ABOUT BACE
BACE is collaborating with The Center for Accounting Transformation supporting organizational talent recruitment and retention. This groundbreaking report uncovers strategies to attract, retain, and empower a diverse workforce in accounting.
Get your FREE copy of The DEI Journey of the Accounting Profession.
BACE Values & Commitment to Talent Pathways
Credibility
Trusted Voices and Spaces
Action
Get to Work
Transparency
Standard of Excellence
Innovation
Industry Transformation
Scale
Supplier Procurement
Social Impact
Committed to Community
Mission: Get to Work!
BACE, originally ideated in 2008, addresses the unique needs and challenges of institutions and employers serving talent including a focus on military, veterans and spouses.
BACE V-Suite was launched through a fiscal sponsorship with the YWCA Metropolitan Chicago Breedlove Accelerator mission of eliminating racism and economic empowerment including career services, workforce development and entrepreneurship.
BACE Research
Inter-disciplinary forum through data transparency and reporting with a focus on policies, procedures and accountability.
This pillar provides:
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Credible research and publishing alliances
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Best practice and setting the standard of excellence in the practice and operation of inclusion and belonging in academia, corporate, non-profit and government
• Research Fellowships
BACE Campus and Careers
In partnership with Onyx Rising,
BACE Campus and Careers provides:
● Consortium for advanced level of industry and institutional alliance
● Advancing leadership advocacy and development along with organizational transformation in support of workplace talent and social impact.
● BACE Research Institute in collaboration with our campus alliance partners focusing on procedures, policies and organizational transformation
● Campus Scholars, Internships and Service Learning in alliance with corporate and
non-profit alliance partners
BACE Impact
Learn more about what we do
Campus Research and Career/Entrepreneurship Pilots
BACE has been engaging with colleges and universities, strategic partnerships supporting corporations, associations and entrepreneurs.
2026 and 2027 planning (JOIN US):
*BACE industry and institutional transformation initiatives along with BACE V-Suite supplier and entrepreneurship development.
*BACE Summit 2026 with call for papers announced soon
*BACE 2027 Research Conference with call for papers announced soon
2025 Initiatives include:
*BACE industry transformation initiatives for talent innovations including leadership advancement and development; internship partnerships, certifications, Career Fairs/Expos, campus programming pilots; and entrepreneurship.
*BACE "Enriching Institutional Capital Through Alliance" at UNCF UNITE 2025
*BACE V-Suite provides career and business support for military, veterans & military spouses including alliance with YWCA Metropolitan Chicago Breedlove Accelerator
*BACE joins leadership team to launch practitioner-led initiative supporting Chicagoland talent senior leaders and strategists
*BACE convenes Democracy strategy sessions with national leaders
*BACE Community Service Days with the Mayor's Office & Choose Chicago (Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives with industry leaders and organizations)
*BACE joins leadership team to launch practitioner-led initiative supporting Chicagoland talent executives
2024 Initiatives included:
*BACE industry transformation initiatives for talent innovations. Our research also
includes executive and talent pipeline and pathways along with entrepreneurship.
*BACE "In The Boardroom" Series (Finance, Real Estate, Appraisal, Brokerage, Construction)
*BACE V-Suite, career and business support for military, veterans & military spouses including alliance with YWCA Metropolitan Chicago Breedlove Accelerator and SBA Reboots to Business
*BACE launched Community Service Days with the Mayor's Office & Choose Chicago
2023 Initiatives included:
*Launch of BACE at the National HBCU Business Deans Roundtable Summit at KPMG Lakehouse Orlando. The committee presented the closing panel: "HBCU Organizational Sustainability Through Alliance" at the 2023 National HBCU Business Deans Roundtable Summit and Student Conference hosted at the KPMG Lakehouse Orlando. About the National HBCU Business Deans Roundtable Summit https://www.hbcubusinessdeans.org/. BACE Bronze Level Panel Sponsor: Uber
*BACE launched industry transformation initiatives for talent with corporate partners
*Soft launch of BACE V-Suite, career and business support for military, veterans and spouses
In addition, BACE has supported youth engagement in North Lawndale, Chicago pre-K through 8th grade institution. This engagement has included Board support, career and entrepreneurship programming and service learning opportunities for campus partners.
WonderWomen of Diversity
WonderWomen of Diversity has hosted dinner conversations about diversity, equity, and inclusion in the academic and corporate setting with female leaders.
