Tuesday, May 28, 2019
The Riley Institute and the Greenville Chamber along with their Upstate Chamber partners were pleased to present a new approach to honoring the accomplishments of individuals and organizations championing diversity and inclusion in their communities at the fifteenth annual Upstate Diversity Leadership Awards celebration on May 28, 2019 at the Hyatt Regency. This year’s seven award recipients were featured in personalized videos that allowed event attendees to hear the motivation and passion from each winner.
Roz Weston (Riley Fellow, Fall 2004), owner of RAWeston Communications and Julio Hernandez, chief of staff for the Division of Inclusion and Equity at Clemson University co-hosted this year’s event. The duo provided humor and encouragement from their own stories of impact and added a dynamic interactive exercise for the audience to examine past experiences and identify how to be diversity advocates in the future.
The event culminated in a heavy hors d’oeuvres reception in Studio 220 following the awards program where attendees networked with each other and congratulated the recipients after hearing their inspirational stories.
2019 Awards Winners:
- Calder D. Ehrmann Outstanding Individual Award: Brian Townsend, 5th grade teacher at Liberty Elementary School in Pickens; award sponsored by Diversity Leadership in Action. For his video, click here.
- K-12 School – William “Bill” T. Wylie Valued Lives Award for School Excellence in Diversity: Berea High School; award presented by the Riley Institute at Furman. For the video, click here.
- Outstanding High School Student Award: Hugh Hill; award sponsored by Greenville Technical College. For his video, click here.
- Outstanding College Student Award: Antonio Harrison; award presented by Upstate Chambers. For his video, click here.
- Outstanding Nonprofit Organization Award: Men of Color National Summit; award sponsored by BMW Manufacturing Co. For the video, click here.
- Outstanding Business Award: GHS Children’s Hospital; award presented by the Greenville Chamber. For the video, click here.
- Outstanding Contribution to International Diversity Award: Habiba Restaurant; sponsored by TD Bank. For the video, click here.