENT
11:00am – 11:10am	Welcome Troy Brown, ICMA-CM, ICMA President and City Manager, Moorpark, CA
11:10am – 12:00pm	Keynote: Two Years After George Floyd: How Do You Sustain Commitment to Advancing Racial Equity in Local Government? Leon Andrews, President and CEO, Equal Measure
12:00pm – 12:15pm	Break
12:15pm – 1:15pm CEO Track	Operationalizing Equity in Public Engagement Local jurisdictions are seeking solutions to alleviate inequities in their communities regarding public participation, discourse, and decision-making. Four approaches – tools, tactics, data, and metrics – can play a key role in government operations and help solve internal and external challenges for public officials and for residents. Join this session for a thought-provoking discussion surrounding these four approaches and leave with tips and strategies on how to increase inclusiveness among historically disenfranchised residents and decrease inequities in their public outreach and engagement. Panelists: Siri Russell, Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA Graham Stone, Co-Founder and Vice President, PublicInput, Raleigh, NC
12:15pm – 1:15pm CAO Track	Promoting Tribal City/County Relations Understand why tribal relations can help your community, even if your community does not have much (if any) interaction with another tribal government or nation. Learn what might be the barriers to building and fostering (better) tribal relationships. Explore methods to build relationships with tribal nations and governments, through the examination of successful tribal-city-county cooperation interactions. Dr. Mitchell Berg, City Administrator, Mahnomen, MN, and Associate Director for the Veden Center for Rural Engagement/Economic Development, University of Minnesota Crookston
1:15pm – 1:30pm	Break
1:30pm – 2:30pm General Session	Backed by Budget: Getting Better Budget Proposals to Truly Advance Equity Chris Fabian, Co-founder, RESOURCEX, Denver, Colorado
2:30pm – 2:45pm	Break
2:45pm – 3:45pm CEO Track	ICMA Equity Toolkit Preview ICMA Toolkit Subcommittee: Bobby Boyd, SHRM-CP, ICYB, CAPM, Community Relations and Diversity Office of City Manager, Portage Community Senior Center, Portage, Michigan Randi Johl, JD, MMC, CDE, Legislative Director, City Clerk, Temecula, California Manisha Paudel, Chief Equity Officer, Des Moines, Iowa
2:45pm – 3:45pm CAO Track	Breaking the Barriers: Pathways for Success Success starts with curiosity, talent and drive. Hard work and determination helps advance careers but along the way it’s the people who walk the talk and set the example for the next generation. Join this panel session to hear best practices for creating succession plans to build a more inclusive leadership team through strategic relationships and leveraging personal networks. Panelists: David Ellis, ICMA-CM, County Manager, Wake County, NC Domenika Lynch, Executive Director, Aspen Institute Latinos and Society Program Christopher M. Price, AICP, City Manager, City of Chesapeake, Virginia Tammi Saddler Jones, ICMA-CM, City Manager, South Fulton, GA Moderator: Carmela Makabali, Internal Product Manager, Leadership Connect
3:45pm – 4:45pm CEO Track	Partnering for Equitable Economic Development Panelists: Aleea Slappy Wilson, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer Norfolk, VA Anne Bovaird Nevins, President, PIDC, Philadelphia, PA Kevin Dick, CEcD, President & CEO, Carolina Small Business Development Fund, Raleigh, NC   Moderator: Dr. Eloisa Klementich, CEcD, President and CEO, Invest Atlanta
3:45pm – 4:45pm CAO Track	Polarity Management: Introduction to a Key Tool to Spark Collaboration and Deeper Engagement on Controversial Issues Professor Carcasson’s work focuses on building community capacity to come together across perspectives to engage difficult “wicked” problems well. In this session, he will introduce the concept of polarity management as a critical leadership and engagement tool to better understand controversial issues and find ways of reframing them from overly adversarial and contentious to more collaborative and productive. The concept applies to many current issues, but will be applied specifically to equity during the session as a few polarities inherent to equity work are explored. Martin Carcasson, Professor, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, Founder and Director of the Colorado State University Center for Public Deliberation

