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Upstate Diversity Leadership Awards Dinner 2018

Fourteenth Annual Upstate Diversity Leadership Awards Dinner

TD Convention Center, Greenville, SC
Thursday, May 24, 2018

Upstate diversity leaders were honored Wednesday, May 24, 2018, at the 14th Annual Upstate Diversity Leadership Awards Dinner. The event, hosted by the Greenville Chamber and the Riley Institute at Furman, in partnership with Upstate Chambers, recognized organizations and individuals for outstanding achievement in promoting diversity and inclusion in Upstate South Carolina.

The 2018 award selection committee received an impressive number of nominations, which confirms that people in the Upstate continue to care about diversity issues and want to recognize those who are role models for promoting inclusivity and equality.

The event featured keynote speaker Juan Johnson, president of Diversity Leadership in Action, a firm he launched in 2006 after concluding an extraordinary 21-year career with Coca-Cola Company, and Senior Distinguished Fellow at the Riley Institute. Johnson is creator and facilitator of the South Carolina Diversity Leaders Initiative (DLI). He has led every session of each of the DLI classes to date and worked with more than 1800 DLI participants.
 
Johnson states that "Diversity Leadership in Action™ believes the most important factors for success with any diversity initiative are one, an all-inclusive definition which gets the entire organization engaged; and two, a link to the organization’s mission, which demonstrates that diversity can be a resource that drives greater organizational success."
 

An overview of the evening's awards dinner

Photo Gallery: 

Awards were presented to recognize three individuals, three organizations and one K-12 school for their outstanding achievement in promoting diversity in the Upstate.

Award Winners:

Calder D. Ehrmann Outstanding Individual Award: Jim Dant, Senior Minister of Greenville First Baptist Church

K-12 School - William “Bill” T. Wylie Valued Lives Award for School Excellence in Diversity: Monaview Elementary School

Outstanding High School Student Award: Charlotte Capers Snoad

Outstanding College Student Award: Adahlia Nix

Outstanding Nonprofit Organization Award: Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine - Carolinas

Outstanding Business Award: General Electric

Outstanding Contribution to International Diversity Award: Adela Mendoza


Press Coverage

Upstate Diversity Leaders Honored (includes information about each of the award winners), Greenville Chamber