CHICAGO, April 14, 2022 — Spencer Stuart, a leading global executive search and leadership advisory firm, is pleased to announce that Dr. Tony Byers has joined the firm as Chief Inclusion & Diversity Officer (CIDO). For more than a year, he has served as a member of Spencer Stuart’s group of external Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I) advisors.
As CIDO, Byers will advance Spencer Stuart’s strategic DE&I agenda globally and deepen the firm’s impact in the market, expanding on work well under way to nurture greater representation across the firm’s teams and a culture of inclusion in which each person at the firm feels supported and accepted, with DE&I fully embedded in all aspects of the organization.
Byers has more than 30 years of experience in DE&I. Over the past five years, he has served as a DE&I thought leader, public speaker and strategic advisor to clients through the management consulting firm he founded. In addition, Byers served as Senior Faculty and Director of the Modern Chief Diversity Officer Program (MCDO) at Cornell University’s ILR School, Center for Advanced Human Resource Studies (CAHRS), collaborating with senior executives to develop and lead impactful D&I strategies. Prior to this, he successfully led and helped to revitalize D&I efforts in several global organizations. Byers led DE&I globally at Starbucks during a period of high growth and international expansion. He was also the Global D&I Leader at H.J. Heinz Company and spent three years at Cargill focusing on D&I in the North America and Western Europe.
In addition, Byers spent 10 years as an organizational change and diversity consultant and was an adjunct faculty member at Metropolitan State University in St. Paul, Minn. for eight years. In 2018, he authored the book The Multiplier Effect of Inclusion: How Diversity & Inclusion Advances Innovation and Drives Growth. Byers received his doctorate in Human and Organizational Systems and his master’s degree in Organizational Systems from Fielding Graduate University.
“Tony brings a wealth of expertise to our firm, having spent nearly three decades championing diversity, equity and inclusion across various industries and companies,” said Ben Williams, chief executive officer of Spencer Stuart. “We have benefited greatly from his wisdom and dedication to this work over the past year, and I am confident his leadership will not only strengthen our Firm, but help us deepen our impact with clients, candidates and society more broadly.”
“Elevating the outcomes of diversity, equity and inclusion to one of the most important business imperatives of our time is my passion, and it’s one that Spencer Stuart shares,” said Byers. “As I’ve experienced over the past 14 months, the firm is deeply committed to DE&I and I am excited to continue this journey and build on our momentum with the team globally.”
About Spencer Stuart
At Spencer Stuart, we know that leadership has never mattered more. We are trusted by organizations around the world to help them make the senior-level leadership decisions that have a lasting impact on their enterprises, on their stakeholders and the world around them. Through our executive search, board and leadership advisory services, we help build and enhance high-performing teams for select clients ranging from major multinationals to emerging companies to non-profit institutions.
Privately held since 1956, we focus on delivering knowledge, insight and results through the collaborative efforts of a team of experts — now spanning more than 70 offices, over 30 countries and more than 50 practice specialties. Boards and leaders consistently turn to Spencer Stuart to help address their evolving leadership needs in areas such as senior-level executive search, board recruitment, board effectiveness, succession planning, in-depth senior management assessment, employee engagement and many other facets of culture and organizational effectiveness, particularly in the context of the changing stakeholder expectations of business today. For more information on Spencer Stuart, please www.spencerstuart.com.