Client Success Stories
Leadership Program Drives 20% Promotion Rate
As the country’s oldest health department, the Boston Public Health Commission (BPHC) has a rich history of working in partnership with communities to protect and promote the health and well-being of Boston residents, especially those impacted by racism and systemic inequities. BPHC has over 1,200 employees spread across eight campuses in Boston and offers over 40 services to residents.
The Need
In a post-pandemic world, the BPHC acknowledged the toll that COVID had taken on its workforce, many of whom were on the front lines of caring for the Boston community during extenuating circumstances. The leadership team recognized the need to invest in their talent infrastructure in order to ensure the health and wellbeing of their workforce. They also wanted to empower their people to carryout out their mission in a healthy, productive and sustainable way.
A thorough analysis of the roles across the organization revealed two important findings:
- The demographics of the leadership team did not reflect the make-up of the communities that the Commission serves;
- Many individuals who were not in managerial roles had stepped in to take on significant leadership responsibilities during the pandemic.
There was a desire to both recognize their efforts and these individuals’, specifically BIPOC women, through new growth and career opportunities.
The Solution
BPHC partnered with the Simmons University Institute for Inclusive Leadership to implement an Emerging Leaders Program, an intensive leadership development program offered to a select group of BIPOC women across the organization.
The cohort was limited to 20 participants, who were identified and nominated by the Directors as high potential talent who had gone above and beyond to create impact in their communities and were good candidates for future leadership opportunities.
The instructor-led virtual program was delivered over the course of several weeks and was designed to accommodate the varying schedules required of front line workers, many of whom were attending the first leadership development program of their career.
The program included a carefully crafted combination of learning components and was delivered at a cadence that allowed for real-time learning and practical on-the-job application. The content was tailored to ensure that the concepts were applicable to the participants’ lived experiences in public health.
8 expert-facilitated
live sessions
Interactive 3-hour virtual sessions led by a diverse group of Simmons faculty incorporated a blend of guided discussion focused around critical tools, skills, and strategies uniquely faced by women in the workforce.
One-on-one
coaching sessions
Each participant was matched to a coach and received two one-on-one 50-minute sessions designed to deepen their self-awareness and empower them to activate their learning.
Best Self 360
Assessment Report
Participants completed a 360 leadership assessment to gather feedback and insights on their strengths. This report served as a foundation for participants as they worked to define and own who they are at their best, and develop an intentional approach to leveraging their superpowers as leaders.
Independent and
group work
Self-paced learning on a dedicated learning platform in between sessions reinforced core concepts through videos, reading, and guided reflection. This “flipped classroom” approach enables the live sessions to be more interactive and encourages participants to practice new skills during the program.
All attendees who completed the program received a Simmons University Certificate of Completion, which has become widely recognized as a significant career achievement and a source of both professional credibility and pride culturewide. Following the success of the first cohort, the program ran a second time the following year.
The Results
To date, 20% of the participants who attended the inaugural Emerging Leaders Program have been promoted to leadership positions since completing the curriculum. In addition, three individuals have been promoted from the two programs completed in 2024.
Equally as important, as Anissa Ray, Director, Consortium for Professional Development & Director, Community Health Education Center notes, is that a dynamic culture evolution is underway, making a more inclusive and people centered workplace for all. This programming is creating an environment where employees, especially underrepresented populations, feel seen and heard – and recognized for their contribution.
Following the success of the first cohort, BPHC reengaged Simmons to roll out an Inclusive Leader Accelerator Certificate program, open to a broader population of both men and women interested in stepping in to lead their teams into the future.
In addition, the original cohort of BIPOC women was reengaged 2+ years after completing the program to help drive an organizational change initiative focused on identifying critical issues that need to be addressed in order for the Commission to continue to thrive into the future.
The content for this program is based on the Strategic Leadership Accelerator, a leadership experience designed for women at all career levels that is available as an open-enrollment offering or can be delivered exclusively for your organization. Speak with an Institute Expert to learn more.
BPHC Program Faculty
Program Faculty
Audra Bohannon
Founder, Bohannon Advisory
Audra Bohannon
Founder, Bohannon Advisory
As a thought leader in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for over 35 years, Audra has helped individuals and organizations see the possibilities for a better tomorrow. Appreciating differences comes with challenges. Inclusion and equity provides strategic solutions to that challenge by creating cultures where everyone can do well. Audra has served in very focused roles such as trusted advisor, coach, facilitator, guide and, of course, thought leader. It is her deep dedication to those individuals and organizations who want to be better and do better, that keeps her passionate about this important work. It is her transformative power to engage hearts and minds that confirms her commitment to the “potential of all, not just a few.”
