Vice President of Marketing, Ralphs Grocery Co., CGA Chair
Kendra Doyel is Chair of the California Grocers Association Board of Directors. She was named vice president of merchandising for Ralphs Grocery Co. in January 2019. She previously served as senior director of human relations for The Kroger Company’s Ralphs and 4 Less/Food Co. divisions. Doyel began her tenure at Kroger in 1998 as a pharmacist at Fry’s Food Stores in Arizona before moving to Kroger’s Ralphs/Food 4 Less divisions as director, public relations and government affairs in 2008. Doyel serves on the board of directors of the Discovery Science Center in Orange County, California; CORO Southern California; and the University of New Mexico Alumni Association. She has a strong passion for gang reduction in inner cities, working with Homeboy Industries to develop creative and sustainable ways to support programs that provide jobs and education.
Monday, September 30, 2019
8:30 - 9:30 a.m.
OPENING REMARKS
Conscious Inclusion: Going Beyond Unconscious Bias
Moderator: Kendra Doyel, Ralphs Grocery Co., CGA Chair
Panel:
- Sharoni Little, Associate Dean/Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer and a professor, Business Communication, USC Marshall School of Business
- Justin Knighten, Director of Strategic Communication and External Affairs, California Volunteers
- Subriana Pierce, Managing Partner, Navigator Sales and Marketing
While unconscious bias awareness has become more important in the grocery workplace, businesses are now faced with an even greater challenge. The fact is, awareness of unconscious bias on its own is not enough. There needs to be a drive towards inclusive actions that moves from a framework of avoiding unconscious bias to a mindset of cultivating conscious inclusion. When applied to the workplace these efforts to foster inclusion can have tremendous results including driving greater innovation and product development, improved customer relations, and the retention of top talent.
In this session, a diverse panel of experts, led by CGA Chair Kendra Doyel, will examine why companies need to move beyond unconscious bias, identify the steps to shift from awareness to action, discuss how to foster a workplace environment that welcomes diverse perspectives, and provide practical steps to implementing meaningful conscious inclusion.