FORT WORTH (WBAP/KLIF)- After a national search, six candidates are competing to become Fort Worth’s new Diversity and Inclusion Director, a recommendation from the City’s Race and Culture Task Force. “Three are from out of state, three are from North Texas,,, they come from varied backgrounds but they are all very well qualified and we are very happy with the interest high level professionals have had in this position,” said Assistant City Manager Fernando Costa.
The director will be coordinating the implementation of the Task Force’s 22 recommendations, improving race relations and enforcing civil rights laws in Fort Worth. “Additionally they will be ensuring the city delivers services that are proportional to the needs of various neighborhoods in the city,” Costa said.
Costa said they’ll select the director in November.
He said the director will also work with the Police Monitor for the Police Oversight Committee. Interviews for that begin next month. “We expect the director of Diversity and Inclusion to work closely with the Police Monitor on issues involving the police department..one will be more concerned with the equitable delivery of police services the other will be considered with disciplinary actions,” Costa said.
Meet the Candidates (Provided by the City of Fort Worth):
- Christina Brooks– Brooks is a results-driven diversity and inclusion professional with 20 years of experience working with underrepresented populations in public, private, local, national and international settings. Ten years of her experience is grounded in organizational inclusion policy and process change. As the first diversity and inclusion officer and LGBTQ liaison for the City of South Bend, Ind., she is responsible for overseeing the creation and implementation of an inclusive workforce, talent, community and diversity purchasing and contracting policy development and programs. She also oversees the Human Rights Commission with jurisdiction over St. Joseph County. Before joining the mayor’s office, she held positions at University of Notre Dame in the Gigot Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, Undergraduate Admissions, TRIO Programs and Human Resources as Notre Dame’s first program manager for staff diversity recruiting. Prior to that, she was co-founder and executive director of Brooks Running Start Foundation in Washington, D.C., which focused on inner-city youth development. She also held leadership positions for the A. Phillip Randolph Institute, Tulsa, Okla., Chapter, and School Redesign Task Force with Tulsa Public Schools. Other leadership positions include the board of directors for Goodwill Industries of Michiana, Black Catholic Advisory Board-Diocese of Fort Wayne/South Bend, Community for Peace and Nonviolence, and Black Faculty and Staff Association, University of Notre Dame. Brooks holds a bachelor’s degree from Indiana University at South Bend with concentrations in political science and history and a master’s in nonprofit administration from Mendoza College of Business, University of Notre Dame. She also holds a Master Contract Compliance certification through the American Contract Compliance Association from Morgan State University. She is married to Reggie Brooks and they have five children.
- Stephen Francis– Francis has 35 years of experience as a public and private sector lawyer and diversity professional, which includes work with Ohio Department of Development, Ohio Attorney General’s Office, Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, Banc One Corporation (now Chase Bank), Honda of America Manufacturing Inc. and, most recently, the City of Columbus. His appointment as the city’s inaugural chief diversity and inclusion officer was the first position in the mayor’s cabinet in January 2016.Francis has also served as a corporate executive leading several company-wide functions, including diversity and inclusion, communications and media relations, advertising, government relations, community relations and philanthropy. He has developed diversity and inclusion training curriculum, and has served as a training facilitator and co-facilitator in the areas of diversity awareness, cultural competence, implicit bias and inclusive leadership. Francis has chaired and served on diversity boards, committees, advisory councils and task forces. He is co-founder and past president of Central Ohio Diversity Consortium, a diversity and inclusion best-practices clearinghouse established in 2006 that promotes the advancement of diversity and inclusion in public, private, governmental, nonprofit and academic institutions throughout Central Ohio. He holds a bachelor’s degrees in both business administration and economics from Morehouse College in Atlanta and earned his juris doctorate degree from Ohio State University College of Law.
- Stancia Jenkins- Stancia J. Whitcomb Jenkins is the associate to the president/assistant vice president for diversity, access and inclusion for the University of Nebraska System. Jenkins provides leadership in developing and implementing policies, practices, procedures and initiatives that enhance access, inclusion and retention of a diverse four-campus system as well as central administration. In her role, she also assesses high-impact strategies, programs and activities to promote diversity, access and inclusion across the system in its three mission areas.Prior to the University of Nebraska, Jenkins served as an assistant vice chancellor for the University of Missouri-Kansas City. While there she developed and executed a memorandum of understanding with the U.S. Department of Justice to address diversity, access and inclusion concerns, implemented a Chancellor’s Lecture Series on the nation’s changing demographics and the impact on education, economics and business, and managed diversity advisory boards for executive leadership. Prior to higher education, she spent more than 10 years in municipal government, starting as a legislative aide for the City Council of Kansas City, Mo., and later as a communications manager for the City Manager’s Division. Jenkins holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism and advertising from the University of Kansas, and a master’s degree in public affairs with a focus on business and government relations from Park University. She is a qualified administrator and interpreter of the intercultural development inventory designed for intercultural development of individuals, groups and organizational change efforts. She has also completed Cornell University’s Diversity and Inclusion Certificate program. Prior civic and community service includes serving as a commissioner on the City of Kansas City, Mo., Human Rights Commission, charged with reviewing a variety of human rights issues and recommending appropriate action to the City Council. She currently serves as a member of the YWCA’s Social Justice Committee in Lincoln, Neb., the Greater Omaha Chamber’s Council on Opportunity, Diversity and Equity and is a member of the American Association for Access, Equity and Diversity.
