Valerie Davis-Howard, MBA

Sr. DEI & Collaboration Consultant and Executive Coach

Valerie Davis-Howard drives organizational culture change by helping clients achieve higher performance through leveraging diversity and creating more inclusive environments. She is highly regarded for her combined strengths in strategic thinking and detail orientation, facilitating seamless implementation and specializes in organization development, strategic planning, diversity and inclusion strategies, and educational programs. Valerie has overseen and carried out major interventions, large-scale events, and facilitated numerous diversity, leadership, strategic planning, and teambuilding sessions for executives, managers, and employees. Her passion and success in culture change and systems alignment yields enhanced morale, innovation, productivity, profits, and value. Over the last three decades, she has held line and staff positions within Fortune 100 companies, provided internal and external consulting across organizations in various industries, and worked within government, academic and not-for-profit organizations.

Valerie’s extensive career has included being a Managing Partner at one of the pioneering Organization Development firms in the country where she led their cornerstone inclusion and diversity process that seeds organizations with internal competencies for culture change. As the Vice President of Brand and Strategy Alignment, she also directed consultant training and ensured consistent delivery of customized training across all client systems. Previously, as AVP, Organizational Development at Chase Manhattan Bank, Valerie managed corporate diversity initiatives and change management programs. Additionally, she held internal roles at The Hartford, CIGNA, Amoco, Proctor and Gamble, and Pepsi-Cola. Her creative leadership exponentially increased employee engagement. As an internal Training Consultant for the State of Michigan, she managed competency development programs and created the first manager’s competency model for the state.

Valerie is a highly-rated conference speaker who has presented at The Forum on Workplace Inclusion, Organization Development Network conferences and Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) conferences. Her current clients include colleges, corporations, municipalities, and school districts. She has published articles on diversity and culture change and was named one of the “New Guard” by the American Society for Development (formerly ASTD) for exhibiting passion for making a difference and achievements that take the field of training and development in new directions. She is well respected by executives, leaders, and team members for her ability to facilitate highly interactive, intensive educational experiences that equip participants to drive higher performance through greater inclusion.

Valerie earned her M.B.A. from the University of Iowa and Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Spelman College. She is a member of the National Black MBA Association, Organization Development Network, and formerly a member of the American Society for Development. Originally from Detroit, Michigan she now resides in the Rochester, New York area. Valerie also volunteers her time to develop the empowerment of women and people of color.