Dr. Damon A. Williams founded The Center for Strategic Diversity Leadership and Social Innovation. Dr. Williams is an award winning leader, scholar, and educator featured as keynote speaker, strategist, consultant, and funded social impact leader with more than 1000 colleges and universities, corporations, non-profit, and government agencies. The Center helps leaders to accomplish real and meaningful change in their lives, organizations, and communities. Strategic diversity leadership is the evidenced based approach to leading diversity, equity, and inclusion centered strategy, leadership development, change management, and research. The Center helps companies, colleges and universities, K-12 schools, non-profits, and government agencies to develop capability through strategic planning, thought leadership, research|evaluation, and training|leadership development. The center is built on the following principles: • Always begin with “why” • Apply culturally relevant approaches • Bring academic credibility with pragmatic focus • Create beautiful programs, products, and experiences • Curate excellence: search and reapply the best solutions • Use design thinking to create new possibilities • Leverage case studies to drive high impact learning • Use questions to drive your choice of methods • Be ready for the moment & crush it • Lead with love and hope Dr. Williams is chief catalyst of the Center and is the best-selling author of Strategic Diversity Leadership, and co-author of the Chief Diversity Officer. He is also one of the principal architects of the Inclusive Excellence Model of diversity and inclusion in American higher education. For four years, he served at the Boys & Girls Clubs of America as SVP for Programs and Chief Education Officer. In this role, he led a 250M social impact portfolio. He also founded the nation's 3rd largest CDO division at UW-Madison as Vice Provost and Associate Vice Chancellor.