I was honored to be asked to deliver a speech earlier today at GEICO for their celebration of Asian-Pacific Heritage Month.   My good friend, Rynthia Rost, is their VP, Public Affairs.  She and I both share a strong interest in philanthropy and community service (GEICO is clearly one of the leaders in these efforts in the Capital region).

After 12 years on being the business development and account management person for AOL Sports, I spent my past two years there working in our Office of Diversity and Inclusion, under our fantastic Chief Diversity Officer, Tiane Mitchell Gordon.

I focused my speech on the important shift in demographics occurring in the US, particularly in the Latino, African-American and Asian-American groups; the importance of employee affinity groups (AOL is a leader in this space); the increased importance of China and India for companies with global aspirations; and the request to get involved in community service and to “give back” to help children from lower-income families pursue their collegiate education.

This was my first time back in the corporate environment since I left AOL in late March.  It felt good and I’m glad I was able to share my learnings and experiences with the wonderful GEICO team.