Background and Experience
Audra is a publisher and highly sought-after keynote speaker. Drawing on her life and career experiences to stimulate thoughtful conversation, she is fluent in topics related to the empowerment of people with a focus on diversity, equity, inclusion, and race matters. Whether engaging an industry audience or a global summit, her message that “all people have potential” touches emotional buttons to connect people and creates a lasting, often life-changing, impact.
Prior to founding Bohannon Advisory, Audra was a senior client partner at Korn Ferry. Audra also served as principal at Global Novations, senior vice president of Novations Group, and as partner and business architect of J. Howard & Associates, one of the leading consulting and training firms that established the diversity and inclusion industry.
Susan MacKenty Brady
Deloitte Ellen Gabriel Chair for Women & Leadership
CEO, Simmons University Institute for Inclusive Leadership
Susan MacKenty Brady
Deloitte Ellen Gabriel Chair for Women & Leadership
CEO, Simmons University Institute for Inclusive Leadership
Susan is the Deloitte Ellen Gabriel Chair for Women and Leadership at Simmons University and the first Chief Executive Officer of The Simmons University Institute for Inclusive Leadership.
Susan has previously published two books on leadership. Her third, co-authored by Executive Chair of the Board of Deloitte US Janet Foutty and Simmons University President Dr. Lynn Perry Wooten, Arrive & Thrive: 7 Impactful Practices for Women Navigating Leadership (McGraw-Hill), debuted in April 2022 and landed on the best-seller list in the Wall Street Journal, Publishers Weekly, and USA Today.
Susan also serves as emeritus board member for Strong Women, Strong Girls and as a Strategic Advisor for the relationship technology company, Our.Love.
Susan resides in the Boston area and is the proud Mom of two awesome daughters and two rambunctious Portuguese Water Dogs.
Professional Experience
Prior to joining Simmons, Susan was Executive Vice President at Linkage, Inc. a global leadership development consulting and training firm. She founded Linkage’s Women in Leadership Institute™ and launched Linkage’s global practice on Advancing Women Leaders and Inclusive Leadership, and led the field research behind the 7 Leadership Hurdles Women Leaders Face in the Workforce™.
Publications
Featured on ABC’s Good Morning America, Susan is the author of Mastering Your Inner Critic and 7 Other High Hurdles to Advancement: How the Best Women Leaders Practice Self-Awareness to Change What Really Matters (McGraw-Hill, 2018), The 30-Second Guide to Coaching Your Inner Critic (Linkage, 2014), and co-author of Arrive & Thrive: 7 Impactful Practices for Women Navigating Leadership (McGraw-Hill, 2022).
See Susan’s Insights below for more details.
Public Speaking & Consulting
A celebrated speaker, Susan has keynoted or consulted at over 500 organizations around the world. She is host of the popular “Better Understanding” podcast series and a sought-after guest expert on leadership across media platforms, including The Gallup Podcast with Mohammand Younis on The Most Important Leadership Skill? Listening.
Download Susan’s speaker kit to learn more about her work and impact and book her as a keynote speaker at your next event.
Bryn Pane’e Burkhart
Founder & Principal, Bright Evolution Leadership Coaching & Career Management
Bryn Pane’e Burkhart
Founder & Principal, Bright Evolution Leadership Coaching & Career Management
As Founder & Principal of Bright Evolution Leadership Coaching & Career Management, Bryn Pane’e Burkhart empowers her clients to move forward in their lives and careers with clarity and confidence.
We are all works-in-progress, and Bryn’s philosophy is that we should seek to evolve and grow in ways that leverage our natural strengths and gives us a sense of purpose. She guides her clients to be intentional about their leadership strategy and to be authentic to who they are – helping them evolve into the next, better version of themselves.
Background and Experience
Bryn also serves as an Executive Coach at Landit, a personalized career platform created to increase the success and engagement of women and diverse groups in the workplace. She is an Executive Coach for IRelaunch, an organization focused on helping people return to work after a career break. In addition, she is a recommended coach at MIT and the MIT Sloan School of Management, Columbia Business School and Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Bryn holds a B.A. in Journalism from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an Ed.M from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education. She completed her Certified Professional Co-Active Coach (CPCC) training through the Co-Active Training Institute and is a PCC with the International Coaching Federation. She is certified in Gallup Clifton Strengths, MBTI, and Positive Intelligence.
Bryn recently relocated from Boston to Honolulu with her husband, two sons, and sweet mini goldendoodle. As part-Native Hawaiian, she is thrilled to return home to live near her ohana and immerse herself in the aloha spirit.
