Next Steps for DE&I

Nick Coy is the Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Dutch Bros Coffee - a rapidly growing, privately-held coffee chain out of Grants Pass, Oregon with more than 450 stores in the west and southwest. In his role, he ensures the organization is unlocking the power of diversity by creating equitable environments where all people can bring their full and best selves to work. He came to Dutch Bros after spending several years at the accounting and consulting firm KPMG where he enhanced the firm's enterprise DEI strategy and supported the development of underrepresented talent to build a pipeline of future leaders. A native Texan, he has a background in K-12 education and human resources. He began his career as a broadcast journalist working for television stations in the Lubbock, TX and Phoenix markets. He holds a BA in Journalism and Spanish from Texas Tech University, a Masters in Conflict Management and Dispute Resolution from Southern Methodist University, and a Masters in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies from the University of Texas at Arlington. He's a certified HR professional with the Society for Human Resource Management and lives in Denver.

In June 2018, Rochelle L. Ford, Ph.D., APR, became the dean of the School of Communications at Elon University, with about 1300 students majoring at the undergraduate level in strategic communications, media analytics, journalism, sport management, communication design and cinema and television arts and in corporate communications, organizational analytics and interactive media at the graduate level. From 2014-2018, she was a tenured professor and the chair of the Public Relations Department in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, responsible for all undergraduate and graduate public relations programs at this PRWeek top-ranked university.  She also served as a Provost Faculty Fellow at Syracuse University responsible for co-chairing the University’s Middle States Accreditation process and implementing aspects of the Academic Strategic Plan. Having served as a faculty member at Howard University for 16 years, Dr. Ford has mentored hundreds of African American public relations professionals and championed the diversity agenda within the public relations industry through her research, grants, teaching and service. She is the co-editor of a two volume book series through IGI Global about the sustainability of Historically Black Colleges and Universities. In August 2014, she was inducted into Arthur W. Page Society and completed, with grant funding from the PRSA Foundation, an award-winning research study about diversity and inclusion best practices at Page Society member organizations.

Jennifer Choi is the director of programs at the Media Democracy Fund. Previously, she was the director equity initiatives at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism (CUNY) working collaboratively with departments across the Newmark J-School to promote equity and implement best practices related to diversity, equity, and inclusion. She served previously as managing director of the News Integrity Initiative, a project to strengthen trust between newsrooms and communities. Before she joined the Newmark J-School, Jennifer was vice president and chief content officer for the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy,  a research organization for social justice philanthropy; managed the journalism portfolio of grants at the Robert R. McCormick Foundation in Chicago, and served as director of strategic initiatives at Chicago Public Media.