Oct. 30, 2019
The University of South Carolina’s Darla Moore School of Business and Bank of America are hosting a diversity and inclusion panel Nov. 14 in the Moore School’s W.W. Hootie Johnson Performance Hall, room 101, at 5 p.m. Bank of America’s South Carolina president Kim Wilkerson will facilitate the panel featuring Kieth Cockrell, Bank of America’s head of specialty client services in Charlotte, North Carolina; Deborah Hazzard, the Moore School’s associate dean for diversity and inclusion and management clinical assistant professor; and Sherry Thatcher the Moore School’s management department chair and professor.
Cockrell has spent his 35-year career in financial services holding various leadership roles across various geographic markets. A former vice chair of the Global Diversity & Inclusion Council for Bank of America, Cockrell is also active in the Charlotte-area community and serves on the national board of the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History and the Levine Museum of the New South.
Hazzard was named associate dean for diversity and inclusion in June and is believed to be the first African American academic professional in a leadership role in the Moore School’s 100-year history. Before accepting her new post, Hazzard taught a diversity and inclusion business management course and was in the process of creating a diversity and inclusion certificate program at the Moore School. Early in her career, Hazzard worked for Bank of America as a community reinvestment manager and commercial credit analyst.
As a management professor, Thatcher’s research is aimed at understanding how organizations can create the most effective teams, especially as it relates to diversity and identity. One such project investigates how perceptions of diversity influence teams over time. Thatcher has spent significant time abroad learning about other cultures and how differing cultures influence team dynamics. Thatcher is also the J. Henry Fellers Professor in Business Administration.
Ten students who were awarded the W.W. Hootie Johnson Scholarship will also be recognized during the event. The scholarship memorializes Moore School friend and donor W.W. “Hootie” Johnson. Johnson, a 1953 Moore School business administration graduate, worked for the Bankers Trust of South Carolina that became Bank of America for 21 years and was one of the founding members of the University of South Carolina – Business Partnership Foundation, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. The scholarship is given to in-state undergraduate students from populations underrepresented in leadership roles within the financial services industry.
The event is free and open to USC students, faculty, staff and the general public. To register, visit bankofamerica2019.eventbrite.com.