Ted Childs

When Ted Childs started at IBM over 39 years ago, equal opportunity was considered a core principle of the company’s values with a strong history of focus on gender, race, and disability. Through the leadership of Childs, IBM broadened the definition of diversity to include sensitivity to cultures, sexual orientation, and age. As a leading corporate diversity expert, Childs understands the importance of embracing diversity and the advantage it provides in the war for talent and an increasingly competitive global marketplace.

His success with IBM has been attributed to looking beyond the internal factors of the organization to the diverse external entities that affect a company’s success such as customers, advertisers, suppliers, the applicant pool, and community at large. Childs believes that in order for an organization to achieve its highest potential, it must pay close attention to changing global demographics and emerging issues, and embrace them as opportunities for growth.

Captivating and eloquent, he challenges organizations to become fully vested in diversity and take ownership of it. With almost 40 years of success in corporate America, Childs gets straight to the bottom line and proves that a healthy diversity policy is essential to achieving the ultimate competitive advantage.