Staff

Adeola
Oduwole

Chief Strategy Officer

Diversity First Consortium

Deeply guided by mission-driven principles towards equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI), Adéola leverages her passion, expertise, and evidence-based methodologies to build and drive systemic and structural change. Over the course of her career, Adéola has established three inaugural EDI offices; has been credited with spearheading comprehensive strategic plans and has built the infrastructure and metrics to advance an environment of inclusion and accountability in academic medical centers sure ch as The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Frederick Regional Healthcare System, The University of Texas Medical Branch and Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago. She is a past adjunct faculty member at Houston Community College and Radford University; a past contributing writer for DiversityCentral.com; and a recipient of the 2024 Top 100 Diversity Officers award, the 2020 Top 100 Under 50 Executive Leaders Diversity MBA award and an individual recipient of the 2014 Texas Diversity and Leadership Multicultural Leadership Award. Her civic engagement has included serving on the board of directors for the National Society to Prevent Blindness, the Illinois Hospital Association Committee on Health Disparities, former Advisory Board Member for the Texas Diversity Council and Executive Board Member for the National Black MBA Association-Houston Chapter. Adeola holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from the University of Windsor and a Master of Science degree in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from Radford University. She is a certified mediator, Marshall Goldsmith Stakeholder-Centered coach, graduate of Landmark Education for Living and a fellow of Lakewood Leadership University.

Gregory
Vincent

Senior Counselor

Diversity First Consortium

Dr. Gregory J. Vincent (J.D. Ohio State, Ed.D Pennsylvania)is a national expert on civil rights, social justice, and campus culture. For over three decades, he served as an award-winning professor of law and education, attorney, consultant, executive officer, and CEO. He is a founding partner of Vincent Strategies, a global consulting firm focused on inclusive excellence, strategic planning, compliance, community engagement, and philanthropy. Since 2021, Vincent Strategies has successfully assisted several clients to meet and exceed their strategic goals, including public and private educational institutions, research and policy institutes, membership organizations, public and private law firms, corporations, and nonprofits. In 2021, he founded Gregory Vincent Law LLC, an Ohio education, civil rights, and employment law firm. He has presented over 500 continuing legal education seminars, keynote addresses, and panel discussions on civil rights, employment, and education law issues in 35 states and 15 countries. Vincent has served as a book editor and lead author on several publications. He managed several annual budgets up to $100 million and has raised over $40 million in external funding. Vincent recently served for nearly three years as a professor of educational policy and law and the inaugural Executive Director of the Education and Civil Rights Initiative at the University of Kentucky. During his tenure, he hosted two national conferences and several webinars on civil rights and education law taught K-12 and higher education law classes and led a team that completed a comprehensive equity audit for a Kentucky public school district. For 12 years, Vincent served as Vice President, W.K. Kellogg Professor, and Professor of Law at the University of Texas-Austin. His portfolio was comprised of a 50-million-dollar budget and 40 units, including the first Texas university-sponsored public charter school system, the statewide University Interscholastic League, the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health, the Office of Institutional Equity that investigated Title IX and employment discrimination complaints, five outreach centers across the state and a community engagement center in East Austin. As director of the Thematic Faculty Hire Initiative, he partnered with colleges, schools, and departments to hire over 60 faculty members in underrepresented academic areas. The Longhorn Center for Academic Excellence helped improve first-generation and underrepresented students’ four-year graduation rates to 93%. Vincent led the effort for the University to achieve the Carnegie Classification for Community Engagement and the Diversity Champion Award from Insight Magazine. He taught K-12 and higher education law courses and was recognized as Professor of Year by the Thurgood Marshall Legal Society. Vincent served as university spokesperson and helped develop the legal strategy for the United Supreme Court case Fisher v. University of Texas. He chaired the task force that recommended the removal of the confederate statues from the Main Mall and the name of a Ku Klux Klan leader from a residence hall. Vincent helped lead the effort to fully support undocumented students and vigorously fight antisemitism and other forms of hate on campus and in the community. For 11 years, Vincent held increasingly more responsible roles at three public flagship universities. He served as executive officer, vice provost, and law professor at Louisiana State University and the University of Oregon, teaching education and employment law classes.  At the University of Wisconsin-Madison, he served as Assistant Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, conducting all high-profile investigations and helped overhaul the labor and employment law curriculum as a law lecturer. Vincent also led a ten-month study of HR and diversity issues as part of the university’s accreditation project and established the Leadership Institute, which is still in existence today. Before entering academia, Vincent joined the Ohio Attorney General’s Office as an assistant attorney general. In that position, he successfully argued precedent-setting civil rights cases before the Supreme Court of Ohio that set the standard for proving a Bona Fide Occupational Qualification (BFOQ) in Ohio and established the extraterritorial jurisdiction of the Commission. These cases included Little Forest Medical Center v. The Civil Rights Commission and State, ex Rel Natalina v. Civil Rights Commission. He secured over a million dollars in settlements and judgments for complainants and won all appeals cases in Ohio courts. He was promoted to Cleveland Regional Director and then Legal & Regional Affairs Director for the Ohio Civil Rights Commission, where he and his team successfully investigated over 5000 civil rights investigations and helped Ohio state law become substantially equivalent with federal law. Later, as vice president and lead counsel of Bank One, he successfully represented the Bank before several agencies, including the Ohio Civil Rights Commission (OCRC), Ohio State Employment Relations Board, Ohio Unemployment Compensation Review Commission, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), and the Office Fair Contract and Compliance (OFCCP). Vincent was unanimously elected as the 48th Grand Sire Archon (CEO and Chairman 2018-2020) of Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity Inc., founded in 1904 as the first African American Greek letter organization and now is comprised of 144 member boules across the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Caribbean. He is a life member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., and was chair of the fraternity’s commission on racial justice. He has chaired several boards, including the Standing Committee of the Episcopal Diocese of Texas, St. James’ Episcopal Church Vestry, Communities in Schools of Central Texas, and the Austin Area Urban League. He also served as president of two liberal arts colleges, including his Alma Mater, where he was elected to the Board of Trustees. He currently serves as senior counsel to the Diversity First Consortium (2024- present). Vincent attended New York City public schools, graduated from the Bronx High School of Science, and was recognized as a notable Alumnus. He competed as a student-athlete, earned a Bachelor of Arts in History and Economics, and was presented the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Leadership Award at Hobart and William Smith Colleges graduation. Vincent was also awarded a 2023 alumnus citation and recognized as a notable alumnus. Vincent received his Juris Doctor from The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, where he was recognized as a notable alumnus. He received the 2012 Service Award and the 2022 Inclusive Excellence Award and, since 2008, has served on the National Advisory Council. He also received his doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania, where he was named the 2016 Educator of the Year.  Vincent has received over 100 awards for his professional and community service, and the Mayors and Cities of Austin, Texas; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Toledo, Ohio; Louisville, Kentucky; and Detroit, Michigan, awarded him proclamations.  In 2023, Vincent was inducted into the HBCU Pre-Law Hall of Fame for his sustained commitment to increasing access to law school for underrepresented students. In 2019, he was named a Kentucky Colonel, the highest title of honor bestowed by the Governor of Kentucky. Vincent is licensed to practice law in Ohio and West Virginia and is a member of the American Bar Association, the Ohio State Bar Association, and the West Virginia Bar Association. For ten years, he served as a certified civil rights mediator.