Day 2, Friday, July 29

TIME (All times are ET)	EVENT
11:00am – 12:00pm CEO Track	Defining Equity Establishing a shared vocabulary for how we talk about equity is a necessary component of the work. But meaning can shift over time for both staff and community members based on lived experiences and external factors. In this candid conversation, members of ICMA’s original equity officer cohort will reflect on what they’ve learned about defining organizational values and approaches to equity work both in principle and in practice. Hear from these trailblazers about the realities and results they’ve encountered, how their perspectives have changed, and how it may inform work in your community.   Panelists: Dorla Bonner, Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Kalamazoo, MI Jonathan Butler, Senior Vice President, PartnerTulsa, Tulsa, OK Siri Russell, Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA Aleea Slappy Wilson, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer, Norfolk, VA
11:00am – 12:00pm CAO Track	Strength Through Diversity - Promote Equity and Inclusion Through Leadership – Lessons Learned From the Military Veterans and their families represent a small piece of all communities. The military – one of the most diverse employee pools in America – enlists people of different race, ethnicity, religion, gender, age, and national origin - and requires them to work as a team. Those who have served in the military have a variety of functional skill sets, an abundance of leadership training and development, undeniable patience and perseverance, and true deep dedication to the mission, task at hand and organization. Join our panel of local government professionals to discuss why Veterans are a Federally protected class and learn how their unique perspective can improve the organizations they work for. Panelists: Benjamin Effinger, former Air Force SSG and current Operations Chief, Los Angeles County Treasurer and Tax Collector Kaci Fullerton, former Army CPT, Town Clerk for Truro, MA Cedric Grant, President Grant Management Group, former City Administrator and Deputy Mayor; MAJ (RET) Darrin Tangeman, ICMA-CM, Town Manager, Truro, MA
12:00pm – 12:15pm	Break
12:15pm – 1:15pm General Session	Advancing DEI: How affinity groups and professional organizations leverage each other’s connections and resources Affinity groups exist to foster growth and development its membership, thereby enhancing diversity in local government organizations. What benefit comes from linking with other affinity groups? Does it create competition between affinity groups? In this session, you will learn the history of the affinity groups on the panel, the common and different goals each had in forming; at what point each group started reaching out to others; and provide ideas for listeners who have or are initiating DEI efforts in their own organizations. Panelists: Local Government Hispanic Network (LGHN): Andrea Alicoate, Diversity & Special Projects Manager, Mesa, AZ I-NAPA: Elaine Wang, City Manager, Winooski, VT  CivicPRIDE: Pam Davis, Assistant City Manager, Boulder, CO National Forum for Black Public Administrator(NFBPA): Cheryl Orr, Co-Managing Director, Institute for Excellence in Public Service League of Women in Government: Kimberly Richardson ICMA Veterans: Darrin Tangeman, ICMA-CM, Town Manager, Truro, MA Moderator: Rey Arellano, Assistant City Manager, Austin, TX
1:15pm – 2:15pm CEO Track	Putting Your Money Where Your Mouth Is At this session we will discuss how both financial and human resources may be utilized to achieve diversity and equity goals. We will specifically explore how entities can use existing resources to meet their goals and offer advice to those who have an identified budget for DEI initiatives. Participants will learn creative ways to address equity challenges no matter what level of monetary commitment they have available. Steve Ruger, Former Deputy City Manager, Rio Rancho, NM Claudine McDonald, Equity Transformation Specialist at Courageous Conversation
1:15pm – 2:15pm CAO Track	Embedding Equity in Your Charter Panelists: Valerie Lemmie, Director of Exploratory Research, The Kettering Foundation, Dayton, OH Doug Linkhart, President, National Civic League, Denver, CO Mark Washington, City Manager, Grand Rapids, MI
2:15pm – 2:30pm	Break
2:30pm-4:00pm General Session	Courageous Conversation: Doing the Work While White A panel discussion of what motivates a group of white individuals to break down systems of oppression and combat white supremacy culture and embedded policies in our government organizations. We will discuss the challenges, the risks, but more importantly why it’s critical for white people to stand up, speak out and inspire change in other white people. Panelists: James Bennett, ICMA-CM, City Manager, Biddeford, ME Aimee Kane, Equity Program Manager, Boulder, CO Phillip Smith-Hanes, ICMA-CM, County Administrator, Saline County, KS Moderator: Marc Ott, ICMA CEO/Executive Director
Immediately Following the General Session	Connection and Conversation Huddles Talent Acquisition: Challenges with Equity and Inclusion Bonnie Owens   Equity Officer Real Talk:  Bobby Boyd, SHRM-CP, ICYB, CAPM, Community Relations and Diversity, Office of City Manager, Portage Community Senior Center, Portage, MI Laurice Walker, Chief Equity Officer, Office of Equity, City of Tucson, Arizona

Meet the Speakers

From equity and inclusion experts to visionary thought leaders, our speakers provide fresh perspectives and bold takeaways for moving the needle forward.