Kerry Seitz
Vice President, Women’s Leadership
Kerry Seitz
Vice President, Women’s Leadership
Kerry Seitz heads the development of Women’s Leadership programming at Simmons University Institute for Inclusive Leadership. She brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to produce innovative, research-based learning journeys that foster gender parity in organizational leadership worldwide. As a member of the Institute’s leadership team, Kerry is deeply committed to establishing the Institute as a global authority on the intersection of leadership, equity, and inclusion. A Certified Career Coach, Kerry began her work in leadership development as Principal of her own coaching business where she worked predominantly with women relaunching and redefining their career journey.
Outside of work, Kerry enjoys running, yoga, and spending time with her husband, three sons, and (female!) Labrador Retriever.
Professional Experience
Prior to joining Simmons, Kerry was Vice President of Learning and Development at Landit, a career development tech startup aimed at democratizing career success. Prior to that role, Kerry was the Director of Advancing Women and Inclusive Leadership solutions and Executive Director of the Women in Leadership Institute at Linkage, a global leadership consulting firm.
Kerry spent the first ten years of her career in the mental health field. She has served as a clinician at the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children; a researcher at the Wellesley Centers for Women at Wellesley College; a coalition and program manager for the Support to End Exploitation Now coalition at the Children’s Advocacy Center of Suffolk County; and an adjunct faculty member in the criminal justice department at the University of Massachusetts Lowell.
Mary Shapiro
Professor of Practice, School of Business, Simmons University
Mary Shapiro
Professor of Practice, School of Business, Simmons University
For more than 25 years, Mary has served as an Organization Behavior faculty at Simmons University. She is also an executive trainer and a consultant to public and private companies.
She teaches in Simmons’ M.B.A., undergraduate and corporate programs, where specializes in three areas: team building and leadership, influential communication across diverse stakeholders, and strategic career management.
Throughout her career, Mary has consulted with Fortune 500 companies, private institutions, and nonprofits to create vision, mission, and strategic plans; launch teams with operational infrastructure and project plans, and intervene in teams in crises. She also works with numerous boards of directors in strategic planning and She continues to create and deliver an inventory of leadership development seminars.
Professional Experience
Mary joined the Simmons MBA. faculty in 1993. In 2014, she was appointed to the inaugural endowed position of the Kagen Trust Professorship for Leadership Development where she steered the University in developing a leadership platform to be infused throughout the undergraduate program. She developed “The Communication Styles Diagnostic,” an online tool that has been used by thousands of managers to improve their effectiveness with individuals and teams.
Research & Publications
Mary researches and publishes in the areas of women and their careers, and organizations, and their use of male allies as gender-equity initiatives. Her most recent publication is “The HBS Guide to Leading Teams” (Harvard Business School Press, 2014). She has also co-authored two books, Your Job Interview: An Easy, Smart Guide to Interview Success (Silver Lining Books, 2003); and Take Charge of Your Career (Barnes and Noble Publishing Inc., 2004), which extend an understanding of interviewing and career strategies to include the nuances of gender and many dimensions of diversity.
Darlene Slaughter
VP, Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer at the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA)
Darlene Slaughter
VP, Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer at the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA)
Darlene is a visionary with a passion to remove barriers and provide equal opportunities for all. At the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), Darlene is leading a culture of engagement, innovation, accountability, trust, diversity and inclusion.
Darlene’s work in diversity and inclusion has received many awards and honors, including SAVOY’s 2012 Top 100 Influential Women in Corporate America, Profiles in Diversity Journal’s list of Women Worth Watching, Black Enterprise’s Top Executives in Diversity, and Heart & Soul’s Women of Substance in Finance. She has also graced the cover of Inclusion Magazine.
Professional Experience
Darlene has been appointed as the first Chief Diversity Officer for WMATA and is responsible for supporting and creating a culture of inclusion and belonging with all employees in the authority. She works closely with leaders and teams to support equity initiatives that impact communities and ridership within the metro area of Maryland, DC, and Virginia.
Prior to joining WMATA, Darlene served as the Chief Diversity, Inclusion and Engagement Officer at the March of Dimes and designed a program to increase board diversity across the network. As the Chief Diversity Officer for United Way Worldwide and Fannie Mae, her efforts expedited and advanced diversity and inclusion strategies, built external partnerships, and facilitated community initiatives throughout the footprints of both organizations. She also served as the Principal Consultant and Chair of Linkage’s Institute for Leading Diversity and Inclusion where she trained corporate leaders on developing and leading D&I initiatives in the workplace.
Samantha Tan
Consultant & Executive Coach
Samantha Tan
Consultant & Executive Coach
Samantha Tan is a consultant and executive coach in leadership, culture, and group dynamics. She is passionate about women’s leadership and enjoys working across generations and cultures. She helps leaders tap into emerging voices to inform and shape their organizations into the future. She uses the integration of body, emotions, and language to support effective decision-making and sustainable change.
