UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Business leaders from a variety of companies and members of both the Penn State Smeal College of Business and Greater State College communities will gather Thursday, March 30, in the HUB-Robeson Center on Penn State's University Park campus to celebrate diversity at the START Conference.
START (Striving Toward Awareness and Respect for Tomorrow) is a professional development conference designed to increase diversity and inclusion awareness in corporate settings. It includes networking opportunities and workshops on a variety of topics.
The conference is organized by a student-run committee that is largely comprised of Smeal students and supported by the Office of Diversity Enhancement Programs. It is free and open to all Penn State students, staff, faculty and community members.
Conference registration is still open. Register online.
The conference will offer networking opportunities with representatives from companies including: Altria, Deloitte, Enterprise Holdings, EY, Hershey, Hilton, Johnson & Johnson, KPMG, PepsiCo, PPG, PwC, Siemens Healthineers, The Boeing Company and Vanguard.
The morning keynote address will be delivered by Alicia Petross, chief diversity officer at The Hershey Co.
Petross has been a member of the human resources leadership team since 2015, leading Hershey’s Pathways Framework delivering diversity, equity and inclusion strategies. Hershey recently advanced to sixth place on DiversityInc.’s top 50 companies for diversity list, up from No. 33 in years prior.
The breakout sessions will consist of:
- Boeing representatives
- EY representatives
- “Emotional Intelligence” – PwC
- “Cultural Fluency: Overcoming Cultural Barriers” – Altria
- “The Art of Networking” – Deloitte
- “Sourcing with Purpose” – Hilton
Kelly Palumbo, vice president of finance, global transformation and talent strategies at Johnson & Johnson, will deliver the afternoon keynote address.
Graduating from Smeal in 1996 with a bachelor’s in accounting, Palumbo leads end-to-end deployment, project management and governance for Project SigniFi, transforming global finance to deliver global standardization, enhanced digital capabilities and process simplification. Recently, Palumbo partnered with the global finance leadership team in developing the SigniFi case for change.
The conference will conclude with the 2023 START Diversity Award student presentations.
For more information, visit the START Conference website.