This Friday, Oct. 25, at 1 p.m. (PT) join the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Department and Internal Communications via Zoom for Leading Toward Equity.

Junna Ro, managing counsel for strategic legal initiatives, UC Legal, will moderate a conversation between Calvin Turner, executive director of UCPath, and Isabel Alvarado, Systemwide Title IX deputy director. (Isabel has graciously taken the place of Catherine Spear, who is unable to attend).

What to expect

The series’ central premise is that becoming an anti-racist organization requires everyone’s time and continual effort. We are all part of the journey of advancing a culture of EDI at UCOP.

During Leading Toward Equity sessions, UCOP leaders share unvarnished truths about their personal experiences with EDI, including bias or privilege they have experienced based on race, economic class or other dimensions. They chronicle their journeys of learning in this space, including how they are leading efforts to further EDI and anti-racism efforts at our organization.

We encourage staff to attend with the mindset of engaging with colleagues to think through how we can commit to shared accountability and move toward becoming an anti-racist organization. Staff will have an opportunity to engage directly with leaders during the event by participating in the Zoom chat feature and asking questions during the second half of the session.

Join us

• What: Leading Toward Equity
• When: Oct. 25, 1 – 2 p.m. (PT)
• Where: Online via Zoom: https://UCOP.zoom.us/j/3967131838?omn=99503269453&from=addon

About our panelists

Isabel Alvarado (Dees), (she/her/ella)

Isabel at the Museo de Arte Popular in Mexico City

Isabel is the Systemwide Title IX deputy director. She joined UCOP after serving as the inaugural associate vice chancellor of Equity & Equal Protection at UC Santa Cruz, where she held the plenary titles of Title IX coordinator, locally designated official, ADA coordinator, and equal employment and opportunity director. Originally from the Los Angeles area, Isabel has lived and worked in the Santa Cruz area since 1998.

Isabel is the daughter of Mexican immigrants and the first in her family to attend university. She completed her bachelor’s degree in politics at UC Santa Cruz and earned her law degree from Monterey College of Law. She is a queer educational rights advocate with over 15 years of experience working on compliance in higher education.

Isabel identifies as a member of the disability community, which informs a holistic approach to compliance focused on meaningful inclusion through agency models of service and transformative justice principles. She is a fluent Spanish speaker, bi-cultural and bi-literate, and fiercely proud and grateful for her cultura. Isabel loves local state parks and enjoys baking, knitting, and gardening.

Calvin Turner (he/him/his)

Calvin (right) and a friend at a Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans, singing and reminiscing about their favorite experiences.

Calvin is the executive director of UCPath, UC’s payroll, HR systems, benefits administration and financial shared services hub. UCPath serves more than 245,000 UC employees and is the largest higher education shared services center in the U.S. Calvin provides strategic leadership and oversight of UCPath operations and partners with UC locations to stabilize and optimize UCPath operations and services.

Calvin is an accomplished leader with expertise in shared services and finance. Prior to UC, he was director of the National Finance Center (NFC), the premier federal shared services provider of payroll, human resources, financial and administrative services. The NFC serves more than 650,000 employees in 172 federal agencies and manages insurance services for the entire federal civilian workforce. Prior to NFC, Calvin gained more than 20 years of banking leadership experience at Hancock Whitney Bank, Hibernia National Bank (now CapitalOne) and the Federal Reserve Bank. He also worked as an associate instructor for the University of Phoenix in New Orleans.

Calvin has a master’s degree in public administration and a bachelor’s degree in business management and communications.

Junna Ro (she/her/hers)

Junna (third from left) and her family at her son’s graduation. He is a second-gen Bruin, following his mom!

Junna is the managing counsel for strategic legal initiatives. She promotes UC’s mission by advancing critical systemwide strategies aimed at increasing UC Legal’s impact and effectiveness. Her work ensures that UC Legal amplifies UCOP’s strategic objectives within UC and the community at large. Prior to UCOP, Junna worked as general counsel and head of people at insurance platform Metromile, as vice president/chief ethics and compliance officer for AAA, and as corporate counsel for Symantec and VERITAS Software.

Junna is passionate about EDI, ethical leadership and building organizational culture. She serves on the boards of the Taproot Foundation, which helps mission-driven organizations amplify their impact by mobilizing skilled volunteers to advance resource equity, and Community Boards, the longest-running nonprofit conflict resolution and restorative justice center in the U.S. She is an advisory council member of the Asian Pacific Fund and a member of the Council of Korean Americans, National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, Asian American Bar Association, Bay Area Asian American General Counsel Network, HiPower, and the Women’s General Counsel Network.

Junna earned her juris doctor from Santa Clara University School of Law, and her bachelor’s degree in political science from UCLA.

Watch previous Leading Toward Equity conversations. For questions, please contact lalitha.sankaran@ucop.edu or michelle.simms@ucop.edu.

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