About Us

LENORA BILLINGS-HARRIS

President & Founder

Lenora Billings-Harris is an internationally recognized leadership strategist and keynote speaker whose work centers on fostering understanding, respect, and courageous dialogue. For more than three decades, she has helped organizations and individuals develop the skills needed to turn conflict into collaboration and conversation into connection.

Lenora has inspired audiences in over fifty-three countries on six continents. She co-authored TRAILBLAZERS: How Top Business Leaders Are Accelerating Results Through Inclusion and Diversity and authored The Diversity Advantage: A Guide to Making Diversity Work, 3rd Edition.

Her background includes management roles with two Fortune 100 companies and the Graduate School of Business at the University of Michigan. She has led and served on numerous nonprofit boards, including as past president of Win-Win Resolutions and as a founding charter member of the Maricopa County Black Chamber of Commerce in Phoenix.

Lenora has been recognized as one of the 100 Global Thought Leaders on Diversity and Inclusion by the Society for Human Resource Management and one of the Top 20 Most Influential Diversity Leaders in the U.S. by Diversity Woman magazine. Her award-winning research on leadership and inclusion has been published globally, and she currently serves as a university trustee in Virginia, and on the advisory committee of the Nido Qubein School of Communication at High Point University.

A past president of both the National Speakers Association and the Global Speakers Federation, Lenora is a trailblazer in the speaking profession. She is the first African American woman inducted into the Speaker Hall of Fame, recipient of the Cavett Award, and the 2024 International Ambassador Award from the Global Speakers Federation. In 2022, she received an Honorary Doctorate in Humanities from Averett University for her groundbreaking contributions to leadership, diversity and communication.

Today, Lenora’s primary focus is the Critical Voices Initiative, a nonprofit organization she founded to help people engage in honest, effective, and sometimes uncomfortable conversations that lead to stronger relationships, wiser decisions, and more peaceful communities.

She lives in Greensboro, North Carolina—where her two cats graciously allow her to share their home.

VALDA FORD

Vice President

Valda Ford, MPH, MS, RN

Valda Ford is an internationally recognized expert on women’s sexual and reproductive health, maternal and infant mortality reduction, and health equity. A native of High Point, North Carolina, she has spent more than 25 years speaking, teaching, and leading initiatives that have saved lives across six continents.

Her areas of expertise include:

• Women’s sexual and reproductive health
• Reducing infant and maternal mortality
• Advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion with a focus on health equity
• Coaching leaders to strengthen communication and speaking skills

Valda has delivered keynotes and workshops for organizations such as the American Heart Association, Healthy Start, and the United Way. She is equally adept at engaging large international audiences as she is guiding small groups of executives in tackling sensitive issues.

Her leadership has taken her into refugee camps in Ghana, where she developed sustainable health programs; into villages in Sierra Leone, where she partnered with tribal chiefs; and into Afghanistan, where she supported the recruitment and training of teachers. Valda’s deep commitment to cultural competency and her skill as a mediator allow her to build bridges across divides and create lasting change.

In addition to maintaining her license as a registered nurse, Valda is an accomplished entrepreneur, having launched four successful businesses in the United States and the Caribbean. She continues to be a sought-after voice on diversity and inclusion in health care and beyond.

Valda holds graduate degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Creighton University, as well as an undergraduate degree from Winston-Salem State University. She has been a proud member of the National Speakers Association for over 20 years, serving on its Board of Directors and as president of NSA Carolinas. She also chaired the Education Committee for the Black National Speakers Association, which honored her with the prestigious Thelma G. Wells Trailblazer Award.

Her contributions have been recognized with numerous honors, including being named one of the Triad Business Journal’s Outstanding Women in Business (2016) and receiving Unite for Sight’s Volunteer of the Year (2005) and Philanthropist of the Year (2006) awards. She has earned additional national and international recognition for her work with vulnerable populations, underscoring her lifelong commitment to saving lives and advancing equity around the world.

SUSAN DANIELSEN

Secretary

Susan Danielsen has a global career history of more than 30 years that includes exceptional experience in the law enforcement, security, and media relations fields. She is a retired U.S. Army military police officer who served nearly half of her twenty-four-year career as a paratrooper at Fort Bragg, NC. She held leadership positions of increased responsibility culminating as the Chief of Law Enforcement at The Home of the Army’s Airborne and Special Operations Forces. Her military career also included three assignments as a Public Information Officer, including one in Desert Shield/Storm.Upon retirement, she was a deputy program manager for three consecutive security contracts: Doha, Qatar; Ft. Meade, MD; and, Kabul, Afghanistan.

Most recently, Susan served for nearly seven years as the first Public Information Officer for the Greensboro (NC) Police Department. She is currently enjoying retirement by going to culinary school; and, volunteering with organizations she is passionate about. She holds a B.A. in Psychology with a minor in Journalism from Rutgers University, and a M.A. in Industrial Education from Central Michigan University. Susan has one daughter ---also a Soldier.

MITCH MARGO

At Large

A former reporter for The Detroit News and Los Angeles Herald Examiner and a syndicated columnist for fourteen years, Mitch Margo is a native New Yorker and St. Louis trial lawyer. He’s witnessed the clash of cultures that are woven into his first novel, Black Hearts White Minds. Much of the story is drawn from his personal experiences, interviews, and hundreds of hours of research. He credits his eclectic law practice for a new storyline every few days.

One of Mitch’s defining moments came when a Herald Examiner editor assigned him to drive to San Fernando Valley so the paper could be the first to report a brushfire, should one start. Aware that San Fernando Valley spans 260 square miles, he interpreted the request as one to start a brushfire, so he drove to the Lakers game instead and applied to law school the next morning.

As general counsel to the Missouri Valley Conference, and a former youth coach, Mitch has an insider’s view of basketball that enables him to write about it authentically. He’s also a member of the Washington University Sports Hall of Fame, at one time holding the school record in just about every baseball statistic. He’s proud of his days as a student/athlete but hasn’t lost sight of the fact that you can’t get too much farther from Cooperstown and still be in a hall of fame.

PETER (PECE) GORGIEVSKI

Trustee

Peter is a humankind enthusiast devoted to humanitarian progress. He is a global citizen. Peter's greatest passion and focus is creating a culture of peace throughout the world. He is co-founder of GDF, Global Shipment and Unity in Diversity.