Speakers
Mr. Gill brings more than 25 years of private and public sector experience working with major corporate executives, law firm executive committees, hospital administrators, and college presidents. Lee Gill's passionate belief is that no organization can afford not to harness the rainbow of demographic change for a competitive advantage. As he views it, "The Business Case for Diversity" is akin to the education process, "learn it well and be rewarded. Fail to learn it and be left behind."
Lee received his B.A. degree in Political Science and Sociology from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, and his Juris Doctor Degree in law from the Illinois Institute of Technology, Kent College of Law, Chicago, IL.
In 1996, Mr. Gill was appointed Dean of Lake Michigan College's Institute for Diversity and Leadership. His responsibilities included enhancing and improving the College's climate for diversity by providing services to students, faculty, and staff through designing and implementing programs, workshops, recruitment initiatives, and other innovative strategies that promote inclusiveness.
In 2003, Lake Michigan College was one of five community colleges recognized nationally with the Central Region, Association of Community College Trustees, Charles Kennedy Equity Award for its outstanding diversity initiatives.
In March 2008, Mr. Gill was appointed as The University of Akron's, Akron, Ohio, first Associate Vice President for Inclusion & Equity/Chief Diversity Officer. In that role, he directs outreach efforts to diverse populations of students, faculty, staff, and community members to develop mentoring programs, workshops, and seminars that raise cultural awareness, expand cultural competencies, and bring about a greater understanding and valuing of differences in people. In addition to this, he leads broad discussions about the need for a new or revised Inclusive Excellence policy; designing and implementing strategies to recruit and retain a diverse pool of students, faculty, and staff members; and assesses learning outcomes related to Inclusive Excellence. In April of 2011, his University Diversity Council received national recognition by being named the 20th top Diversity Council in the nation. In April 2012, the University of Akron was ranked 18th.
Demonstrating “an outstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion,” in November 2012, The University of Akron was among a select group of colleges and universities to receive the first-ever Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) award from INSIGHT into Diversity magazine, the oldest and largest diversity-focused publication in higher education. We received this award again in November 2013.
He serves on numerous boards of directors including the NCORE Advisory Board, (National Conference on Race and Ethnicity in American Higher Education), the National Conference of Artists, he served on the Martin Luther King, Jr., National Memorial Project Board to review the artistic vision track the construction of the Memorial which officially opened on October 16, 2011. In July 2011, he was named President of the Ohio Diversity Officers Collaborative (ODOC). In March 2014, he was the recipient of the 2014 Harold K. Stubbs Humanitarian Award. In June 2014, received the Diversity Visionary Award from Insight Into Diversity Magazine, and was appointed to the Board of the Akron Urban League. In 2015, Mr. Gill was appointed to the Akron General Medical Center’s Board of Directors.
The Ohio Diversity Officers Collaboration (ODOC) is the principal organization of diversity officers and multicultural specialist at Ohio institutions of higher education. The organization was established in response to the growing need for higher education to leverage and maximize investments in diversity initiatives, provide opportunities for cross-institutional exchange, benchmarking and metrics development, and enhancing experiential standards among diversity professionals.