Rhodes Perry (he/him)

Best-Selling Author, Professional Speaker, and Award-Winning Social Entrepreneur

Rhodes Perry, MPA (he/him) is a best-selling author, sought-after keynoter, and award-winning social entrepreneur. Nationally recognized as a diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) thought leader, he has 20 years of leadership experience, having worked at the White House, the Department of Justice, and PFLAG National. Media outlets like Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, and the Associated Press have featured his powerful work. He serves as the Founding CEO of Rhodes Perry Consulting, a global leadership and management consultancy helping inclusive leaders, visionaries, and change makers build psychological safety, trust, and belonging at work.

Rhodes speaks on a variety of topics ranging from the power of building belonging at work, to leading from the margins, and from transforming your organization’s culture, to the value of developing the leadership of LGBTQ+ employees and entrepreneurs. He shares distinctive stories from his extensive career in his high-impact keynote addresses. He provides the specific inclusive leadership competencies that every leader must embrace to earn recognition, move up, and inspire the next generation of high-potential talent during his talks. And, he will show you how to avoid common mistakes that left unchecked may stymie your organization’s DEI goals.

Rhodes’ powerful insights on current inclusive leadership and workplace culture trends are nationally recognized as cutting edge and impactful. His heartfelt storytelling ability means your attendees will remain engaged throughout his talks — and implement the leadership and culture change strategies offered. Your outcome will be an audience prepared to lead inclusively and build cultures of belonging — for themselves personally and for their colleagues professionally.

In his business, Rhodes partners with leading brands, including Genentech, PNC Bank, and the Kellogg Company®; government agencies like the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services and the U.S. Department of the Interior; and larger nonprofit organizations, including the American Red Cross, the Human Rights Campaign, and the Center for the Study of Social Policy, to advance their DEI goals. Together with each partner, the firm co-creates transformative change management solutions, building belonging cultures centering those least likely to feel a strong sense of psychological safety and trust on the job. The firm specializes in executive coaching, leadership development programming, DEI capacity building, and strategic planning solutions.

Rhodes also serves as the creator and host of the annual Belonging at Work Summit, a virtual DEI conference empowering inclusive leaders to build community, gain new skills, and commit to building healthier workplace cultures. Rhodes earned a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Gender Studies from the University of Notre Dame and a Master of Public Administration from New York University. He currently serves on the National LGBTQ+ Chamber of Commerce’s Transgender Inclusion Task Force and on the Cascade AIDS Project’s Board of Directors.

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