Moderator:

Netta Hayes, Senior Manager of Internal Communications for Blue Shield of California

Netta Conyers-Haynes has more than 15 years’ experience in corporate communications and public relations for leading health care, startup and technology companies.  She is currently Senior Manager of Internal Communications for Blue Shield of California where she is responsible for developing communication strategies that drive interconnectedness and collaboration throughout the organization.

During her career, she spent time as a reporter for the San Jose/Silicon Valley Business Journal, SchoolSports.com and the Brentwood Press. She also owned and operated her own PR firm, Conyers Communications where she serviced startups and PR agencies.

Netta is a board member of the Public Relations Society of America San Francisco Chapter and served as President in 2013 and Vice President of Professional Development in 2012.  She has also served on boards for the Vallejo Chamber of Commerce and Leadership Vallejo.

A passionate advocate for diversity in the workplace, Netta helped launch Women Lead to Excellence (WL2X), Blue Shield’s initiative to support the career aspirations of women, and is a member of the company’s African American Resource Group leadership team.

She received her master’s degree in Strategic Communication and Leadership from Seton Hall University in New Jersey, and earned a bachelor’s degree in Public Relations from San Jose State University.

A native of the Bay Area, she enjoys competing in half marathons, gardening and social media.  She resides in Benicia with her husband and two sons.

Follow her on Twitter: @NettaNews

Panelists:

Barbara Williams, Director of Diversity and Inclusion at Oracle

Barbara Williams is a connector, citizen of the world and award-winning leader with a global mindset. She is known as the “Go To” person who develops high-level relationship alliances that foster collaboration and commitment in order to align diversity strategies with business objectives which drive innovation and organizational success. 

Barbara is the Director of Diversity and Inclusion at Oracle and is known for delivering results by creating and implementing sustainable and measurable action plans.  She has been recognized for her strategic planning ability, her talent for developing and cultivating high-performing teams and her keen business acumen. Barbara’s mission is to unlock the untapped brilliance in all of us.

Prior to Oracle, Barbara worked at Sun Microsystems were she focused on creating innovative strategic programs and partnerships that required strategy creation, talent resourcing, development planning, and technology integration. She also managed the compliance responsibilities for over $1.8 Billion dollars in government contracts.  Before Sun, Barbara  worked in variety of technical roles with increasing responsibility at SAP and in HR at National Semiconductor.

She is a frequent keynote speaker and panelist on a variety of leadership topics for corporate leadership summits and organizations including German Marshall Fund, Value of a Veteran Recruiting Conference, Diversity Best Practices, Fountain Blue When She Speaks, Women of Color STEM Conference, Powerful Women of the Bay and the Hispanic IT Executive Council.

As a leader in the community, Barbara  currently serves as the Vice Chair and Commissioner for the Alameda County Commission on the Status of Women,  is a member of the Alameda County Leadership Academy and  has served as Advisory Board Member for the Information Technology Senior Management Forum and as a Mentor for the U.S. Department of State TechWomen Initiative.

Barbara has previously served as President of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women, Oakland Bay Area Chapter, and on the Board of Directors for the Girls Scouts San Francisco Bay Area, Girls for Change and First Place for Youth and the National Coalition of 100 Black Women.

She has received numerous awards, including Women of the Year, Most Powerful Women of the Bay, Women Leading the Way and as a Technology All Star at the Women of Color STEM Conference. Barbara’s also received Certificates of Special Congressional Recognition for outstanding and invaluable service to the community by Congresswoman Barbara Lee, Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi and the Cities of San Francisco and Oakland, California.

Barbara completed her Bachelor of Science degree and Master's Degree at Golden Gate University in San Francisco.

Kristen Go, Assistant Managing Editor , San Francisco Chronicle

Kristen Go is the Assistant Managing Editor of The San Francisco Chronicle. She works work with each major coverage area to teach and help improve story telling efforts on multiple platforms.

Go is a 2005 graduate of the Maynard Media Management program.

Joe Vasquez, Journalist, KPIX 5 News, CBS TV

Member of The Bay Area chapter of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists

National Emmy winner Joe Vazquez has traveled far and wide in search of a good story.

In a local TV news career that spans more than two decades, Joe has hustled after hurricanes and tropical storms in Houston and New Orleans; covered politics and police in Philadelphia; and while in the Bay Area, has covered all the major stories; from the San Bruno explosion, to the “most dangerous street in Oakland” to a faked finger discovery in a bowl of chili in San Jose.

In September, 2010, Joe and his team were awarded the National Emmy Award for their Breaking News coverage of the Oakland riots following the shooting of Oscar Grant at the hands of a BART policeman. That award followed a regional Emmy for the same coverage.

In 2008, he won a regional Emmy for his 11 o’clock news coverage of the tiger escape at the San Francisco Zoo.

Real life has also been adventurous. In 2001, Joe and his wife, Jenni, quit their jobs and spent six months backpacking around Europe. Their tour of 28 cities and 12 countries remains a major influence on their lives. While backpacking in September of 2001, Joe was called to work briefly by NBC News as a freelance correspondent in Southern Turkey, covering military operations near the Iraqi border.

Joe has a B.S. in Political Science from the University of Houston. As a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, he volunteers his time to empower the next generation of storytellers.

Joe and his wife have three children.

Dionicio Hernandez, Account Supervisor of Mosaico, Latino and Multicultural Division

of FineMan PR

Dionicio Hernandez supports both Mosaico and Fineman PR’s general market accounts. Dionicio has worked in a variety of industries including financial, pharmaceutical, food & beverage, non-profit, education and real estate. Dionicio currently serves clients such as Foster Farms, Xoom.com, HNTB, Nestle Health Sciences, American Humane Association and non-profit Mission Economic

Development Agency. As a first generation Mexican- American, Dionicio was raised in a bilingual household in Northern California and supports the Mosaico team with his intimate knowledge of the Latino community and its cultural sensitivities and nuances. He studied Global Economics and Latin American Latino Studies at the University of California Santa Cruz, and also attended the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México in México City.

Jessica Airey, Diversity & Inclusion Liaison, PRSA National

Jessica is a new professional with a passion for celebrating diversity and advocating for the value of different perspectives. She is the immediate past national vice president of advocacy for PRSSA (Public Relations Student Society of America) during which time she also served on the PRSA Diversity Committee. A native to California, Jessica has experience working with organizations in five countries and speaks four languages. She currently works in the technology practice at MSL Group in their San Francisco office.