Sandra Rice is senior vice president, outreach & strategic partnerships at Coqual. She is the main-line operator and quarterback of the Task Force community. Her life and career path have been deeply influenced by a childhood spent traveling the world with her family. Her mother showed her the true beauty of difference and that diversity makes the world a special place. She has worked in the field of diversity, equity, and inclusion for more than two decades. Before joining Coqual, she was the senior vice president for national recruitment and leadership development at the Emma Bowen Foundation (EBF), a nonprofit that provides a pipeline of diverse talent to the media and tech industries. At EBF, Sandra executed strategic leadership programs that placed more than a thousand college students of color in paid multi-summer internships, leading to full-time jobs at more than 70 companies. Many of her protégés now hold high-level media jobs around the world.

She earned her undergraduate degree in journalism at San Jose State University and a master’s in media studies from the New School.

Dr. Sy Stokes is the Vice President of Research at Coqual. He leads the research team in conducting global studies focused on improving the workplace experiences for historically marginalized populations across the NA, LATAM, APAC, and EMEA regions, including Australia, Brazil, India, South Africa, Japan, Germany, the UK, and the US. He works closely with senior executives and practitioners from companies across the world to develop actionable and sustainable solutions for achieving their organizational DEI goals.

He received his B.A. in African American Studies from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA); Master's in Higher Education from the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn); and Ph.D. in Education from the University of Southern California (USC).