Hayward L. Bell is chief diversity officer for Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN). Raytheon Company, with 2014 sales of $23 billion and 61,000 employees worldwide, is a technology and innovation leader specializing in defense, civil government and cybersecurity markets throughout the world. Raytheon is headquartered in Waltham, Mass. Bell was elected to this position in January 2005 and is a member of Raytheon’s Executive Diversity Leadership Team. As chief diversity officer, Bell is responsible for developing and leading innovative global diversity initiatives, practices, programs and strategies for Raytheon. He also serves as liaison between Raytheon Global Headquarters and all business units to ensure enterprisewide consistency.

Prior to joining Raytheon, Bell served as director, global diversity for Air Products and Chemicals, Inc., a position he held since 1998. As director, global diversity, Bell was responsible for strategic development and senior-level leadership of diversity, including program design, resource planning and implementation. He began his career at Air Products in 1980 and held various positions in finance, corporate policies and professional development.

Bell earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Rutgers University. He is a certified management accountant and holds an MBA from Lehigh University.

Bell is a National Training Laboratories (NTL) Institute certified diversity practitioner. He is a member and past chair of the Conference Board Global Diversity Council and a Board member of the International Multicultural Institute (iMCI)

Nereida (Neddy) Perez, Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer at Ingersoll Rand. She is an internationally known Human Resources and Diversity practitioner with more than 20 years of experience working with Fortune 500 corporations in developing and implementing business strategies designed to remove organizational and cultural barriers designed to spur talent and business growth.

Neddy has been a speaker at a number of national conferences and events in HR, Diversity, Supplier Diversity and STEM. She has served as an advisor on diversity initiatives at an array of Fortune 500 companies and government agencies. Ms. Perez has been on the board of several national nonprofit organizations focusing Manufacturing, Energy, Leadership Development and Workforce Management. In 2014, she was named as the Top Hispanic Executive in the U.S.  by the National Hispanic Business Group and more recently was named one of the top 10 Latina in the U.S. by Latina Style Magazine. A strong advocate for MWBE’s and supplier diversity she has created and implemented supplier diversity programs at KPMG, National Grid and established the initial structure at Ingersoll Rand. 

At age 28, Richard took the reins of a $120 million car and truck dealership group when his father was forced to retire suddenly. This was a 100 year old family business and he was the 4th generation of his family to be CEO. That alone was a challenge. Worse, the business was losing $3.5 million a year. With help from his mentor Frank, Richard was able to apply creative strategies, articulate a crystal clear vision, hire the right people and forge a dynamic team. Ultimately he helped the business to survive and then prosper in a tough and competitive industry.

During his time as a CEO, Richard's leadership style matured from a controlling micro-manager to a coach and mentor. Today he shares with his audiences how they can achieve this in their own organizations.

Richard lives in Evergreen Colorado with his wife and two teenage children and likes to spend his leisure time golfing, skiing and traveling with family and friends.

Richard is a professional member of the National Speakers Association and is also a Board Member of the NSA-Colorado chapter.

Wendy Lewis is responsible for implementing game changing Diversity and Inclusion strategic and metric based platforms for Major League Baseball’s Club franchises, its Central Office, MLB Advanced Media and MLB Network. She has developed and implemented the innovative and wildly successful Diversity Economic Impact Engagement (DEIE) model. DEIE is designed to advance League-wide the level of MLB’s workforce, supply chain and Club engagement levels of diversity and inclusion leadership and progress. A key and groundbreaking component of the DEIE initiative is MLB’s Diversity Business Summit, an unprecedented diversity employment and procurement trade fair event that provides a unique and substantive opportunity for job seekers, business owners, emerging entrepreneurs and community and advocacy leaders to network with MLB Human Resources and Procurement executives. Theses industry influencers are from all 30 Clubs, Central Office, Advanced Media, the Network, and Minor League Baseball. The Commissioner and other key dignitaries and chief executives are in attendance as well. The Summit was officially launched in 2012, co-hosted by the Chicago White Sox in Chicago. The Chicago Summit would be the first time in professional sports that an event of this nature and scope had been staged. The 2013 MLB Diversity Business Summit was co-hosted by the Houston Astros in Houston, and in 2014 the New York Yankees co-hosted in New York City. The 2014 MLB Diversity Business Summit greatly surpassed all expectations in regards to attendance and outcomes. The "DBS" is transforming the employment and procurement pipelines of MLB.

