Capital Region CATALYZE Greater Washington Partnership

This Fresh Take interview featured Ruth Williams-Brinkley, Regional President of Kaiser Permanente (Mid-Atlantic states). Ruth joined Francesca Ioffreda (VP, Inclusive Growth & Talent Initiatives) to discuss supporting inclusive growth initiatives, Kaiser’s role in the community, and the importance of mental health.

Hosted by Francesca Ioffreda.  Produced by Jenna Klym, Ramir Cena, , Nina Sharma, and Christian Rodriguez. Edited by Christian Rodriguez. and Ramir Cena

Learn from leaders doing the work across the Capital Region and beyond. These conversations will showcase innovation, as well as history and culture across our region, to bridge the gap between how we got here and where we are going.

About our guest:

Ruth Williams-Brinkley is president of Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of the Mid-Atlantic States, Inc. In this role, Williams-Brinkley oversees all of Kaiser Permanente’s care delivery and health plan operations in Washington, D.C., and suburban Maryland, Baltimore, and Northern Virginia. The Mid-Atlantic States Region operates 36 medical office buildings and has 825,288 members.
Williams-Brinkley has more than 40 years of executive experience in health care. She joined Kaiser Permanente in November 2017, serving as president of Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Hospitals of the Northwest. She oversaw all of Kaiser Permanente’s care delivery and health plan operations in Oregon and markets in Vancouver and Longview/Kelso, Washington.
Prior to that, she served as CEO of KentuckyOne Health, Kentucky’s largest integrated health system. KentuckyOne was a division of CommonSpirit Health, one of the nation’s largest nonprofit health systems.
Before joining KentuckyOne, Williams-Brinkley served as president and CEO of Carondelet Health Network in Tucson, Arizona, and as president and CEO of Memorial Healthcare System in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Williams-Brinkley serves on the boards of Travere Therapeutics, DePaul University, University of Phoenix, and the Clinical Center Research Hospital Board of the National Institutes of Health. She has been recognized by Modern Healthcare as one of the 100 Most Influential Leaders in Healthcare, one of the Top 25 Women in Healthcare, and one of the Top 25 Minority Executives in Healthcare, as well as one of Becker’s most admired CEOs in health care.
She holds a bachelor’s degree and Master of Science degree from De Paul University, and an honorary doctoral degree from Spaulding University in Louisville, Kentucky.

This Fresh Take interview featured Diane Hoskins, Co-CEO of Gensler. JB Holston and Diane discuss the future of talent, Gensler’s goals as an organization, and their commitment towards inclusive growth within the Capital Region.
Hosted by JB Holston.  Produced by Jenna Klym, Ramir Cena, Christian Rodriguez, and Nina Sharma. Edited by Christian Rodriguez. 
Learn from leaders doing the work across the Capital Region and beyond. These conversations will showcase innovation, as well as history and culture across our region, to bridge the gap between how we got here and where we are going.

About our guest:

Diane Hoskins is one of two Gensler co-CEOs whose collaborative leadership is fundamental to setting the company apart as a leading design firm. For her innovative leadership, Diane, along with Co-CEO Andy Cohen, ranks on Business Insider’s elite “Creators” list, a who’s who of the world’s 100 top creative visionaries. As a hands-on leader, Diane oversees Gensler’s global platform and its day-to-day operations, with some 6,000 people networked across 50 offices, serving clients in more than 120 countries. Diane is focused on Gensler’s global talent strategies, performance, and organizational development to ensure that we serve our clients with the world’s top talent. She is the catalyst for Gensler’s Research program, for which Diane is committed to delivering value to clients through strategies and innovations like Gensler’s Workplace Performance Index® (WPI).
A registered architect, she graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and holds an MBA from the Anderson Graduate School of Management at UCLA. Diane received an Outstanding Impact Award from the Council of Real Estate Women and is both a Regent of the American Architectural Foundation and a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects. Her insights have appeared in the Financial Times, Harvard Business Review, the Washington Post, and The Economist; and she was a featured speaker at Bloomberg BusinessWeek’s CEO Conference.
In her role, Diane serves as a key contributor to what is acknowledged, by its peers, as the most admired and largest architecture firm in the world, pioneering project types and design innovation strategies for the next century and acknowledged by Fast Company as one of “The World’s Most Innovative Companies.”

