As a Californian who will tell you she’s “straight out of South Central,” Candi Castleberry Singleton isn’t averse to using another musical metaphor when describing her rise to become one of the most celebrated executive diversity and inclusion officers in the country—“What a long, strange trip it’s been.”
Now that trip continues, after announcing on her Facebook page at the end of June that she will be leaving UPMC in the fall to take the Dignity & Respect campaign she created there to the national level.
“I’m excited,” she said. “The timing couldn’t be better. Most people don’t know about the consulting aspect of this, and I really love doing it. So this is the best of both worlds, I don’t have to start from scratch and don’t have to leave town.”
After establishing an exceptional record of coaching senior executives to build sustainable inclusion practices for the workplace, marketplace, and workforce at Motorola, Sun Microsystems and Xerox, Singleton joined UPMC in 2008.
She immediately began implementing her Integrated Inclusion Model, a systems integration model she developed to move companies from traditional “bolt-on” diversity processes led by human resources to an integrated process that shifts responsibility for achieving an inclusive culture to every employee.
During the 2014 Corporate Equity and Inclusion Roundtable, UPMC Executive Vice President and CFO Robert DeMichiei credited Singleton with all the strides the company had made toward increasing diversity.
In a prepared statement, UPMC Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer Greg Peaslee said her departure was bittersweet.
“Although her departure will be difficult for UPMC, we recognize that expanding the Campaign is important at a time when our country can benefit from the lessons and understanding that Dignity & Respect fosters across communities,” he said. “We look forward to helping Candi in this noble endeavor, which has its roots at UPMC.”
Her Dignity & Respect campaign is designed to encourage individuals, organizations, communities, schools, youth programs, and sports teams to treat others with dignity and respect and to “create environments for all to work, live, learn, and play—with all of our differences.”
Though not specifically a diversity initiative, Singleton said the campaign can act as a prerequisite.
“It precedes and enables diversity and Inclusion,” she said. “A Dignity & Respect initiative can definitely complement an existing inclusion effort.”
Singleton, who serves on several local boards including, the Urban League, the Pittsburgh Promise, the Hill House, NEED and East End Cooperative Ministries, said she will remain in Pittsburgh as she puts together the organizational structure to expand the campaign’s reach, though it has already been established in more than 100 organizations, schools and communities.
Singleton said she hopes have a physical office space from which to operate at Market Square—with luck, by the end of the week. And even though it will no longer be housed at UPMC, the healthcare giant will continue to sponsor the campaign. She also said she will continue to work with established partners like Charlie Batch, who heads the campaign’s sportsmanship component.
For more information on the campaign, visit www.digintyandrespect.org.
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