ABOUT BACE
The BACE Committee for Advancement & Equity is collaborating with The Center for Accounting Transformation supporting organizational talent recruitment and retention. Join us and become our partner in the work!
This groundbreaking report uncovers strategies to attract, retain, and empower a diverse workforce in accounting. Get your FREE copy of The DEI Journey of the Accounting Profession.
BACE Values & Commitment to Talent Pathways
Credibility
Trusted Voices and Spaces
Action
Get to Work
Transparency
Standard of Excellence
Innovative
Industry Transformation
Equity
Equitable Opportunity
Service
Committed to Community
Mission: Equity Works!
The Black Alliance of Colleges and Employers (BACE), originally ideated in 2008, addresses the unique needs and challenges of institutions and employers serving inclusive and diverse tale including a focus on military, veterans and spouses.
BACE V-Suite is fiscally sponsored by the YWCA Metropolitan Chicago Breedlove Accelerator with their mission of eliminating racism and economic empowerment including career services, workforce development and entrepreneurship.
BACE Research
Inter-disciplinary forum advancing racial equity through data transparency and reporting with a focus on policies, procedures and accountability.
This pillar led by the BACE Committee for Advancement provides:
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Credible research and publishing alliances
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Best practice and setting the standard of excellence in the practice and operation of inclusion and belonging in academia, corporate, non-profit and government
• Research Fellowships
BACE Campus and Careers
Inter-disciplinary forum advancing racial equity through leadership advocacy and development along with organizational transformation in support of workplace talent.
In partnership with Onyx2Rise, BACE Campus and Careers join to provide:
● Advanced level of alliance with minority-serving institutions and PWIs
● Advancing work of pathways, pipelines and business opportunities to fill gaps around hiring, retention and career progression along with entrepreneurship for communities including our V-Suite supporting military/veterans and their families
● BACE Research Institute in collaboration with our campus alliance partners focusing on procedures, policies and organizational transformation
● Campus Scholars, Internships and Service Learning in alliance with corporate and non-profit alliance partners
BACE Impact
Learn more about what we do
Campus Research and Career Pilots
The Black Alliance of Colleges and Employers (BACE) has been engaging with colleges and universities, strategic partnerships supporting corporations, associations and entrepreneurs. View a full list of our past events on the JOIN US page.
2025 Initiatives include:
*BACE industry transformation initiatives for talent innovations including leadership advancement and development; internship partnerships, certifications, Career Fairs/Expos, campus programming pilots; and entrepreneurship.
*BACE "Transforming Institutional Capital Through Alliance" at UNCF UNITE 2025
*BACE Summit 2025 & 2026 Research Conference with call for papers announced soon.
*BACE V-Suite provides career and business support for military, veterans & military spouses including alliance with YWCA Metropolitan Chicago Breedlove Accelerator and "Black Veterans Expo"
2024 Initiatives included:
*BACE Committee for Advancement industry transformation initiatives for talent innovations. Our research also includes executive and talent pipeline and pathways along with entrepreneurship.
*BACE "In The Boardroom" Series with HBCU/PBI Working Group - Finance, Real Estate, Appraisal, and Brokerage
*BACE V-Suite, career and business support for military, veterans & military spouses including alliance with YWCA Metropolitan Chicago Breedlove Accelerator and SBA Reboots to Business
2023 Initiatives included:
*Launch of BACE Committee for Black Advancement & Equity at the National HBCU Business Deans Roundtable Summit at KPMG Lakehouse Orlando. The committee presented the closing panel: "HBCU Organizational Sustainability Through Alliance" at the 2023 National HBCU Business Deans Roundtable Summit and Student Conference hosted by the KPMG Lakehouse Orlando on June 9, 2023.
