Allegheny College’s Bruce R. Thompson Center for Business and Economics (CBE) will welcome Fields Jackson, Jr. ’80, chief executive officer of Racing Toward Diversity magazine, to address students in an online forum at 12:45 p.m. on Tuesday, September 8. Jackson will present his talk, “Making the Business Case for Diversity,” via Zoom.
“This year, the Center for Business and Economics has a theme of ‘Seeking Justice in a Divided Nation,’ so inviting a speaker like Fields to discuss diversity in business makes sense,” said Assistant Professor of Economics Timothy Bianco, who is co-chair of the CBE. “Promoting diversity and inclusion in business and economics is among our highest priorities at the CBE. In inviting speakers like Fields to speak to our students and faculty, this will highlight ways that we can change the environment in which we live for the better.”
Jackson is the founder and “chief cheerleader” of Racing Toward Diversity magazine, which is based in Cary, North Carolina. The magazine showcases the best current diversity efforts and initiatives being undertaken globally. It is written with business and education audiences in mind. Its stories highlight messages from influential leaders and their organizations. “With our concentration on driving strong relevant content through global social media platforms our quarterly magazine, daily newspaper and blog reach over 3.5 million readers, via Twitter (@fleejack and @race2diversity), Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn,” says the magazine’s website.
Jackson is also president of the College Diversity Network and executive director of the HBCU Business Deans Roundtable.
He has been recognized by the organization Diversity Best Practices as one of the “Top Diversity Thought Leaders” on Twitter. Jackson “keeps followers engaged with tweets focused on diversity at large as well as its impact on the workplace. Not only is there a large pull for diversity information but also access to the job postings regularly shared with his followers,” according to the website.
Jackson has been identified by Onalytica in London, England — an organization that helps run influencer programs for some of the largest brands in the world — as number 13 in the Top 100 global influencers focusing on gender, equality and diversity.
Hive Learning, a collaborative learning platform, in 2019 recognized Jackson as one of the Most Influential Diversity and Inclusion Leaders. According to Hive Learning, “Jackson is an influential diversity and inclusion advocate and expert. … He advocates that job seekers conduct their due diligence in finding diverse workplace opportunities through research, networking and asking the right questions.”
Jackson received his bachelor’s degree in economics and philosophy from Allegheny and his master’s in business administration from Northern Illinois University.
For information about Jackson’s presentation, contact Beth Ryan at bryan@allegheny.edu.