Wendy is also responsible for the Diverse Business Partners Program, the premier supplier diversity program in professional sports. "DBP" was established to cultivate new and existing partnerships with minority and women-owned businesses. Under Wendy’s leadership, a greater number of diverse businesses have had an opportunity to participate in the procurement process for MLB’s desired goods and services. Since its formation, more than $1 billion has been spent with thousands of minority-owned and women-owned businesses.

Wendy also serves as a member of the Commissioner’s On-Field Diversity Task Force created in 2013 to address the talent pipeline that impacts the representation and development of diverse players and on-field personnel in Major League Baseball, particularly African-Americans. The wide-ranging group, which includes representatives from Club Ownership, Club Front Offices, Central Office, Minor League Baseball, former players, the Major League Baseball Players Association, the MLB Scouting Bureau, academia and collegiate baseball. The Task Force focuses on the myriad of issues influencing on-field diversity and inclusion at all levels of baseball.

Most recently she has supported and continues to direct the Commissioner’s appointment of MLB’s newest diversity and inclusion role, the Ambassador of Inclusion.

She has been recognized by national and international organizations, is the recipient of numerous awards, frequently selected for publication features and is a highly regarded key note speaker and subject matter expert.

Wendy holds a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from the University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh and an MBA from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois.

Robert F. Wiedefeld’s career in senior management positions has spanned four and a half decades in both the private and public sectors.  He has served as President and Chief Operating Officer of Sales Systems, Inc., in Memphis; Clarinda Color, Inc., in Minneapolis, and the John D. Lucas Printing Company, Inc., in Baltimore.  Each of these private sector assignments involved critical turn-around situations which required extensive use of the fundamental principles of management, finance, marketing, and customer service in the restructure of the firms.  During the early 1980s he performed the duties of Regional Director of Marketing for the American Management Association, and traveled extensively throughout the United States and Canada delivering workshops on various management, finance, marketing, and strategic planning topics.  Mr. Wiedefeld has an extensive background specializing in the restructure and development of companies for optimal organizational and profit performance.  When his time permits, he also serves as a facilitator of seminars and workshops with the ultimate goal of working with practitioners to strengthen their strategic and operational management skills for improved productivity and performance.    

Earlier in his management career he served as Chief Pilot of the United States Naval Academy Flight Training Program, Chief Fiscal Officer at Catonsville Community College, and Chief Financial Officer at Prince George’s Community College, two of the larger community colleges in the Baltimore/Washington area.    He has also served as Chair of the Management and Marketing Department at Prince George’s Community College, and as the Area Chair of Management, and Professor of Finance, Philosophy, and General Studies in the undergraduate and graduate programs at The University of Phoenix.  He has delivered strategic planning sessions, workshops, and seminars for the past thirty years for clients such as the Martin Marietta Corporation, Pfizer, The United States Postal Service Executive Institute, NASA, Genstar Corporation, The Gernhardt Management Group, Monotype Composition, Inc., EBI Inc., and the Southern Management Corporation, among others.

Mr. Wiedefeld has served in an active capacity on the Board of Directors of the John D. Lucas Printing Company, the Board of the Maryland Schools for the Deaf, and numerous selection committees for high-level positions in the private and public sectors.

Mr. Wiedefeld has an MBA in Management and Finance from Loyola College, a BA in Pre-Law Studies from the University of South Florida, and has extensively pursued studies in management, finance, and marketing at George Washington University, The University of Nebraska at Omaha, and the University of Baltimore.  He completed his doctoral course work and is abd, at the School of Public Administration, the University of Southern California. He is also a graduate of AMA’s Management Course for Presidents. He is coauthor of a novel entitled Alejandra’s Quest, published in 2013.