Inciting Inclusion: Lessons from a Global Cross-Industry Leader

What can luxury fashion, global banking, and higher education teach us about building more inclusive organizations that prioritize excellence? Quite a lot, primarily through the lens and leadership of Dr. Alicia Williams, Vice President and Head of Stakeholder Engagement, Inclusion and Belonging at Saks Global. With a career spanning Wall Street boardrooms, international academic institutions, and corporate DEI strategy, Dr. Williams offers a unique, cross-sector perspective on the conditions that enable equity to take root and thrive across industries and geographies.

Given the ongoing discourse about the importance of merit-based recruitment and promotion, in the next episode of Translocating Inclusion, we will unpack how organizations can move beyond merit-based myths, address systemic bias, and commit to the kind of culture change that drives innovation, deepens impact, and strengthens operations across the board. Join us as we discuss how Dr. Williams’ path from higher education leadership to groundbreaking DEI roles at JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, and now Saks exemplifies why advancing women, particularly Black women, in leadership isn’t just a matter of representative inclusion, but can also be a strategy for institutional excellence.

Whether you’re leading culture change, navigating talent strategy, or working to align inclusion with organizational outcomes, this conversation will offer a mix of practical insight and visionary clarity. You will gain insight into how to build inclusion programs that are not performative but structural, because when women are empowered to lead with a full voice and authority, institutions as a whole stand to benefit.