Alfranda “Al” Durr currently serves as CEO of ALD & Associates a management consulting firm specializing in inclusive diversity and human capital solutions. Al was formerly the Diversity Program Manager responsible for the Training, Compliance, and Strategic Initiatives in the Army National Guard (ARNG) Equal Opportunity and Diversity Office and coordinated the implementation of the ARNG Diversity and Inclusion Strategic Plan for the ARNG enterprise consisting of 350,000 plus personnel.
Al retired as a Lieutenant Colonel from the ARNG in March 2013, after 28 years of service. He is an accomplished, dynamic, energetic, and results-oriented with over 20 years of experience in all aspects of diversity management, inclusion strategies, and equal opportunity/affirmative action requirements. Al has earned D&I Certifications from Cornell and Georgetown Universities. He has conducted countless workshops and training sessions on sensitive and complex issues that impact the ability to achieve a mission and organization performance. During his professional tenure as a D&I leader he has been called upon to develop customized training to meet and achieve desired results and build cohesive and inclusive teams.
He has served and been involved in numerous Leadership and Diversity initiatives at the local, state, and national levels. He has lectured on diversity and inclusion at several educational institutions including University of Washington, Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission, and Lockhaven University.
Al has a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from Washington State University and a Master of Business Administration from The National Graduate School. He has also completed course requirements for his Lean Six Sigma Black Belt Certification and has a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Certification.
Al is also an Adjunct Faculty at George Mason University where he teaches leadership, innovation, and interpersonal communication courses.
Culture Coach Consultants & Trainers
Oz Mondejar
Consultant and Trainer
Culture Coach International
Culture Coach Team
Al Durr
President
ALD & Associates
Oz is a Mission Driven Consultant who works at the intersection of policy, advocacy and community and government relations. His engagements include human centered universal designs for accessibility, diversity recruitment, human resources, and leading DE&I initiatives for several organizations.
Before becoming a trusted advisor to leaders in business, government and nonprofit sectors as Mucho Gusto. Inc’s President and Lead Consultant, Oz most recently served as Senior Vice President of Mission and Advocacy for Spaulding Rehabilitation Network (SRN), the post-acute care services division of Mass General Brigham. His responsibilities included mission integration and administrative operations across Organizational Development and Community Relations, including Adaptive Sports. Oz led SRN’s Equity, Dignity and Respect (EDR). He also oversaw Human Resources, Marketing, and Communications.
Prior to joining Mass General Brigham in 2001, Oz led the Social Security Administration's New England Region's diversity recruitment and retention initiatives and worked as a Human Resources Executive in several different industries including manufacturing, hospitality, and finance. Internationally recognized for his expertise on accessibility, disability rights and workplace accommodations, Oz serves on several boards and is an advisor to others. He was recently appointed to serve on the Massachusetts Governors Commission on the Status of Persons with Disabilities, and has also been by the Governor as Vice Chair, Board of Directors for the Commonwealth Corporation.
Oz has received numerous recognitions, including the President's Champions of Change Award, Social Security Administration's Commissioners Citation, Kraft Family MVP Recognition for Community Service, Hispanics Executives Making an Impact, 25 Most Influential LGBTQ+ Pioneers Award and the Disability Law Center Leadership Award.
Oz earned his B.A, from Lesley University
Kari Heistad has been working in the fields of diversity, equity and inclusion and cultural competency for over 30 years. With diversity as the hallmark of her work, her experiences have brought her into contact with world leaders, inner-city youth, non-profit organizations and business people.
As the founder and CEO of Culture Coach International, a Boston based consulting firm founded in 1998, her work has focused on helping companies to solve the teamwork issues that arise from diverse and multicultural teams. She has worked across the public and private sectors as well as healthcare and government. Her clients have ranged from 25 person firms to those with more than 100,000 employees.
She has spoken to more than 18,000 people through her speeches and training programs. She has developed numerous models for diversity and inclusion, more than 100 tips cards on diversity topics and countless other tools, resources and fact sheets. The tools she has developed have been used by more than 500,000 people worldwide.
Kari's travels and interactions have strengthened her commitment to promoting international issues and understanding. She speaks regularly before regional and international conferences and her articles have appeared in regional and national publications. She holds a Masters degree in International Administration and she was a Fulbright scholar to New Zealand.
In January 2017, Kari launched a second company, the Diversity Dashboard, an online project management software designed to help corporate diversity professionals to track their activity, measure their results and report their ROI. With the Dashboard, Kari completed the eight month WIN business accelerator program at Babson College where she won the Community Award for her work supporting the WIN community during the program. With the changes in the workplace brought on by the pandemic in 2020, the Diversity Dashboard pivoted to provide diversity tools and materials that are ready made and easy to use under the name of the DEIBoxx. Materials can be found at: DEIBoxx.com
Kari Heistad
CEO
Culture Coach International
DEIBoxx