Panelists:
Stephani Mason, Associate Professor, Accounting, DePaul University School of Business;
David Canada, Director of Global Supplier Diversity, Boeing;
Capt. Patricia Crawford, Medical Service Corps Officer, U.S. Air Force Reserve;
Eve Lewis, Senior Director, Global Inclusive Talent, Uber;
Shannon Stone-Winding, President & CEO, Black Alliance of Colleges & Employers (BACE);
Tatum Thomas, PhD, Dean, DePaul University;
Moderator: Kelli Lester, Co-Founder, Onyx Rising
About the National HBCU Business Deans Roundtable Summit https://www.hbcubusinessdeans.org/
BACE Bronze Level Panel Sponsor: Uber
https://www.uber.com/us/en/about/diversity/black-at-uber
*BACE Committee for Advancement & Equity launches industry transformation initiatives for talent with corporate partners
*Soft launch of BACE V-Suite, career and business support for military, veterans and spouses
In addition, BACE has supported youth engagement in North Lawndale, Chicago pre-K through 8th grade institution. This engagement has included Board support, career and entrepreneurship programming and service learning opportunities for campus partners.
WonderWomen of Diversity
WonderWomen of Diversity has hosted dinner conversations about diversity, equity, and inclusion in the academic and corporate setting with female leaders.
Outside of the intimate dinner discussions and business tours, we convened during The PhD Project Conference for a discussion on diversity with leading diversity scholars – Drs. Quinetta Roberson (formerly of Villanova University) and Tina Opie (Babson College), along with Erika Broadwater, the National President of National Association of African Americans in Human Resources, during the annual conference of The PhD Project.
We reconvened for Building the Diversity Pipeline in virtual format during The PhD Project Conference virtually in 2020 to highlight how Corporate America can engage with academia to build a talent pipeline that is diverse and inclusive. The panelists were Dr. Erika James, Dean of the Wharton School of Business; Dr. Sandra Richtermeyer, Dean of the University of Massachusetts Lowell School of Business; and Dr. Jennifer Joe, Chief Diversity Advocate, Alfred Lerner College of Business & Economics, University of Delaware. Jamal Watson, executive editor of Diverse: Issues In Higher Education, was the moderator. Read more at Wiley's Diversity in Research: https://www.diversityinresearch.careers/article/the-wonder-woman-group-diversity-discussion-building-the-talent-pipeline/?s=11
Early Spring 2021, we hosted Expanding the Diversity of Women in Policy, Politics, and Government with Hasoni Pratts, the National Director of Engagement – Pete for America; Cecilia Cabello, California State Director – Pete for America and Hillary for America; Karen Freeman-Wilson, Former Gary Mayor/Indiana Attorney General; Kira Sanbonmatsu, Professor of Political Science at Rutgers and Senior Scholar at the Center for American Women and Politics, and Kimberly Peeler-Allen, the co-founder of Higher Heights.
In May 2021, we convened WonderWomen of Diversity series on Cultivating Diversity in Philanthropy and Non-Profits with Dorri McWhorter, the CEO of YWCA Metropolitan Chicago, and Dr. Una Osili, Associate Dean for Research at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. Una’s research focuses on diversity in philanthropy. Andrea Saez, COO, Chicago Community Trust represented the perspective of community foundation, especially as a leader from a diverse background. The panel was moderated by Cora Cervantes from MSNBC.
In December 2021, WonderWomen of Diversity reunited with The PhD Project for How Bias in Economics Hurts Us All. The economics profession includes disproportionately few women and members of historically underrepresented racial/ethnic minority groups, relative both to the overall population and to other academic disciplines. This underrepresentation is present at the undergraduate level, continues into the ranks of the academy, and has barely improved over time. It likely hampers the discipline (and allied disciplines such as finance, accounting, management, and marketing), constraining the range of issues addressed and limiting our collective ability to understand familiar issues from new and innovative perspectives (Bayer and Rouse, 2016).
