Caroline A. Wanga is Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer and Vice President of Human Resources at the Target Corporation. She leads Target's strategic intent to champion an inclusive society with accountability for inclusive guest experiences, a diverse and inclusive work environment, and societal impact. As a cultural catalyst, she fuels Target’s business objectives through the company’s first-ever performance based D&I goals. Launched in 2015, Supplier Diversity, Marketing, Philanthropy, Retention, Hiring, Representation and Engagement have significantly improved. Caroline began her Target career in supply chain in 2005, serving in a variety of transformational leadership roles, including modernizing Supply Chain, Business Intelligence,Digital and Strategy capabilities prior to joining the Diversity & Inclusion team, in 2014. Caroline earned her bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Texas College, and is an inspirational thought leader and public speaker. Her innovative shared accountability approach to driving business results is featured in The Innovation Mentality by Glenn Llopis, Our Search For Belonging by Howard Ross, and The Multiplier Effect of Inclusion by Dr. Tony Byers. She is a Kenyan Citizen, Top Executive in Diversity by Black Enterprise, a member of the Executive Leadership Council (ELC), the Talladega College Board of Trustees, the Intersectionality, Culture, and Diversity Advisory Board for Twitter, and a co-chair of the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) Diversity & Inclusion Initiative. Her greatest life accomplishment is her daughter, Cadence.
 

Irene Quarshie is a Vice President in Target Corporation’s global supply chain and logistics organization. In this role she has general management responsibilities for a $2B+ P&L, leading the indirect, reverse and returns logistics functions. Indirect supply chain operations include the forward movement of all non-sellable items procured to enable Target operations in all Stores, Distribution facilities and corporate offices. Reverse and returns logistics include developing and executing against final disposition strategies to maximize gross margin recovery rates and removing consumer friction points related to product returns. Her responsibilities also include leased and owned facility operations management. Previously, Irene was a vice president in Target’s global sourcing organization.  She led a global team of 300+ team members and was responsible for product quality and responsible sourcing.  Her team’s purpose was to ensure Target’s vendors and suppliers operated efficient, safe and ethical factory environments where they could produce safe, reliable, high-quality products. She had direct accountability for overseeing the production of nearly $30B in sales. Irene was also Target’s Director of Government Affairs where she oversaw all government affairs activities at state and local levels nationwide.  She has held other leadership positions during her tenure at Target, including Senior Group Manager of Corporate Risk and Responsibility and Group Manager of Supplier Diversity. Prior to Target, Irene spent five years as a strategy and management consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton, and three years in the government affairs industry. Among her many affiliations, Irene serves on the Board of Directors of Meet Minneapolis, The Cowles Center for Dance and the Performing Arts, and the Humphrey School of Public Affairs. Her graduate paper on juvenile justice was published in A Comparative Perspective on Major Social Problems. She holds a B.A. in political science from Adelphi University and Master’s in Public Policy from American University.
 

Jacques Apaloo is Senior Vice President, Chief Audit Executive, with MetaBank, a federally chartered savings bank headquartered in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Jacques is an Internal Audit professional who has been recognized for adding value to teams of some of the most reputable companies in and out of the State of Minnesota for about 20 years. His expertise is in governance, risk and control. Prior to working with Meta, he worked with several Minnesota companies, including UnitedHealth Group, Alianz Life, Jefferson Wells, Ceridian, and TCF Bank. Jacques received his MBA in Finance from the University of St. Thomas and a bachelor’s degree in Economics. Jacques is often described as genuine, smart, kind and highly productive---the kind of person you definitely want on your team, but wouldn’t want to go up against. Outside of work, Jacques is involved with his church, community-based boards and committees, and lending a helping hand to family and friends in whatever ways he can. Jacques is a native of Togo, West Africa. He’s mostly a homebody and enjoys spending time with family.

Godson Sowah is a leading Advisory Executive and Senior Manager in the Advisory Services practice of Ernst & Young LLP. With over a decade of professional services experience, Sowah is a high-performing executive, instrumental in providing Internal Audit, Enterprise Risk Management, and Integrated Financial Reporting services to Fortune 500, middle-market and multinational organizations. Additionally, Sowah advises executive management and leadership teams at public and private companies, including providing thought leadership for Board of Directors and Audit Committees. He has an extensive scope of responsibility and a track record of delivering exceptional client service. He has global experience leading international teams and engagements in North America, Europe, Asia and Latin America. He was awarded the  2016 Young Professional of the Year by the St. Paul Area Chamber of Commerce for exemplary contributions to the business sector and community and further named a 2016 Titan of Technology – Community Hero honoree by the Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal. In 2017, Governor Dayton appointed Godson to the State Board of Accountancy. This past June, Godson represented the Greater Twin Cities in the Harvard Business School – Young American Leaders Program to collaborate with 11 other cities across the country, to develop solutions that address challenges facing major cities. Godson is originally from Accra, Ghana. He is an alumnus of Luther College (Decorah, IA) and moved to Minnesota to start his career with Ernst & Young, LLP.

Lulete Mola is committed to social change that is intersectional, asset based, and led by communities most impacted. As Vice President of Community Impact at the Women's Foundation of Minnesota, Lulete puts this commitment to action as she leads the implementation and management of the Foundation’s grantmaking, evaluation, leadership, and field-building programs that enable large-scale systems change. In this role, Lulete also leads the Young Women’s Initiative of Minnesota, a multi-million-dollar public-private partnership to achieve equity in opportunities and improve the lives of young women of color and American Indian young women. Lulete is devoted to engaging in and supporting community organizing, movement building, and work to advance women's leadership, she was previously a Community Engagement Organizer with VoteRunLead. Lulete leads engagement and professional development initiatives in Minnesota’s East African community and is active in the movement for Black lives. Lulete is the recipient of the Humanity in Action Fellowship, Ibrahim Leadership and Dialogue Project Fellowship, and the Scholarly Excellence in Equity and Diversity Award. In 2017, Lulete was named Young Professional of the Year Finalist by the St. Paul Chamber of Commerce. Lulete graduated summa cum laude from the University of Minnesota

Teddy Bekele is the Chief Technology Officer at Land O’ Lakes. He has a passion for researching, developing and implementing innovative technology solutions to help retailers and farmers produce more food while using fewer resources in new and sustainable ways. Working within Land O'Lakes, Teddy offers a unique farm-to-fork perspective, with insights and visibility into all aspects of food, from the seed planted to the food we consume on the table. Teddy has been featured in several radio shows and technology publications including Fortune, ComputerWorld, MIT Sloan Management Review, Hoosier and RFD radio. In 2016, he was named in the inaugural PrecisionAg Magazine Top 10 people driving forward the adoption of precision agriculture. Teddy has also presented at South by South West and Google Next on the utilization of technology to optimize farming decisions. In 2017, was selected as a “Minnesotan to Meet” by WCCO. Teddy was born in Ethiopia, moved to Italy in 1985, finally immigrating to the US in 1993. He holds an MBA from Indiana University and a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from North Carolina State University.  He has lived in three different continents and speaks fluent Ethiopian and Italian. He currently lives in Minneapolis, MN with his wife Michele and 5-year-old son, Teddy Jr.