- Mishon Landry- Landry is a native of Fort Worth, but a self-proclaimed “military brat” from a very young age. She has traveled extensively, living as far away as London, England. It’s partly because of this background that she has a sincere appreciation for a variety of cultures and a passion for diversity, equity and inclusion. After working several years in the talent acquisition/ human resources industry for a Fortune 500 company, she began her own small business, Integrity Staffing, which focused on career placement solutions, career planning and coaching. After five years, Landry decided to return to corporate America, where she worked for ADP as an HRIS manager, then transitioned into a client relations manager position. In conjunction with her client relations role, she was extremely active in shaping the company diversity and inclusion programs and initiative through her work on their Resource Group and eventually became voluntary chair of the ADP Diversity Board. She promoted a diverse workforce through associate engagement, productivity, customer retention, turnover and business growth. She also helped lead the effort to create a measurable action plan to align with the diversity and inclusion goals and plans for the company. In 2015, Landry left ADP to follow her passion in diversity, equity and inclusion and launched Culture Consultants, a consulting firm designed to help bridge the gap between inclusion and leadership. Landry is a strategic business partner who functions as a change agent and influencer, providing strategies, solutions, training, tools, resources and thought leadership on diversity, equity and inclusion.
- Shani Barrax Moore- Moore is a strategic diversity and inclusion practitioner with 20 years of experience in training and development, strategic planning and change leadership, and inclusive programming and recruitment initiatives. After a career in public relations and marketing, she began specializing in dialogue-based awareness programs and integrating inclusion initiatives into organizational branding strategy. A trained mediator and investigator, Moore currently serves as the director of diversity and inclusion at the University of North Texas in Denton, where she oversees the campus cultural centers, leads a learning and development team, executes planning and delivery of the Equity and Diversity Conference, and develops strategic partnerships for the university. At both UNT and Tarrant County College District — the previous institution where she served as the chief diversity and inclusion officer — she led an institution-wide campus inclusion climate survey and strategic planning process leading to institutional diversity and inclusion infrastructure. In higher education, Moore has also served as an academic advisor, tutor and adjunct instructor in business, leadership and social work. Moore also leads The Aurora Change Agency, a consulting group that develops individual and organizational capacity for entities to practice intentional inclusion and compliance, innovate and facilitate equitable programs and practices and develop strategies for creating organizations where all its members and those they serve can be authentically engaged. A native of Raleigh, N.C., she received her bachelor’s degree in public relations from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a minor in French, and her master’s of business administration from Strayer University in marketing and human resources. She is a Certified Diversity Advanced Practitioner through Cornell University and is an Intercultural Development Inventory Qualified Administrator. A member of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority Inc., she is the mother of two teenage daughters and is pursuing a doctoral degree in higher education administration at the University of North Texas.
- Ty Stimpson- Stimpson is a native of Tarrant County who grew up in Arlington. Stimpson received his bachelor of business administration degree from Baylor University, where he also was a member of the Baylor football team. Upon receiving his BBA, Stimpson attended Thurgood Marshall School of Law at Texas Southern University, where he received his juris doctor degree. After law school, Stimpson relocated to New York City to attend St. John’s University School of Law, where he received his master’s of law degree while working for the National Football League. Stimpson is currently an assistant criminal district attorney with the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Office, where he is assigned to the Intimate Partner Violence Division. He is responsible for investigating and prosecuting individuals with the highest risk of recidivism involving family violence offenses. Prior to being assigned to the Intimate Partner Violence Division, Stimpson was assigned to the Elder Financial Fraud Division and the White Collar Public Integrity Division, where he handled a wide range of economic crimes, including theft, misapplication of fiduciary property and identity theft, among others. Stimpson is an active member of the Tarrant County Bar Association, Rotary Club of Downtown Fort Worth, former chair of the Criminal Justice Committee of the City of Fort Worth Race and Culture Task Force, and Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc. Stimpson also serves on the Tarrant Area Food Bank board, the advisory board for the Young Men’s Leadership Academy of Fort Worth and is a graduate of the 2019 Leadership Fort Worth Class. Stimpson has been named one of the top attorneys in criminal law by Fort Worth Magazine. In his spare time, he enjoys playing golf and attending live sporting events. Stimpson and his wife Jordan, who is also an attorney in Fort Worth, have one child.