The WonderWomen of Diversity and The PhD Project discussed how the Economics pipeline issue impacts public policy, theories used in academic research, as well as how we can all participate in being a part of the solution. Hosted by Dr. Stephani Mason, Professor, DePaul University, School of Accountancy and MIS; Founder, WonderWomen of Diversity featuring: Dr. Lisa Cook, Professor, Department of Economics and in International Relations (James Madison College), Michigan State University Dr. Miriam Jorgensen, Research Director for the Native Nations Institute, University of Arizona and the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development Dr. Marie Mora, Provost and Associate Vice Chancellor for Strategic Initiatives University of Missouri - St. Louis and moderated by Dr. David Porter, Executive Vice President of Strategy, People + Culture at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
BACE Impact
Learn more about what we do
BACE V-Suite for Veterans and Military Families
2024 BACE V-Suite Launch
The Black Alliance of Colleges and Employers (BACE) is excited to launch a career and entrepreneurship accelerator for military and veteran families.
*Career and workforce cohorts
*Incubator and Accelerator cohorts
*ERG Quarterly Roundtables
*Veteran Empowered with YWCA Metropolitan Chicago for women veterans and spouses
*Career and entrepreneurship support at regional VBOCs including Reboot to Business
2020-22 ACTIVITIES
Military Entrepreneurship Summit
The Black Alliance of Colleges and Employers (BACE) collaborated with Syracuse University Institute for Veterans and Military Families on their September 2022 Military Entrepreneurship Summit. BACE focused on the corporate Chicago panel with The Obama Foundation, Uber, World Business Chicago, and American Water. BACE also secured the opening remarks from Choose Chicago representing the Mayor's Office Tourism and Events.
Women Veterans Wellness Initiative expansion into career and entrepreneurship
The Black Alliance of Colleges and Employers (BACE) supported the Women Veterans Wellness Initiative as it expanded into career and entrepreneurship. This initiative included the strategic framework collaboratively with Onyx2Rise. In addition, BACE designed the Women's History Month programming for the March 2022 Women Veterans Convening that gathered higher education, industry, and community leaders to explore research, career and entrepreneurship best practice and gaps.
Opening Remarks:
Walidah Bennett, Director, Multi-Faith Veterans Initiative (MVI) at DePaul University
Anthony Cosby, Director, AmericaServes at Syracuse University Institute for Veterans and Military Families
Scholars Across the Discipline:
Willie Reddic, PhD, Associate Professor, Syracuse University Whitman School of Management and The PhD Project
Rosalinda Vasquez Maury, Director of Applied Research and Analytics, Syracuse University Institute for Veterans and Military Families
Master Sergeant Tamesha Armstead, EdD, Dissertation, Baylor University: “When You Finally See Us: A Narrative Inquiry of The Rare Sighting of Black Females in Officer Ranks and Positions in the United States Air Force”
Corporate Panelists:
Karen Freeman-Wilson
President & CEO, Chicago Urban League
Former Mayor, Gary, Indiana
Philip T. Anderson, Ph.D., CDP
Director, Leadership Institute, Argonne National Laboratory
Training and Organizational Effectiveness Advisor for the Army Readiness Group at Fort Sheridan, Illinois (Retired)
Stacey Dixon, Ed.D.
Former Director, Student Veteran Service Support, National Louis University
U.S. Marine Corps, CWO3 (Retired)
Moderated by:
Kelli Lester (McMiller)
Chief Strategy Officer, Engaging Solutions
Kelli Lester is the new Chief Strategist at Engaging Solutions, a management consulting firm headquartered in Indianapolis. She has spent nearly a decade as a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) consultant for The Kaleidoscope Group, and years working in corporate America creating the foundation for organizational success in the DEI area. Kelli has a proven record in defining vision, developing strategy and executing action plans that produce sustainable results.
Closing Remarks:
Shannon Stone-Winding
President & CEO, Black Alliance of Colleges and Employers (BACE)
The inaugural Women's History Month VetHER Convening was sponsored by the Multi-Faith Veterans Initiative (MVI) and Boeing supported by the Arthur Lockhart Resource Institute Sister to Sister Program, Christ Universal Temple “Women Veteran We Rise” with the Black Alliance of Colleges and Employers (BACE), Syracuse University Institute of Veterans and Military Families (IVMF), and the Coalition of Veterans Organizations (CVO).