NSB Logo Wema Hoover Wema Hoover

Wema Hoover

Speaker

New York, NY, United States

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Leader: Formerly led Global DE&I efforts at Google, Pfizer, Sanofi and Bristol-Myers Squibb

A transformational DEI leader at Google, Pfizer, Sanofi and Bristol-Myers Squibb, Wema Hoover has earned her reputation as an inspiring catalyst for change. Her expertise and thought leadership centers on diversity, equity, & inclusion, authentic leadership, women’s empowerment, and unlocking the true potential of individuals, teams, leaders and organizations. As a trusted C-Suite and board-level advisor to multinational companies, Ms. Hoover guides corporate leadership and drives systemic, organizational change across people, processes, and products on a global scale. Her deep experience spans global, market-leading consulting, pharmaceutical, and technology enterprises. Throughout her distinguished career, Ms. Hoover has championed DEI as a competitive advantage—viewing it as a critical component of culture and community that brings out the best in individuals.

More Themes Business & Workplace Leadership

In the News

Wema Hoover in the media January 1, 2023

Keynote Speeches

Virtual Keynotes & Webinars
Contact us for more information about this speaker & their virtual presentations. Click here for some of the most popular formats for virtual events.
Reframing Diversity, Equity & Inclusion: How Difference Can Make A Difference

In this keynote session, Wema demonstrates how to harness diversity to unlock an organization’s skills and abilities through inclusive practices leading to increased employee engagement and collaboration, breakthrough thinking and enhanced innovation. Wema also discusses unconscious bias, how to create a culture of belonging, overcoming unconscious bias, cultural competence, and global leadership.

Athena Affect: Maximizing The Female Potential In Your Organization

During this keynote presentation, Wema focuses on developing an organization’s capabilities to leverage the unique abilities, skills and leadership qualities of women through sponsorship, advocacy and intentional inclusion.

EQ & Inclusion: Unlocking The Value Of Diversity To Address Racial Injustice

Wema explains the critical link between emotional intelligence and inclusion. This discussion explores the practical ways to build EQ in leaders, activate inclusion and promote equity to address racial injustice and embed equitable practices in organizational culture. Wema also discusses unconscious bias: how to identify it, how to acknowledge it, how to overcome it and how to prevent it.

Turning Obstacles Into Opportunities: Harnessing The Black & BIPOC Women Advantage

Keynote discussing practical ways for Black women to turn their perceived obstacles into valuable assets to become extraordinary professionals, leaders enabling them to thrive and succeed.

Opening The Aperture: Building Diverse Talent Pipelines

Keynote focused on proven strategies to attract, retain and develop diverse talent internally and externally to build future talent pipelines. This discussion highlights ways to create cultures of belonging for diverse talent to stay and thrive.

It’s Ok Not To Be Okay: Activating Inclusion To Drive Well-Being & Mental Health

Keynote focused on understanding and addressing the impact the global pandemic has had on employee’s well being and mental health. This discussion highlights ways to integrate inclusion, equity and belonging to drive sustainable practices to support employee’s overall health and well-being.

Audience reviews:

  • Wema delivered a wonderful session for our manager's retreat. "Reframing Diversity, Equity & inclusion" was a great topic for our group, which encouraged more participation than we normally see. They all gave very positive feedback as well. - Director, Doubleline
  • Thank you Wema for your presentation today [on] Creating Connections Across Community, Culture and Customers. It was a powerful discussion that will help further our efforts to create an inclusive environment for our team members and business partners. - MediaAlpha
  • Amazing presentation on systemic embedding of interventions and equity by Wema Hoover, GPHR! - Opal Group
 

Speaker Biography

Wema Hoover has dedicated her career to driving tangible results while transforming corporate cultures. She is a national and global thought leader in diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI); organizational development; authentic leadership; and women’s empowerment. An inspiring and impactful speaker, Ms. Hoover leverages both her own lived experiences as Black woman and track record as a global DEI leader to help organizations achieve the true potential of diversity, equity and inclusion.

Before founding her own consultancy, Ms. Hoover was most recently Google’s Global Head of DEI. She has served as a trusted C-Suite and board-level advisor to Fortune 500 companies, leading global DEI efforts at Pfizer, Sanofi, and Bristol-Myers Squibb. In these roles, she developed multiple Global Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Councils to build internal capabilities related to belonging, unconscious bias, cultural competence, and global leadership. She led DEI efforts on a global scale—creating inclusive work environments, activating employee engagement, building diverse talent pipelines, and integrating DEI and sustainability to build high performance organizations and drive business results.

Ms. Hoover’s experience working across cultures was gained while living and working abroad and leading globally diverse teams in the US, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America. In addition to her roles leading DE&I efforts for Google, Pfizer, Sanofi, and Bristol-Myers Squibb, she has developed high-impact collaborative partnerships with worldwide organizations such as the United Nations, the World Economic Forum, Mercer, and McKinsey to harness the most progressive HR, culture, CSR, and DEI practices. She served as a member of the Coqual (Center for Talent Innovation) Hidden Brain Drain Task Force, providing best practice DEI research working across global markets in China, India, and the US. Ms. Hoover is also a National Member of the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) and a sought-after speaker on DEI. Additionally, she is an executive coach who holds a Master of Science in Human Resource Management and a Master’s-level Certificate in Organizational Change Management, both from New School University. Ms. Hoover is also a board member of Ten By Three, a nonprofit that reduces poverty by creating a cycle of entrepreneur driven growth resulting in sustainable financial independence.
Wema Hoover is a sought-after writer and has published articles on DEI, women’s empowerment, racial equity and inclusion regularly in publications such as Fast Company, Inc., Diversity Magazine and NAMI. She is currently working on a book about her experiences and the power of actualizing the benefits of diversity and inclusion.

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