In addition to her coaching practice, Samantha designs and facilitates local, national, and international retreats and off-sites.
Samantha’s work has been published in the Journal of Applied Behavioral Science and she is a chapter contributor to The World Cafe: Shaping the Future Through Conversations That Matter (Berrett-Koehler) where she wrote about creating a culture of learning and care in her birth country, Singapore. Her first career was in strategy and policy development with the Singapore government where she worked on national reform projects in the manpower, arts, and education sectors.
Samantha has a BA in Philosophy from Bristol University in the United Kingdom, a Master of Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and was a Research Fellow in Leadership at the Harvard John F. Kennedy School of Government. She is a graduate of the Newfield Network Certified Coach Training Program.
Samantha lives in Boston, Massachusetts, with her family. She loves painting, gardening and yoga.
Elisa van Dam
Vice President, Allyship & Inclusion
Elisa van Dam
Vice President, Allyship & Inclusion
Elisa van Dam brings a wealth of experience in gender equity and inclusion to her role as head of the Allyship and Inclusion practice area. Elisa works with organizations and individual leaders to increase their understanding and practice of inclusive leadership behaviors. In collaboration with other Institute Fellows, she creates and delivers research-based content and programming, based on our proprietary framework that demystifies the Work of the Inclusive Leader™. She is also responsible for developing and delivering engaging learning experiences for women leaders, including leading the development of the Arrive and Thrive Certificate Program for Women, launching in May 2023.
She recently published The Inclusive Leader’s Playbook: The Work of the Inclusive Leader with co-author Susan MacKenty Brady.
Elisa also maintains a private coaching practice, working with women on how to successfully navigate maternity leave.
Elisa lives in the Boston area with her choreographer husband, their young adult son, and a willful rescue cat.
Professional Experience
Prior to joining Simmons, Elisa was the Director of the Information Technology Programs at the Boston University Corporate Education Center. In this role, she oversaw design, marketing, sales, and operations for their IT training business, featuring open enrollment and custom education programs, as well as certificate programs. She also has extensive experience in the corporate conference arena. Most recently, she was the Vice President, Content and Learning for a global corporate event management company.
Publications
Elisa is a co-author on several Simmons University publications, including:
- The Importance of Belonging in the Workplace (Simmons University Institute for Inclusive Leadership, February 2022)
- The Importance of Authenticity in the Workplace (Simmons University Institute for Inclusive Leadership, July 2021)
- The Inclusive Leader’s Playbook: The Work of the Inclusive Leader (Simmons University Institute for Inclusive Leadership, June 2021)
- Five Influential Factors: Women’s Pathways to Leadership (Simmons University Institute for Inclusive Leadership, September 2020)
- Professional Women and Confidence: A New Understanding of the “Gap” (Center for Gender in Organizations, October 2017)
- Women’s Experiences with “Male Allies” (Center for Gender in Organizations, November 2018).
Suzanne Wilkins
Coach & Organizational Consultant
Suzanne Wilkins
Coach & Organizational Consultant
Suzanne Wilkins is a coach and consultant with over twenty-five years of experience working with organizations and individuals to develop leaders in health care, higher education, retail, financial services and the nonprofit sector. She is also a sought-after conference presenter on leadership development and personal transformation.
Suzanne coaches leaders to enhance their own performance and to create inclusive environments in which organizational goals can be achieved. As a registered drama therapist, Suzanne uses traditional coaching approaches and invites her clients to utilize embodied techniques and tools from the arts to develop critical insights into the myths, meanings, metaphors and memes that drive each leader’s behavior and effectiveness.
As a consultant, she helps organizations develop and fully leverage the talents of their valued employees through coaching, creation, and facilitation of long-term developmental experiences, training, and building inclusive environments.
A playwright and actress, Suzanne performs “Undiscovered” a one-act play on a woman’s journey through mid-life.
Professional Experience
In her former role as Director of Program Services at The Partnership, a Boston-based firm specializing in talent development for professionals of color, Suzanne led the organization’s flagship leadership development programs and guided the firm through a six-month transition period as Interim President and CEO. She has served on several nonprofit boards.
Public Speaking
Suzanne has presented at the Linkage Women in Leadership Institute, the North American Drama Therapy Association and the Association for Group Psychology and Psychotherapy conferences, and keynoted at the American School Counselors Association. A coach through the Harvard Business School Executive Education programs, Wilkins has been on the faculty of Cambridge College, a guest lecturer at Babson College and Bentley University and The Institute for Nonprofit Management & Leadership.