Outside of the intimate dinner discussions and business tours, we convened during association conferences for a discussion on diversity with leading diversity scholars.
We reconvened for Building the Diversity Pipeline in virtual format during The PhD Project Conference virtually in 2020 to highlight how Corporate America can engage with academia to build a talent pipeline that is diverse and inclusive. Read more at Wiley's Diversity in Research page below. Additional convening topics were: Expanding the Diversity of Women in Policy, Politics, and Government; Cultivating Diversity in Philanthropy and Non-Profits; How Bias in Economics Hurts Us All.
BACE Impact
Learn more about what we do
BACE V-Suite for Veterans and Military Families
2025 BACE V-Suite Expansion
The BACE V-Suite expands to include is excited to launch a career and entrepreneurship accelerator for military and veteran families:
*1-on-1 Interviews and Focus Groups
*Career and Entrepreneurship cohorts
*Career and workforce cohorts
*Incubator and Accelerator cohorts
*ERG Quarterly Roundtables
*Veteran Empowered with YWCA Metropolitan Chicago for women veterans and spouses
*Career and entrepreneurship support at regional VBOCs including Reboot to Business
2024 BACE V-Suite Launch
BACE was excited to launch a career and entrepreneurship accelerator for military and veteran families fiscally sponsored by the YWCA Metropolitan Chicago:
*1-on-1 Interviews and Focus Groups
*Support from YWCA Metropolitan Chicago for women veterans and spouses
*Career and entrepreneurship support with regional VBOCs including Reboot to Business
2020-22 ACTIVITIES
Military Entrepreneurship Summit
BACE collaborated with Syracuse University Institute for Veterans and Military Families on their September 2022 Military Entrepreneurship Summit. BACE focused on the corporate Chicago panel with The Obama Foundation, Uber, World Business Chicago, and American Water. BACE also secured the opening remarks from Choose Chicago representing the Mayor's Office Tourism and Events.
Women Veterans Wellness Initiative expansion into career and entrepreneurship
The Black Alliance of Colleges and Employers (BACE) supported the Women Veterans Wellness Initiative as it expanded into career and entrepreneurship. This initiative included the strategic framework collaboratively with Onyx2Rise. In addition, BACE designed the Women's History Month programming for the March 2022 Women Veterans Convening that gathered higher education, industry, and community leaders to explore research, career and entrepreneurship best practice and gaps.
Opening Remarks:
Scholars Across the Discipline:
Willie Reddic, PhD, Associate Professor, Syracuse University Whitman School of Management and The PhD Project
Rosalinda Vasquez Maury, Director of Applied Research and Analytics, Syracuse University Institute for Veterans and Military Families
Master Sergeant Tamesha Armstead, EdD, Dissertation, Baylor University: “When You Finally See Us: A Narrative Inquiry of The Rare Sighting of Black Females in Officer Ranks and Positions in the United States Air Force”
Corporate Panelists:
Karen Freeman-Wilson
President & CEO, Chicago Urban League
Former Mayor, Gary, Indiana
Philip T. Anderson, Ph.D., CDP
Director, Leadership Institute, Argonne National Laboratory
Training and Organizational Effectiveness Advisor for the Army Readiness Group at Fort Sheridan, Illinois (Retired)
Stacey Dixon, Ed.D.
Former Director, Student Veteran Service Support, National Louis University
U.S. Marine Corps, CWO3 (Retired)
Moderated by:
Kelli Lester (McMiller)
Chief Strategy Officer, Engaging Solutions
Kelli Lester is the new Chief Strategist at Engaging Solutions, a management consulting firm headquartered in Indianapolis. She has spent nearly a decade as a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) consultant for The Kaleidoscope Group, and years working in corporate America creating the foundation for organizational success in the DEI area. Kelli has a proven record in defining vision, developing strategy and executing action plans that produce sustainable results.
Closing Remarks:
Shannon Stone-Winding
President & CEO, Black Alliance of Colleges and Employers (BACE)
The inaugural Women's History Month VetHER Convening was sponsored by the Multi-Faith Veterans Initiative (MVI) and Boeing supported by the Arthur Lockhart Resource Institute Sister to Sister Program, Christ Universal Temple “Women Veteran We Rise” with the Black Alliance of Colleges and Employers (BACE), Syracuse University Institute of Veterans and Military Families (IVMF), and the Coalition of Veterans Organizations (CVO).