ELSIE CROSS, CEO EMERITUS

Widely respected as one of the nation’s top organization development and diversity consultants, Elsie Cross built her reputation on a personal commitment to ameliorate oppression as it affects the productivity and profitability of organizations and society as a whole. For more than 30 years Ms. Cross guided critical change initiatives in major corporations, government agencies, universities and financial institutions in the U.S., Europe and the Caribbean.

Ms. Cross contributed to President Clinton’s Initiative on Race and Harvard Business School’s case study collection. She is a founding member of the Women’s subgroup in the Organization Development Network; an advisory board member of The Poynter Institute, and; former chair of the National Training Laboratories Institute for Applied Behavioral Science (NTL) board of directors. Ms. Cross also led managing diversity seminars at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton Executive Education Center and has been a speaker for many professional organizations.

Often quoted by the media, such as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Los Angeles Times and Philadelphia Inquirer, she has also been featured in television and radio shows, including The Today Show. She is editor of The Promise of Diversity and The Diversity Factor: Capturing the Competitive Advantage of a Changing Workforce. Most recently, Ms. Cross authored Managing Diversity – The Courage to Lead.