Dr. Michael Baran

Dr. Michael Baran is a social scientist and the CEO of Iris Inclusion. He draws on his own research in cultural anthropology and cognitive psychology to inform his current diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) work — his speaking engagements, writings, consulting, leadership development, workshop facilitation, and digital products. He has been supporting the DEI efforts of organizations of all types and sizes for 20 years — from Fortune 500 corporations to educational institutions, government agencies, and nonprofits. His work and his digital products have been covered in The New York Times, BBC, Forbes, The Washington Post, CNN, NPR, The Boston Globe, Slate, and more.

Prior to his full-time DEI work, Michael taught courses at Harvard University and the University of Michigan. He has worked as associate director at the FrameWorks Institute and principal researcher at the American Institutes of Research, conducting ethnographic research to inform culturally competent campaigns around a variety of pressing social issues — early childhood development, health disparities, education and housing, criminal justice reform, violence against children, and more.

Michael’s recent book, “Subtle Acts of Exclusion: How to Understand, Identify, and Stop Microaggressions,” was coauthored with Dr. Tiffany Jana and was released in 2020. Since then, it has been named by Forbes as one of “11 Books To Read If You Want To Be A More Inclusive Leader” and has been awarded the 2020 Book of the Year by the Alliance for Nonprofit Management and the 2020 Readers’ Choice Award from getAbstract.