Lenora Billings-Harris

Biography

Lenora Billings-Harris, CSP is an internationally recognized speaker, multicultural diversity expert, and author with more than twenty-five years experience in the public and private sectors. As an educator and keynoter, Lenora has developed a unique way of presenting sensitive topics in a high-energy, fun-filled, yet thought-provoking way. Her interactive style, and immediately applicable "how to’s" have caused clients to invite her back again and again. She works with Fortune 500 companies as well as professional associations, and non-profit organizations and government agencies. She also served as an adjunct professor for Arizona State University, and is currently on the adjunct faculty of University of North Carolina-Greensboro. Lenora has presented to audiences in South Africa, Spain, Germany, Belgium, Russia, Ukraine, Mexico and Canada.

Before founding Excel Development Systems, Inc. in 1986, Lenora was the director of human resources for a division of CIGNA Corporation, where she provided strategic and operational human resources management direction, counsel, and support to 4000 employees. During that time, she played a key role in managing the process of combining workforces after a major corporate merger. Prior to that, Lenora was project administrator for General Motors Corporation. Her responsibilities included designing, developing, and delivering management seminars, and consulting services to various corporate, and dealership populations. Included among her accomplishments was the completion of the first management program for General Motors of Australia. In the 1970's Lenora was program director for the Executive Development Center of the Graduate School of Business, The University of Michigan. Her responsibilities included designing, marketing and managing various seminars that produced net profits for the University yearly.

Lenora received her MA from The University of Michigan and her BS from Hampton University. She presently serves on the board of directors of The National Speakers Association, and the board of Win Win Resolutions, a non-profit organization in North Carolina that teaches k-12 students how to resolve conflict without violence. She was active within many Arizona civic organizations. She is past chairwoman of the Phoenix Women's Commission, past president of the National Speakers Association-Arizona Chapter, and past board member of Arizona Women's Education and Employment.

Lenora is the recipient of numerous awards and recognitions for her business successes as well as her civic activities. A few include being listed in International Who’s Who of Professionals, Who's Who in the West, Outstanding Young Women of America, and she has won the Outstanding Marketing Awards - Carlson Learning Company (now Inscape Publishing) eight times.

Titles

Unity within Diversity: The Oz Perspective
Capturing the Multicultural Market
From Adversaries to Allies: Gender Communication in the Workplace
The Leadership Advantage: Building Emotional Intelligence
The Power IS You! A Wizard of Oz Perspective
The Diversity Advantage: Turning Barriers into Bridges
Leading the Diversity Advantage: What’s Your ROI?
Leadership: Transforming Visions into Bottom-Line Results