Bates Center for Entrepreneurship and Leadership

Talk with a leading diversity, equity and inclusion human resources professional about company culture: How to identify it, how it may affect you, and how to change it. Serilda, who owns her HR consultancy, will also discuss what employers in the virtual workspace are looking for in summer hires and recent graduates.

Listen to the Executive Director of Friends of the Children-Portland address the widening digital divide and the resultant issues impacting underrepresented children across Portland. Traci will discuss the challenges that “going virtual” has presented to her mission of removing the obstacles that stand in the way of success for these highest priority youth, and discuss solutions for closing that digital divide.

Converse with the first openly gay woman to become CEO of a Fortune 500 company. Beth Ford, CEO of Land O Lakes ( a company that touches 300,000 farmers and half the harvested acres in the nation) wants to respond to your questions about career advancement, innovations in sustainable agriculture, and amplifying underrepresented voices in the workplace. Beth is getting to know Lewis & Clark with her daughter, Gigi, who happens to be a First year here!

Come learn about Zoe’s mission to make the food sector more diverse and inclusive and why she is backing companies overlooked by traditional investors. The Chobani Incubator tackles broken food systems and provides start-ups with access and expertise to achieve scale and growth.

Engage with a seasoned life science entrepreneur on the various and nefarious ways to engage in entrepreneurship. Sandra’s career has involved product development, IP licensing, global health, and relationship-building among NGOs, government agencies and international businesses. She will share insights gleaned from work in academia, government agencies in the U.S. and Europe, start-up companies and nonprofits.