Lila Kelly

Lila Kelly, principal of Lila Kelly Associates and DiversityIntegration.com, has over 20 years of experience in the areas of diversity and inclusion, recruitment and selection, and career transition. She began her work in the diversity arena in 1992. In the late l990s, after seeing numerous qualified applicants fall through the cracks, particularly diverse applicants, she realized there was a missing link in the ongoing topic of “recruitment and retention.” That missing link was the interview process. This realization led her to conduct research on diversity in the hiring process and publish several books and online trainings on this topic.

While teaching a college course on Managing a Diverse Workforce, Lila became grounded in the process of strategic diversity action planning. She supervised over 100 adult students in conducting organizational assessments and developing diversity action plans, many of which were implemented in their organizations. She has since consulted in this area for several organizations. This experience led to publishing the “Diversity Action Plan Workbook.”

Lila consults in the areas of diversity education and action planning, integrating diversity into the employee selection process, and developing structured interview practices and centralizing recruiting efforts. Her work has spanned many industries, including government, healthcare, education, nonprofit, corporate and technology. Lila has facilitated a monthly diversity discussion group for over 15 years, which is sponsored by the Association of Talent Development and Human Resource Professionals of Minnesota. These powerful discussions have helped her keep her finger on the pulse of the diversity movement.

Prior to starting her own business, Lila worked as a human resources director and a recruiting manager. She holds a M.A. in human development and a B.A. in business management and communications. More information is available at LilaKelly.com and DiversityIntegration.com.