Let's Shift the Conversation: Taking Inclusivity to the Next Level
Lloyd Lewis is president and CEO of one of Colorado's largest nonprofit social enterprises AND one of the state's largest employers of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Employment of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities is missing in today's DEI conversation. It's a topic that many are afraid of at worst, and don't know enough about at best. Lewis has built a $120M organization employing over 1,600 people, 400 of which are individuals with IDD. He will share his story, outline what other nonprofit organizations need to know about creating a truly inclusive culture, and provide helpful tips on how to take DEI to the next level.
Learning Objectives:
After this webinar you will have:
A new way to define "inclusion" and DEI.
The myths and misconceptions surrounding employing people with IDD debunked and changed forever!
Tangible takeaways about WHY employing people with IDD is SMART BUSINESS...and stories of this approach in action!
Proactive ways to start a more inclusive hiring program for your organization.
Resources to get started.
Course Format
This course is the recording of a live webinar and contains the slides and full audio from the original presentation (including Q & A sessions). Only a reasonably current version of FlashPlayer is needed to run this recording (most computers already have this installed).
About the Presenter(s)
Lloyd Lewis is the CEO of the Arc Thrift Stores of Colorado, one of Colorado's largest social enterprises. Arc Thrift is also one of Colorado's largest nonprofits, employers of persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), recyclers, and relief organizations. Under Lewis' tenure, Arc Thrift has funded over $250 million to nonprofit causes and charities since 2005.
Since taking on the leadership role at Arc Thrift Stores, Lewis has become a passionate and uncompromising advocate for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. With 80% of people in the U.S. with disabilities being unemployed, a champion was indeed called for. Focusing on healthcare, housing, voting rights, and employment, Lewis is most definitely that champion and is on a crusade to promote a new way to think about inclusion and diversity.
When and where he can, Lewis takes a stand and has issued a challenge to all CEOs and business leaders to follow his lead and change how we approach and truly embody inclusion in this country.
Lewis was a nominee for CEO of the Year by ColoradoBiz magazine in 2020 and named one of Denver's Most Admired CEOs in 2021 by the Denver Business Journal. He is also the recipient of a Civil Rights Award and received the World Citizenship Award in 2022 from the International Civitans, an honor that has included such noted past winners as England's Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Eunice Shriver, the founder of Special Olympics.
Lewis's career in disabilities and employment has also been recognized in the Congressional Record by U.S. House of Representatives Jason Crow and Diana DeGette.
Lewis has an MBA in finance from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Before coming to Arc Thrift Stores, Lewis was a municipal investment banker with Smith Barney, a senior financial analyst with IBM, a director of finance for a publicly traded medical equipment company, and a CFO for a high-tech start-up company that was ultimately sold to Micron. Lewis is a board member of the Colorado Business Roundtable and chairs its community committee.
Lewis lives in Englewood Colorado with his wife Claire who is a substitute teacher. He has four grown and two younger children, including a 19-year-old son with Down syndrome.
Lewis is a nationally recognized expert in IDD employment and speaks nationally to corporations about the positive contributions of employees with IDD. He will be speaking at the opening plenary session at the Arc of United States convention in November 2022.
Arc Thrift has a long and established partnership with BOK. BOK helped Arc Thrift navigate the Great Recession with an $8 million bond issue, and then the pandemic with a $14 million LOC followed by a $9 million PPP loan - and led the successful PPP loan forgiveness application. BOK continues to manage Arc Thrift's operating cash balances.
