Shannon Stone-Winding

President @ Black Alliance of Colleges and Employers (BACE) | Military Veteran Spouse | President @Shannon Stone Consulting

Chicago

Shannon Stone-Winding is a military-veteran spouse with over 25 years of professional experience as a business strategist and expert. In 2016, she founded a consulting firm fostering equity, inclusion and diversity in higher education, serves as a board member for Women Employed Adult Student Success Council, and board advisor for Coalition of Veterans Organizations (CVO). In 2019, she was appointed president and chief executive officer for Black Alliance of Colleges & Employers (BACE). In 2020, she expanded her work in support of female veterans with the DePaul University MVI initiative. With expertise in networking, PR, and alliance-building, she formerly served as chief of staff for the National Association of African Americans in HR Chicago and was promoted to the National Board as senior vice president of Collegiate Affairs.

Through her consulting firm, she is co-convener for the WonderWomen Group launched by Dr. Stephani Mason, Professor, DePaul University. The group hosts dinner conversations about diversity, equity, and inclusion in the academic and corporate setting with female leaders. Outside of their dinner discussions, they also host larger scale panels. Fall 2019, they convened during the PhD Project Conference for a discussion on diversity with leading D&I scholars during the annual meeting of the PhD Project and reconvened virtually this past Fall for Building the Diversity Pipeline during the PhD Project Conference to highlight how Corporate America can engage with academia to build a diverse and inclusive talent pipeline. Last month, they virtually reconvened hundreds internationally on Expanding the Diversity of Women in Policy, Politics, and Government.

In recent years, she also has led weekly facilitation groups on campus through her firm, including Career Mapping with YWCA Metropolitan Chicago and advising for Money Matters with Onyx Rising Financial Services. She also coordinated with the campus Entrepreneurship Center for a summit called "Career and Entrepreneurship: Diversity in Action". At the Black Women's Expo, her consulting firm hosted a panel discussion called "Money and Jobs in Black Chicago" facilitated by Kelli McMiller, Strategic Engagement Leader and Vice President of Consulting, The Kaleidoscope Group and panelists including Dorri McWhorter, CEO, YWCA Metropolitan Chicago; Maya Bordeaux, Global Chief HR Officer & Senior Vice President, Wilton Brands; Kim Waller, Executive Vice President, Willis Towers Watson; Dr. Stephani Mason, Assistant Professor, DePaul University Driehaus College of Business. Previously, she worked in corporate and consulting before transitioning to over a decade in higher ed supporting diverse populations, in addition to serving as staff advisor for the student veterans organization on campus.