Leading Change: Harnessing the Power of Diversity Equity and Inclusion in Business Sessions

Yira Coleman is the Director of Channel Partnerships at Coastal Payroll. In her role, Yira connects Coastal’s team with health benefit brokers, accountants, HR consultants, financial professionals and the like to form strategic partnership relationships. She has more than 19 years of experience in business development, and she joined Coastal Payroll in 2022. Outside of work, Yira is a mom of three, a published author, and she enjoys traveling, spending time with family and cooking healthy meals.

Bill de la Cruz, MBA, (Senior DEI Consultant); Bill de la Cruz is an inspiring leader who has been guiding individuals and groups through the process of personal transformation as a mediator, presenter, keynote speaker and facilitator for 30 years. He delivers and facilitates bias awareness and bias deconstruction workshops across the country. Bill has developed his programs and workshops to help individuals, groups, and organizations to build self-awareness, enhance relationships and support to foster positive, sustainable personal growth. These steps lead to a more diverse, equitable and inclusive corporate culture. Bill has been on his own personal growth journey for more than 40 years which inspired him to develop specific practices designed to help create positive, lasting change. Bill supports his clients in normalizing the bias conversation to understand the experiential and emotional origination point of a biased experience or narrative. He understands the origination point of our biases is the point of understanding and healing. Normalizing bias conversations allows us to talk about how our own experiences play a role in the disparities of outcomes for management and staff using a biased lens. Bill uses specific processes to find the origination point of conversations to talk about disparities in DEI behaviors, social, emotional growth, and systemic barriers. The resulting discussions lead to identifying how we create biases, judgments, and stereotypes and the impacts they have on our daily personal and professional life interactions. Bill is a national expert on creating organizational cultures of belonging and inclusion and has worked with a variety of organizations such as corporations, non-profits, police departments, doctors and educators. Bill is a published author having written two books, Finding The Origination Point, Understanding Our Biases to Create a More Peaceful World and Flipping Failure a Blueprint for Self-Growth and Transformation and hosts a podcast called The Origination Point. Bill has an MBA in Negotiations and Conflict Resolution and uses organizational change theory as a model to facilitate corporate change.

Sara Jeckovich, M.A. works as a Peacebuilder and Program Director with Pollack Peacebuilding Systems, a nation-wide workplace conflict resolution consulting firm. Sara empowers individuals and teams across the nation to navigate conflict and embrace differences through Training, Coaching, Mediation and Facilitation services. With a background in behavioral health, Sara has worked extensively with youth in residential settings and refugees in resettlement, experiences that deeply inform her approach to Peacebuilding. She has developed training curricula for international NGOs, as well as assisted in the creation of standardized practices for public and private sector organizations throughout the nation. Passionate about fostering understanding and collaboration, Sara utilizes proven techniques to help organizations create harmonious workplaces.

Sara Jeckovich, M.A. works as a Peacebuilder and Program Director with Pollack Peacebuilding Systems, a nation-wide workplace conflict resolution consulting firm. Sara empowers individuals and teams across the nation to navigate conflict and embrace differences through Training, Coaching, Mediation and Facilitation services. With a background in behavioral health, Sara has worked extensively with youth in residential settings and refugees in resettlement, experiences that deeply inform her approach to Peacebuilding. She has developed training curricula for international NGOs, as well as assisted in the creation of standardized practices for public and private sector organizations throughout the nation. Passionate about fostering understanding and collaboration, Sara utilizes proven techniques to help organizations create harmonious workplaces.

Lee is founder of Simplify Language, providing training to make written and spoken communication more accessible, inclusive, and efficient. Since 2023 he has trained 60 organizations including educational institutions, government agencies, nonprofits, health care organizations, and businesses. Lee gives dynamic keynote speeches at conferences and has led over 500 workshops nationwide on language, culture, and inclusion. His trainings are engaging, challenging, and immediately actionable. He also provides editing services and trainings on Facilitating and Presenting. Lee co-founded the nonprofit Intercambio Uniting Communities in 2000 and was the CEO for 20 years. During his leadership, Intercambio connected 10,000 adult immigrants with 5,000 volunteer English teachers in Boulder County and established a national network of several hundred organizations. In 2024 Intercambio received $2M from the MacKenzie Scott Foundation. He authored two publications, including The Immigrant Guide, which has sold over 300,000 copies Lee received a BBA from the University of Michigan.

Bill de la Cruz, MBA, (Senior DEI Consultant); Bill de la Cruz is an inspiring leader who has been guiding individuals and groups through the process of personal transformation as a mediator, presenter, keynote speaker and facilitator for 30 years. He delivers and facilitates bias awareness and bias deconstruction workshops across the country. Bill has developed his programs and workshops to help individuals, groups, and organizations to build self-awareness, enhance relationships and support to foster positive, sustainable personal growth. These steps lead to a more diverse, equitable and inclusive corporate culture. Bill has been on his own personal growth journey for more than 40 years which inspired him to develop specific practices designed to help create positive, lasting change. Bill supports his clients in normalizing the bias conversation to understand the experiential and emotional origination point of a biased experience or narrative. He understands the origination point of our biases is the point of understanding and healing. Normalizing bias conversations allows us to talk about how our own experiences play a role in the disparities of outcomes for management and staff using a biased lens. Bill uses specific processes to find the origination point of conversations to talk about disparities in DEI behaviors, social, emotional growth, and systemic barriers. The resulting discussions lead to identifying how we create biases, judgments, and stereotypes and the impacts they have on our daily personal and professional life interactions. Bill is a national expert on creating organizational cultures of belonging and inclusion and has worked with a variety of organizations such as corporations, non-profits, police departments, doctors and educators. Bill is a published author having written two books, Finding The Origination Point, Understanding Our Biases to Create a More Peaceful World and Flipping Failure a Blueprint for Self-Growth and Transformation and hosts a podcast called The Origination Point. Bill has an MBA in Negotiations and Conflict Resolution and uses organizational change theory as a model to facilitate corporate change.