Speaker

Brickson Diamond

Chief Executive Officer, Big Answers, LLC

Brickson Diamond is CEO of Big Answers, LLC, which consults on diversity and inclusion strategy for clients in entertainment, technology and asset management, generating new partnerships and leveraging impactful connections. He previously served for five years as COO of The Executive Leadership Council, the preeminent member organization of Black executives in the Fortune 1000. Brickson began his career and spent 15 years as a marketing and client services executive with The Capital Group Companies, a $2 trillion global asset management firm. He is a founding board member and chair of The Blackhouse Foundation, which provides pathways for Black multi-platform content creators into career opportunities within film, television, digital and emerging platforms. Brickson is a trustee of Brown University, the Middlesex School and Tides. He is a graduate of Brown University and the Harvard Business School.

Speaker

Martinique Starnes, Ed.D.

Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Westside Neighborhood School

Martinique Starnes is the Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Westside Neighborhood School (WNS), a preschool through 8th grade independent school located in Los Angeles. In this role, she ensures that WNS is the epitome of an inclusive community – one that welcomes and celebrates all identities, perspectives, and contributions. She is a champion for equity and inclusion, elevating voices throughout educational spaces. Prior to joining WNS, she served as Manager of Diversity, Outreach, and Community Development for the California Charter Schools Association, where she designed and executed leadership development programs for school leaders of color. She also served for 10 years as the Dean of Counseling and Student Affairs at Verbum Dei High School in the Watts community of Los Angeles. Her reach is significant, impacting hundreds of thousands of California’s students and educators over her 20-year career.

Speaker

Annette Friskopp

Global Head and General Manager, Specialty Printing Systems at HP Inc.

is the Global Head & General Manager of the Specialty Printing Systems (SPS) group in the HP Inc.’s Graphics Solutions Business (GSB). SPS enables print innovation leveraging HP’s technology and manufacturing scale. SPS provides specialty inks, inkjet cartridges, printer mechanisms and enablers to original equipment manufacturers, fluid partners and resellers. SPS enables them to satisfy their customers’ needs with HP’s breadth of inkjet and dispensing technology in a variety of markets including: coding and marking, labeling, packaging, postage, direct mail, mail addressing, financial transaction documents, and life sciences.

Annette joined HP over 10 years ago. She has 30 years of experience growing profitable technology businesses in the United States, Europe and Asia. She has held senior management roles for companies as small as startups to as large as HP and Mitsui. In HP, she has held a variety of roles in Print and Graphics. She earned an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1990.

Annette served as the Finance Chair on the Board of Out & Equal. At HP she serves on the Global Diversity Advisory Board reporting to the CEO and Global Head of HR and she is the Executive Sponsor of Global Pride. She co-authored the book “Straight Jobs, Gay Lives” published by Simon & Schuster in 1995. Her personal passions include her family, cycling, drawing, and diversity and human rights.