In the Summer of 1999, the Executive Committee voted to purchase a table for each of the four ABC (Academy, Business, and Community) Breakfast events. A table seats ten, and each breakfast features a nationally-known speaker. The speakers are interesting, sometimes riveting, often humorous, and always worth the 7:30 a.m. trip to the Holiday Inn Central Ballroom.
Our October speaker was Rachelle Hood-Phillips, chief diversity officer for Advantica Restaurant Group, Inc., and the person most responsible for the turn around at Denny’s, Inc., after that chain paid $46 million to settle two class-action discrimination suits. Some of the key points in her informative and entertaining presentation:
The Chairman of Board was determined to fix the real problems underlying employee discrimination, so refused to take action through a committee, insisting on a Board-level full-time permanent position with full responsibility and power to enact culture change from top to bottom.
Training and retraining would become permanent and constant throughout the organization. The make up of the Board itself came to reflect the kind of diversity necessary for understanding and compliance with diversity principles.
The negative publicity surrounding the suits and settlements caused the stock price to plummet drastically. In spite of being named by Fortune Magazine as the second best corporation in America for minorities, following the reforms instituted by Hood-Phillips, the stock price has never begun to recover.
In spite of this, her central message was that diversity is good for business.
On March 30th our speaker will be Robert Kaplan. His address is entitled “The United States, a Nation Born to Die.” He is a war correspondent, has reported from 70 countries, was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize and a National Magazine Award, and is a foreign correspondent and contributing editor for The Atlantic Monthly.
These breakfasts, hosted by the University of Nebraska at Omaha, are an opportunity for us to raise the profile of health science librarians in the community, meet each other in a different setting, and get diverse thinking on broad topics of national interest.
Tickets for the March breakfast are still available.
Ken Oyer, 398-6092
koyer@alegent.org