Forum Speakers Are Blue Cross CEO Tricia Keith and DTE President Joi Harris
Detroit’s national and non-partisan anti-poverty think tank, The PuLSE Institute, gets to put the spotlight on two women who are trailblazers in their respective fields at the Women’s Leadership Breakfast Forum in celebration of Women’s History Month on Friday, March 21, from 8-10am at the Colony Club in downtown Detroit. The theme, Women in Corporate and Economic Leadership, will examine the abiding fact that there are not enough women in leadership positions of influence with the resources and decision-making powers to bend the arc of the moral universe towards justice. Those interested in attending the program can obtain tickets at The PuLSE Institute’s page on eventbrite.com.
The speakers Tricia Keith , the president and CEO of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and Joi Harris, the president and COO of DTE Energy will take center stage for the first time at the institute’s high-profile speaker forum which in the past has featured notable leaders and individuals such as: Dr. Natalia Kanem, United Nations Under-Secretary General and Executive Director of UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, Ambassador Ann Derse, former United States Ambassador to Lithuania (2009-2012) and to Azerbaijan (2006-2009); Sister Simone Campbell, SSS, former executive director of NETWORK and 2022 Recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom Award, Gary Torgow, Chairman of Huntington Bank, United States Federal Bankruptcy Judge Mark Randon, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, Sandro DiNello, former president and CEO of Flagstar Bank, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel among others.
The forum moderators who are set to guide the conversation around the fact that this century’s biggest deficit is the lack of women in top leadership roles across the political and socioeconomic spectrum, are Cindy Pasky and Bankole Thompson.
Pasky, a pioneer in business and entrepreneurship who is the founder, president, and CEO of Strategic Staffing Solutions, an international IT staffing and technology company headquartered in Detroit. She founded Strategic Staffing Solutions in 1990 with four benchmarks that became the corporate pillars of S3: set the bar high for what a corporation should do; create jobs; offer people an opportunity to succeed and change their station in life, and make community and charity work a core part of the company’s business.
Pasky leads by example and is actively involved in civic and community organizations globally. She serves as chair of the Detroit Downtown Partnership Board of Directors, and is a member of Business Leaders for Michigan Board of Directors. She is the Founding Chair of the American-Lithuanian Business Council and serves on the Investor Advisory Committee of the Government of Lithuania.
Cindy has also served as past board chair for Michigan Humane Board of Directors, past chair of the Michigan Workforce Development board, past board chair of Eastern Market Partnership and past co-chair of Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan’s Workforce Development Board.
Pasky has recently been named among the Top 100 Most Influential Lithuanian Women by “Women At” magazine and is an inaugural member of Staffing Industry Analysts’ Staffing Hall of Fame. She has been named among Staffing Industry Analysts’ Global Power 100 Women in Staffing every year since its inception; listed among the Most Powerful Woman in Business by dBusiness Magazine; CEO of the Year by Automation Alley; one of 10 Most Intriguing People in Staffing by Staffing Industry Review; one of Detroit’s Most Powerful People by Crain’s Detroit Business, and one of the Top Women Entrepreneurs in North America by Women Impacting Public Policy.
“It is an honor to moderate this discussion with two esteemed colleagues, Tricia Keith and Joi Harris. As leaders, we all have a responsibility to create opportunities that not only empower women in their careers but also strengthen their ability to drive meaningful social impact,” Pasky said. “When we invest in women’s success, we support businesses, communities, and the future of our workforce. This will be an engaging conversation on how we can continue to break barriers and ensure that women are not just present, but pivotal in decision-making.”
Thompson is a nationally acclaimed journalist and standard-bearer for economic justice issues. He is the founding dean of the The PuLSE Institute, which was established several years ago based on his influential work on race, democracy and poverty.
He is a twice-a-week opinion columnist at The Detroit News, where his column on the presidency, culture and socioeconomic issues appear on Mondays and Thursdays in the newspaper. He is the host of the weekly national podcast, Bankole’s Nation. His latest book, Fiery Conscience, published in August of 2023 documents his decades of speaking truth to power as one of the most outspoken voices for racial justice in the nation. The book which was featured by Forbes, and lays out a blueprint for bold and impactful leadership, is also listed in the Jean Blackwell Hutson Research and Reference Division of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in New York, considered the premier repository on the global Black experience.
He was the first Black newspaper editor in the nation to conduct a series of exclusive sit-down interviews with former President Barack Obama and wrote a pair of books on Obama.
He is a sought after speaker and public intellectual who has addressed and keynoted leading institutions such as Brown University, Dillard University, American Jewish Committee, U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Federal Bench and Bar Conference for the Eastern District of Michigan among others. He writes and speaks about public leadership, corporate social responsibility, equity, inclusion and political economy. In 2015, the University of Michigan Bentley Historically Library, officially established the Bankole Thompson Papers, a comprehensive digital and physical collection to document his work for students and for posterity. The Bentley houses the papers of every Michigan governor.
“I am honored to join The PuLSE Institute’s Women’s Leadership Breakfast Forum to discuss the vital role of women in corporate and economic leadership,” said Keith of Blue Cross. “As we work toward solutions to address poverty and inequality, it is critical to ensure that women have a seat at the table where decisions are made. I look forward to engaging in this important conversation and sharing insights on how leadership can drive meaningful change.”
Harris of DTE stated, “ “I’m honored to participate with The PuLSE Institute in exploring how as corporate leaders, we can harness our collective power to create a more equitable and prosperous society for all.”