This Fresh Take interview features Doyle Mitchell, President and CEO of Industrial Bank. JB Holston and Doyle will discuss Industrial Bank’s long history of providing critical financial services to communities across the Capital Region, the focus on reaching traditionally underserved customers, and excitement around ongoing inclusive growth efforts.

Hosted by JB Holston.  Produced by Jenna Klym, Ramir Cena, Justin Matheson-Turner, Christian Rodriguez, and Nina Sharma. Edited by Christian Rodriguez. 
Learn from leaders doing the work across the Capital Region and beyond. These conversations will showcase innovation, as well as history and culture across our region, to bridge the gap between how we got here and where we are going.

About our guest:

B. Doyle Mitchell Jr., is President and CEO of Industrial Bank, leading the largest minority-owned commercial bank in the Washington Metropolitan area and the fifth largest African-American owned financial institution in the country.
Mr. Mitchell is the third generation president of Industrial Bank, which was founded by his grandfather Jesse H. Mitchell in 1934. After receiving his bachelor’s degree in economics from Rutgers University in 1984, he began a full-time career at Industrial. He was elected to the Board of Directors in 1990 and succeeded his father as president in 1993.  B. Doyle Mitchell, Jr., believes Industrial Bank has remained strong because of its mission to promote the financial and economic empowerment of its diverse communities, and by serving those communities through high quality financial services and employees that really care.  Industrial has seven branches in Washington, DC, and Prince George’s County, Maryland, which provides a full range of quality banking and financial services, including residential, commercial, small business and SBA loans.   

Doyle received the 2015 Small Business Champion Award from the DC Chamber of Commerce, the 2015 Minority Business Leader Award from the Washington Business Journal, the 2015 Torch Award from the National Newspaper Publishers Association Foundation, the Greater Prince George’s Business Roundtable Chairman’s Award, and the 2015 Human Servant Award from the Training Grounds DMV Organization, and the Nationals Banker's Association Chairman's Award. 
Mr. Mitchell has served on the Board of the National Bankers Association (NBA), which represents the nation’s minority banks since 1999. During his tenure, he served two consecutive terms as chairman of the National Bankers Association from 2010-2013. 

This Fresh Take interview featured Calvin Butler, CEO, Exelon Utilities. JB and Calvin discussed Exelon’s investment in workforce development initiatives in the region, the importance of supplier diversity in supporting minority-owned small businesses, and his own role as a community and business leader in Baltimore.
Hosted by JB Holston.  Produced by Jenna Klym, Justin Matheson-Turner, Christian Rodriguez, and Nina Sharma. Edited by Christian Rodriguez. 
Learn from leaders doing the work across the Capital Region and beyond. These conversations will showcase innovation, as well as history and culture across our region, to bridge the gap between how we got here and where we are going.

About our guest:

Calvin G. Butler Jr. is a senior executive vice president and chief operating officer at Exelon. Butler oversees Exelon’s six local electric and natural gas companies -- Atlantic City Electric, BGE, ComEd, Delmarva Power, PECO and Pepco. Together, they form the nation’s largest utility company by customer count, serving approximately 10 million electric and gas customers in New Jersey, Maryland, Illinois, Delaware, Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia, respectively. Butler serves as vice chairman of each utility’s board and is a member of Exelon’s executive committee. In addition to serving as CEO of Exelon Utilities, Butler serves as the interim CEO of ComEd, overseeing management of the electric grid serving more than 4 million customers in Chicago and most of northern Illinois.
Butler previously served as CEO of BGE from 2014 to 2019. Prior to that role, Butler was BGE’s senior vice president, regulatory and external affairs. Butler also served as Exelon’s senior vice president of corporate affairs, Chief Human Resources Officer, and held other leadership positions at Exelon and ComEd (Chicago).
Butler serves on the boards of several prominent Baltimore-based organizations including the Baltimore Community Foundation, University of Maryland School of Medicine’s Board of Visitors, Greater Baltimore Committee, Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation, the Center Club and Caves Valley Golf Club. He is immediate past chair of his alma mater, Bradley University. In addition, Butler serves on the boards of M&T Bank Corporation and M&T Bank, its principal banking subsidiary; the Institute of International Education, a not-for-profit organization focused on advancing scholarship, promoting access to education, and building economies; and the Library of Congress’ James Madison Council.
He has been recognized by several organizations for his leadership and community commitment. In 2021, The Daily Record named Butler to their “Power 100” list and has singled him out as one of its top 35 Influential Marylanders, as well as listed him three times as one of Maryland’s “Most Admired CEOs.” In 2020, he was honored with the BEYA Chairman’s Award, recognizing Black leaders for their meaningful contributions to science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). That same year, he was named among Black Enterprise Magazine’s “Most Influential Black Executives in Corporate America,” and as Zpryme’s “ETS Thought Leader of the Year,” honoring those with the “inventive and brave vision needed to inspire the global energy ecosystem toward sustainable modernization.” In 2019, the Boy Scouts of America honored him with the Whitney M. Young, Jr. Service Award and he has been named by Baltimore Magazine as one of its “Top Ten Baltimoreans.”
Butler earned a bachelor’s degree from Bradley University in Peoria, Ill., and a Juris Doctor degree from Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, Mo. He received an honorary doctorate of Humane Letters from Morgan State University in 2014.

