Scripps Networks Interactive human resources executive Alaka Williams will deliver the keynote address for the College of Communication and Information’s seventh annual Diversity and Inclusion Week, September 26-29.
Williams’ talk begins at 5:45 p.m. on Wednesday, September 28, in the auditorium of the McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture. The event is free and open to the public.
With the theme “Diversity and Inclusion: It’s Time,” the week’s events will include eight panel discussions and an open forum. Activities conclude with the annual Diversity Festival in the CCI lobby and patio on Thursday, September 29.
Some of the sessions will be live streamed during the week.
As senior vice president of network human resources, Williams is responsible for HR leadership at Scripps Networks’ home, travel and food categories in the United States. Noting Williams’ strategic and organizational skills, her passion and insight on diversity and inclusion, and her ability to work with leaders to drive the business forward, Scripps Networks Interactive recently appointed her to lead the company’s Diversity Center of Excellence. In this leadership role, Williams will work with the executive leadership team at Scripps Networks Interactive to deliver a strategy and results that are reflective of the company’s core value of diversity.
Williams has been with Scripps Networks Interactive since 2010. Prior to that, she served as director of human resources and director of employee relations with Live Nation.
Williams has bachelor’s degree in mass communications from James Madison University. She is a certified human resources professional. She earned the Birkman Method Certification from Emory University in 2015 and a Women in Cable Telecommunications Senior Executive Summit certification in 2016 from Stanford University. She has also been named to the 2016 National Association for Multi-Ethnicity in Communications Luminaries class for her commitment to fostering multiethnic diversity.
Her philanthropic work includes involvement with the Emma Bowen Foundation’s Youth and Young Professionals program and the Year Up program in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area.
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Donna Silvey (865-974-6727, dsilvey@utk.edu)