North America DEI Alumni Awards

Our annual North America DEI Alumni Award recognizes alumni who are leading the way on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in their organizations and communities.

Since launching this award two years ago, we've been able to recognize 8 individuals in our North America alumni community who have proven their ability to make a measurable impact, exert influence, and promote innovation in DEI. Each award comes with a $10,000 prize that BCG donates to a DEI-related charitable organization of the winner’s choice.

BCG knows the importance of DEI. That’s why we founded the North America Center for Inclusion and Equity. Over five years, we are investing $1 million to support organizations in North America that are advancing racial equity.

Meet the 2022 DEI Alumni Award Winners

Meet Aliya Bhatia and Kristin Peck. These incredible BCG alums are working hard to create change and advance equity for all. To learn more about them, their work and the organization to whom they’ll be donating their award, continue on to their individual sections.

Why Aliya was selected as a DEI Alumni Award winner: Aliya serves as Executive Director of Vot-ER, an organization that seeks to build a healthy, inclusive democracy by encouraging patients to register to vote. Under Aliya’s leadership, Vot-ER is partnering with more hospitals that serve patients of color and helping to diversify the ranks of registered voters. In addition, Aliya has built a diverse talent pipeline at Vot-ER and set internal DEI benchmarks. Aliya has been focused on DEI throughout her career. During her time at BCG, she helped create an in-house diversity training program and co-authored a report (The Diversity Paradox) that offered suggestions on how organizations could accelerate progress on DEI metrics. While she was a student at the Harvard Kennedy School, Aliya worked with the Dean to expand the Kennedy School’s recruitment activities in communities with more prospective Black, Latino, and Native American students.

Donation organization: Aliya chose to split her $10,000 donation equally between two organizations. Half the prize money will go to support her own organization, Vot-ER, which engages in nonpartisan, healthcare-based voter registration in hospitals and clinics. “Voting is an important way to empower communities so that they have a say in shaping the policies that impact their health, their environment, and their access to food and good jobs,” says Aliya.

She will donate the other half of her prize to Common Good Atlanta, which teaches humanities and English classes in prisons across the Atlanta metro area. “To see people explore the concepts of freedom and agency from within prison walls by discussing The Odyssey and other works of classic literature – it’s the closest thing to magic that I’ve ever seen,” she says.

Why Kristin was selected as a DEI Alumni Award winner: Since becoming CEO of the world’s leading animal health company Zoetis, Kristin has steered the company’s aspirations for change to make Zoetis and the animal health industry more inclusive. Under her leadership, Zoetis has taken meaningful actions to create a safe, flexible, and inclusive workplace where all colleagues can thrive. Kristin also oversaw the establishment of the Zoetis Foundation, which supports inclusion and diversity for veterinarians, veterinary technicians, and farmers around the globe. On Kristin’s watch, Zoetis has boosted the representation of women and people of color throughout the organization, on the executive team, and the Board of Directors. Empowering colleagues to bring their full selves to work, Zoetis has enhanced its benefits to be more inclusive for all – with programs and resources for caregiving, wellness, mental health, as well as benefits for gender transition, surrogacy benefits, and fertility counseling. The culture that Kristin inspired has earned Zoetis several recognitions as a “Best Company” for LBGTQ+ employees, working parents, executive women, multicultural women, and Latinx employees.

Donation organization: Kristin chose to donate her $10,000 award to Catalyst, a global nonprofit focused on accelerating progress for women through workplace inclusion. “As a board member of Catalyst, I’m passionate about their work in helping women create positive impact and thrive in inclusive workplaces, free from barriers and biases,” she says. “There’s so much more we can do to improve gender equality and inclusion across business and society, particularly with regard to equitable pay and representation at all levels.”

Ellen Hunter and Bay Love

Donation organizations: Ellen and Bay are donating their DEI alumni award prize to Greensboro Health Disparities Collaborative, a decades-old collective of community members, physicians, and institutional leaders who have closed racial gaps in cancer by directly addressing structural racism and using a community organizing approach; and the Indigenous Resurgence Institute, devoted to strengthening Indigenous cultural practices, creating spaces and environments for cultural practice, and leading the work of international repatriation.

Why Groundwater Institute was selected as a DEI alumni award winner: Groundwater Institute counts among the most impressive organizations tackling DEI issues in the workplace today. In their creation of the institute and their ongoing work through it, Ellen and Bay have helped business leaders across the US deepen their understanding of the causes and impacts of racial injustice.

Brittany Bankston

Donation organization: Brittany is donating her prize to Black Product Managers—a network of leaders who coach Black talent and help them secure jobs in high impact roles and companies—which she cofounded.

Why Brittany was selected as a DEI alumni award winner: In her work at MainStreet, which helps software, hardware, and venture-backed startups claim tax credits, as well as her cofounding and leadership of Black Product Managers, Brittany has excelled at engaging leaders around her in driving positive change. She is especially notable for her tenacity in the face of the skepticism or inertia that allows injustice to continue merely because “it has always been this way.”

Kyle Hill

Donation organization: Kyle is donating his prize to Teach for Canada, a nonprofit organization that works with northern First Nations to recruit, prepare, and support committed teachers.

Why Kyle was selected as a DEI alumni award winner: Kyle has long been committed to supporting Indigenous communities in northern Canada. Remote, isolated communities in the north have been left behind—including in the area of education—for generations. Thanks to Kyle’s leadership in cofounding and leading Teach for Canada, he and his organization have recruited, trained, and supported over 200 teachers who have improved educational outcomes for thousands of students in the north.

James H. Lowry

Donation organization: Jim is donating his prize to the Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders Center at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

Why Jim was selected as a DEI alumni award winner: During his tenure at BCG, Jim has been instrumental in attracting talent from diverse backgrounds and successful in recruiting them to join the firm. He also helped BCG to build an even more inclusive organizational culture, one that has leveled the playing field for people who come from different starting points. Additionally, he has provided valuable and inspiring advice on DEI issues to BCG clients seeking to build a similar organizational culture.

Jasmine Pachnanda

Donation organization: Jasmine is donating her prize to the Alliance College--Ready Public Schools Foundation (ACRPS). ACRPS is one of the largest and most successful nonprofit public charter school networks in the nation, operating 26 high-performing, tuition-free middle and high schools in the Los Angeles area. The network is focused on improving public education—a key to unlocking the potential and transforming the lives of young people and their families.

Why Jasmine was selected as a DEI alumni award winner: For more than a decade, Jasmine has dedicated her career to ensuring that all children—regardless of ZIP code, race, ethnicity, or socioeconomic background—have access to a high-quality public education. Thanks to her work and dedication, thousands of ACRPS's 13,000 students and 18,000 alumni received increased opportunities to complete their college degrees.

Center for Inclusion and Equity

BCG’s North America Center for Inclusion and Equity partners with organizations to help build inclusive cultures, deliver social impact, create business value, and drive systemic change.

Learn more about how we work with organizations