Out Leadership is excited to announce the 2022 OutNEXT global LGBTQ+ Leadership Development Summit, hosted by Citi and sponsored by RBC, Capital Markets, IBM, and Capital One. OutNEXT cultivates the next generation of leaders to innovate and transform industries from finance to fashion. Promising LGBTQ+ talent from Out Leadership member companies around the world will come together with icons from the LGBTQ+ rights movement to focus on leadership development, brand improvement inclusivity, and goal-driven impact. Some of this year’s notable participants will include:
- Tammy Baldwin, United States senator from Wisconsin
- James Dale, the activist who made headlines as the plaintiff in the landmark US Supreme Court case, Dale v. Boy Scouts of America
- Javier Gomez, Florida student, and activist who challenged the state of Florida as the plaintiff in the "Don't say gay" case
- Mila Jam, celebrated pop artist, trans activist, and Out Leadership’s Senior Advisor for Global Transgender Initiatives.
- Victor Jeffreys, artist and activist
- Gus Kenworthy, Olympic medalist, former freestyle skier, and actor
- Florent Morellet, iconic restaurateur and pioneering AIDS activist
- Rashad Robinson, President, Color of Change
- Evan Wolfson, attorney, advocate, and founder of Freedom to Marry.
The world has changed and young Out Leaders matter now more than ever. OutNEXT is a unique opportunity for emerging LGBTQ+ professionals to learn from and share invaluable insights with mentors. OutNEXT marks Out Leadership’s 49th Global Summit, and third summit post-Covid where members will gather safely and successfully in person. (July 11-12 will take place at Citigroup Inc in NYC. July 13 – 15 will take place virtually, for participants who cannot attend in person.) Since inception, Out Leadership’s Out Next summit has convened 8,000 leaders, as the other summits have convened another 30,000 leaders.
“We are so excited to bring this year’s OutNEXT 2022 Summit to the Big Apple, the town where I began my professional ascent as an out gay man, and where later - from my sofa in Hell’s Kitchen – I founded Out Leadership,” says Todd Sears, Founder, and CEO of Out Leadership. “Mentorship and guidance was something that I had to seek out on my own back then. I continue to credit my mentors for my personal and professional success today. These men and women who helped steward my development are also responsible for my deep and abiding commitment to identifying, developing, and supporting the talent of emerging LGBTQ+ professionals. We call this summit a ‘talent accelerator’ because the talent of these incredible young leaders has already landed them in the race. We’re just here to give them the tools to hit the ground running. I am incredibly grateful to our OutNEXT 2022 Summit sponsors, RBC Capital Markets, IBM, and Capital One; and to our host Citi, for making this event possible.”
“We invest in our colleagues from all backgrounds because diverse perspectives help us succeed together,” says Erika Irish Brown, Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer and Global Head of Talent, Citi.
Out Leadership is the world’s first and only LGBTQ+ corporation whose sole product is Equality. Out Leadership harnesses the power of business to drive equality by connecting LGBTQ+ leaders across the globe, advocating for inclusion at every level, from employee to executive to CEO. With 94 member companies (including Amazon, American Express, Bloomberg, Citi, Coca-Cola, Comcast, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, IBM, Microsoft, Nike, and Walmart), Out Leadership partners with 56 non-profits (GLAAD, Freedom for All Americans, Lambda Legal, Transgender Law Center, to name a few) and donates over 20% of its net profit every year to global LGBTQ+ nonprofits.
