Webinar: The Future of DEIB

What does the future of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging look like?

In a recent BioSpace report, only 68% of respondents indicated that diversity was an important factor when considering new employment – a significant 17% drop from 2022, with declines present amongst both men and women, all races and ethnicities and age groups. The life sciences workforce is changing as younger and more diverse professionals enter the workforce, though over and underrepresentation persist.

This discussion will feature DEIB leaders from MassBio, California Life Sciences, Eli Lilly and Takeda. We will explore changing attitudes in the life sciences workforce, if organizations are adjusting either their DEIB or communication strategies, and how evolving philosophies around DEIB are impacting human resources and talent acquisition activities.

(he/him/his)

Jean is responsible for advancing Latinx representation, engagement, and empowerment across the internal organization as well as in the communities in which Eli Lilly serves. His role has heavy cross-functional collaboration with Clinical Trial Diversity, Human Resources, Supplier Diversity, Commercial, Social Impact, Venture Capital, Communications, and other stakeholders to set goals and actions to advance Latinx equity across Eli Lilly’s five-pillar equity framework.

Jean joined Eli Lilly in March 2018 as a Recruiter for IT, Finance, Legal, Sales, and Marketing, bringing a unique external perspective from his previous external experiences. While at Lilly, Jean has also supported the Commercial organization as an HR Business Partner. Most recently, Jean has worked in the DEI Office delivering on an enterprise strategy, external DEI reputation management, and refreshing the enterprise aspirational representation goals strategy. Jean also helps support the Latinx employee resource group as their DEI Advisor.

Jean attended Berkeley College in New York City, graduating with a degree in Finance. Jean has been trained as a PROSCI Change Management Practitioner, Society for Human Resource Management Senior Certified Professional (SHRM-SCP), and is currently enrolled in Cornell’s Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion certification program.

(she/her/hers)

Satsuki “Suki” Shumate joined CLS in June 2023 and brought with her over 20 years of experience as an employee and student advocate and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion thought leader. Most recently, she served as the Diversity & Inclusion Talent Partner at Personalis, Inc. and the DEI Specialist / Life Sciences Recruiter at Azenta Life Sciences.

In her personal time, she is a long-term mentor with SD2, a nonprofit organization that connects industry professionals with San Diego high school students from underrepresented and under-resourced communities who are interested in pursuing careers in STEM fields. Having had the privilege of working and learning within military, academic, operations, corporate, and non-profit environments, Suki has developed a deep appreciation for diverse styles of communication, work, interpersonal interaction, learning, and development. She brings to her role at CLS a commitment to strengthen organizations and to empower individuals.

(he/him/his)

Tom is MassBio’s lead for health equity and DEI consultancy, focused on corporate operations and culture. He specializes in employee well-being and retention, supplier diversity, and DEI program marketing.

Alongside colleagues at MassBio’s workforce training center – Bioversity – Tom advises on launching, growing, and sustaining DEI initiatives, especially as they relate to supporting non-traditional talent. This critical work is part of MassBio’s commitment to improve representation and belonging across the life sciences, develop a more diverse talent pipeline, and make their members more successful and better aligned with patient populations.

Prior to joining MassBio, Tom led the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce’s Economic Inclusion team and moved to Boston from the UK where he ran local corporate philanthropy broker Businesses for Islington Giving.

(he/him/his)

Warner Santiago (He/Him) is the United States Director of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I) at Takeda Pharmaceuticals. In his role, he leads Takeda’s collaborative approach to DE&I across the U.S. Warner responsible for refreshing Takeda’s governance framework and deploying best practices to help attract, develop, and sustain high-performing, inclusive teams.

Born and raised in Puerto Rico, Warner has more than 15 years of experience in the areas of DE&I, workforce development, and equal employment opportunity. He is also a passionate human rights lawyer and a lecturer at Harvard University. Throughout his career, he has leveraged his legal expertise to implement DE&I programs and initiatives in various industries, such as government, international organizations, non-profits, higher education, and more recently, the life sciences industry.

Warner received a B.A. in Political Science and International Relations from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez, a J.D. from the Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico, an LL.M. in International Legal Studies from American University Washington College of Law, and an M.S. in Negotiation and Conflict Resolution from Columbia University, and an Ed.M from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

(she/her/hers)

Chantal Dresner produces BioSpace’s proprietary research reports on industry labor and hiring trends, diversity, equity & inclusion, workforce management guides and compensation benchmarking. Most recently she has been covering turbulence in the biopharma job market on our podcast and published BioSpace’s 2024 Salary Report.