This Fresh Take interview featured Kwasi Mitchell, Chief Purpose Officer, Deloitte Consulting LLP. JB and Kwasi discussed the Partnership’s recently released Inclusive Growth Preface Report, the role businesses have to play in powering inclusive growth across the Capital Region, and how to unleash purpose in our day-to-day work.

Hosted by JB Holston.  Produced by Jenna Klym, Justin Matheson-Turner, Christian Rodriguez, and Nina Sharma. Edited by Christian Rodriguez. 
Learn from leaders doing the work across the Capital Region and beyond. These conversations will showcase innovation, as well as history and culture across our region, to bridge the gap between how we got here and where we are going.

About our guest:
Kwasi Mitchell serves as the Chief Purpose Officer of Deloitte. He is responsible for driving a firmwide strategy around Deloitte’s commitments to areas including, but not limited to, diversity, equity, and inclusion; sustainability and climate change; and education and workforce development. Kwasi is also responsible for engaging our people to live their purpose daily, supporting our clients on their purpose journey, forming alliances with key partners to cocreate solutions to address systemic societal issues, and driving internal policy and process changes to achieve our purpose aspirations. Kwasi’s leadership will also bring focus to the lasting impact Deloitte works to bring to our communities through corporate citizenship.
Kwasi formerly served as the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion leader and the Pro Bono and Social Impact lead for our more-than-50,000-person Consulting practice. He currently advises clients within both the government and commercial sectors and previously served as the Strategy Offering leader for our Government & Public Services practice.
Kwasi has a PhD in inorganic chemistry, sits on the board of several national and global nonprofits, and lives in Washington, D.C., where he spends time with his lovely wife, Kathleen.

This Fresh Take interview featured Neelima Rao, Vice President Human Resources, Global R&D and North America HUB Leader, AstraZeneca. JB Holston and Neelima discussed the business imperative of inclusive growth, her focus on developing a skilled and diverse talent pool to drive innovation, and more.
Hosted by JB Holston.  Produced by Jenna Klym, Justin Matheson-Turner, Christian Rodriguez, Nina Sharma, and Ramir Cena. Edited by Christian Rodriguez. 
Learn from leaders doing the work across the Capital Region and beyond. These conversations will showcase innovation, as well as history and culture across our region, to bridge the gap between how we got here and where we are going.

About our guest:

Neelima Rao is Vice President of Human Resources for Global Oncology R&D and North America Country Lead at AstraZeneca. In this role, Neelima is responsible for defining and implementing workforce and workplace strategy across multiple geographies globally. Neelima serves as the HR Chair of the AstraZeneca North America Governance Committee.

Neelima brings over 20 years of experience driving successful change, growth, and innovation across complex and global organizations in the Life Sciences industry. She has led large-scale transformational agenda in acquisition, ramp-up, turnaround and integration environment. Neelima is passionate about driving business outcomes through designing fit-for purpose organizations, building high performing teams and shaping desired cultures.

Neelima has a Master’s degree in human resources from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. Neelima currently serves on the board of AWIS (Association for Women in Science), passionately promoting women around the world to pursue their STEM education and professional goals. Neelima has been serving as an Inclusive Growth Committee Advisor for Greater Washington Partnership, a civic alliance focused on catalyzing equitable solutions that make the region the best place to live, work, and thrive.