The Riley Institute at Furman University has chosen 40 leaders to participate in its spring 2025 Upstate Diversity Leaders Initiative program, the organization announced Feb. 3.
During the five-month program, participants will:
- Follow a curriculum that includes interactive case studies and scenario analyses.
- Explore modules related to how diverse teams can better support organizations’ missions and goals and better serve their stakeholders and constituents.
- Engage in discussions regarding topics like the differences between bias and discrimination, the role of context, differences in mental and physical abilities, generational differences and other leadership frameworks.
- Work together to develop capstone projects to respond to real challenges and opportunities in their communities.
The spring 2025 Upstate class includes:
- Trent Acker of Duke Energy
- Liz Bergeron of New Tech Network in Napa, California
- Melanie Brown of Restoration 52 LLC
- Clinton Colmenares, Geniece Mondé and Zachary White of Furman University
- Kelly Coxe of York School District One
- Verhonda Crawford Diehl of VC Consulting LLC
- Reno Deaton of city of Greer
- Deborah DePaoli of Institute for Child Success in Columbia, South Carolina
- Twana Drummond, Damone Herndon, Margret Jung and Stephan Knoche of BMW
- Art Elsey, Mary Giorgi, Brian Keefe, Lida Liu and Tammy Walters of Michelin North America
- Cheryl Garrison of Greenville Chamber
- Ken Gibson of Gibson Law
- Daphnie Glenn of Converse University
- Mike Goll of McMillan Pazdan Smith Architecture
- Teresa Goodman of Community Initiatives Inc.
- Jodey Harper of Greenville Technical College
- West Hyler of SC New Play Festival
- Stephanie Knobel of YMCA of Greenville
- Derwin Lee of Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System
- Jolene Madison of SC School for the Deaf and the Blind
- Carol McEntyre of First Baptist Greenville
- GP McLeer of TogetherSC
- Alma Olmeda of Pendleton Place
- Savannah Ray and Meghan Smith of Spartanburg Academic Movement
- Rut Rivera of LiveWell Greenville
- Peter Rumsey of Habitat for Humanity International
- Hannah Terpack of University of South Carolina Upstate
- Laura Ullrich of Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond in Charlotte, North Carolina
- Eric Wall of Bank of Travelers Rest
- Carmeisha White of Northside Development Group
DLI graduates become Riley Fellows, members of a network of over 2,900 South Carolinians that includes corporate CEOs, legislators, superintendents, religious and nonprofit heads, and business and community leaders. For more information, visit furman.edu/riley.
