The 24th Annual Awards Ceremony, sponsored by Lockheed Martin, was held on March 31st at the Westin Copley Plaza Hotel in Boston, Massachusetts celebrating the recognition of the nation's Top Ten employees with disABILITIES and the top public and private employers.

 

The event was hosted by EOP's CAREERS & the disABLED magazine, the nation's leading career magazine for people with disABILITES. "One of the highlights of the evening was our Keynote speaker, Katheryn King, who currently acts as the corporate liaison to several diverse communities including the LGBT, Asian Pacific Islander and the Able & Allies communities (rebranded from People w/Disabilities),"said John R. Miller, III, Chairman, CEO, and founder of EOP, Inc., publisher of CAREERS & the disABLED magazine.

 

EOP, Inc. Is celebrating its forty-eighth year devoted to helping industry, government, schools, and hospitals reach and recruit people with disABILITIES, Veterans, Wounded Warriors, Minorities and Women.

 

Having founded EOP, Inc. forty eight years ago, the nation's first and only interracially owned and staffed company, Miller has been immersed in diversity initiatives through the Company's seven diversity career magazines, seven diversity career expos for people with disABILITES, Minorities (African American, Hispanic, Native American, and Asian), and Women, and the Company's on line Diversity & Inclusion Career Center.

 

"I have witnessed hundreds of keynote speeches and hosted many seminars covering diversity issues dealing with solutions to achieving meaningful best practices for hiring, retaining, and promoting diversity, but never have I witnessed a more meaningful and productive plan of action then that delivered by Lockheed Martin's Katheryn King in her keynote speech at EOP's 24th Annual Award Ceremony in Boston on April 31st," said Miller. 

 

"Throughout the evening presenters of the Top Ten employees referred to King's keynote speech as inspiring and very relevant to today's diversity challenges," added Tamara Dreyfuss, President and Publisher, EOP, Inc.

 

Celebrating ADA's (Americans with disABILITY Act) 25th anniversary, King convinced Lockheed Martin's diversity office and senior executives to recognize twenty-five of the Company's employees with diverse disABILITIES across the spectrum.  It was a paradigm shift.  But the Ambassadors travelled from as far away as Australia to celebrate their accomplishments and tell their personal story. Each of the twenty-five employees had a six foot by three foot full color standing placard with their photo and their exciting profile created.  Attending the celebration were many other able-bodied Lockheed Martin employees who could meet the employees and witness first-hand how the Able & Allies accomplished their daily job responsibilities and thus experienced how effective people with disABILITES are to Lockheed Martin's bottom line.

 

"Providing a platform," said King, "can be applied to all underrepresented and underserved communities… identifying dedicated and talented employees within each community and giving them a platform, not only gives hope to all peoples within that community; but also embraces diversity and fosters inclusion across the enterprise. This in turn drives ideation and innovation which positively impacts the bottom line for all companies," King concluded.

 

"One of King's greatest assets is her organizational mastermind and her ability to use diversity of thought to create new ideas," Miller said. "She is a natural leader and has a unique style and ability to motivate people to rally behind a single idea and goal for the benefit of the team. Within her first 90 days at Lockheed Martin, it was King's brainchild to create the Able & Allies Ambassador Program to recognize the 25th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act," said Miller.

 

Prior to joining the Lockheed Martin team, King was a Regional Vice President at US Bank for 15 years and managed the Department of Defense purchase card portfolio in excess of $6 Billion annually.  While at US Bank, Katheryn King was selected to join the inaugural Diversity and Inclusion council and upon exhibiting her affinity to the subject matter and leadership, was asked to chair it.  Serving on the Council for 3 years allowed King to find her passion for Diversity and Inclusion work and would lead her to return to the classroom.  She attended Cornell Industrial Labor Relations School and became a Certified Diversity Professional & Advanced Practitioner. 

 

King's extensive world knowledge and travel can be attributed to her ten years of dedicated service to the U.S. Army, where she was a decorated combat veteran. Katheryn self-identifies as a disabled veteran.  Active in her community, Katheryn served on the Board of Directors as the Chief Diversity Head for Equality Maryland. During her tenure, Maryland’s largest LGBT civil rights group was instrumental in getting same-sex marriage legalized in the state and approved by referendum before the recent Supreme Court rulings.