Session Overview

Marketers and Business Developers in the AEC industry have acknowledged the growing need for transforming diversity, inclusion, and equity practices at work. Today’s leaders must endeavor to support diverse employees intentionally through leading by example, mastering inclusion, and creating belonging.

Emmanuella Myrthil and Erika Booker will discuss practical DEI concepts and examine how leaders can hold each other accountable and create a culture within each part of their business to ensure impact. Josh Balentine will be the moderator.

In this forum, you will learn:

• How to shape marketing strategies with social awareness
• How a sense of belonging drives success of organizational goals
• How to champion inclusion and equity
• How to align your company's message with the strategic direction

CPSM CEUs: 1.5 hours
Domains: 2 - Marketing Plan, 6 - Organizational Structure

A Zoom link will be provided 24 hours in advance of the event.

Moderator

Joshua Balentine
Memphis Office Leader & National Pretreatment Technical Lead
Brown and Caldwell

Joshua Balentine is Brown and Caldwell’s Memphis Office Leader and National Pretreatment Technical Lead. His passion for improving water quality began when he was just 15, on a mission’s trip to the rainforest of Panama where families of 10 – 12 lived in one room huts with metal roofs. They did not have clean running water and collected rainwater from the roof and stored it in cisterns for drinking water. This was an experience far from his own and changed his world view while motivating him to make a difference in his career. 

Fast forward many years later, throughout his career, Josh has improved water quality in North America and positively impacted the lives of millions of people. His career has been diverse, working for local municipal government, engineering consulting, and as a contractor for numerous states and the federal government. His roles both center around business development, marketing, sales, and technical support. As the Memphis Office Leader, he is passionate about creating diverse teams that deliver high-quality technical results while supporting local minority and women owned businesses. 

Josh has a B.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of Memphis and is currently pursuing an Executive MBA at the University of Alabama. Outside of work, Josh is a father to four amazing children. Most of his free time is spent at the baseball field coaching his son’s coach pitch team or being a chauffeur for his three daughters between dance and gymnastics. He is an avid Alabama football fan and can be found at Bryant-Denny Stadium on Saturdays in the fall.

Panelists

Emmanuella Myrthil
Diversity Division Director
HNTB

Emmanuella Myrthil is the Diversity Division Director for HNTB's Southeast Division. She also serves as the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) Program Manager for the Georgia Department of Transportation’s (Georgia DOT) Major Mobility Investment Program (MMIP). In this role, she works to engage, empower and elevate DBEs seeking to do business in Georgia.

Over the past 18 years she has played a major role in providing oversight and guidance for federally funded programs for local construction projects throughout the state of Georgia.

Her career in the Transportation Industry began with Georgia DOT. Throughout the years, she served as a Communications Public Relations Specialist, an Environmental Planner and a Project Manager in the Transportation Management Center (TMC). 

As HNTB’s Diversity Division Director, she utilizes creative and engaging strategies to raise industry awareness and diversify minority business participation in transportation projects in the Southeast. Through innovative learning sessions and business development workshops, Emmanuella and her team focus on preparing DBEs and SBEs for major works with DOTs, transit agencies, and other local municipalities.

She is a member of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce’s Diversity and Inclusion Council and is the Chairwoman of ACEC’s Inclusion & Diversity Task Force.

Erika Booker
Division Marketing Director
HNTB

Erika Booker has provided Professional Services Marketing in the Central Florida area for 17 years. Her heart belongs to Central Florida, born and raised in Orlando. She is currently a Division Marketing Director at HNTB Corporation, where she and her team of 13 professional service marketers support the marketing and business development goals of the Southeast Division (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Tennessee). Erika utilizes her 20 years of experience in marketing, media communications, sales, and proposal management to lead her team in continually working to bring strategic value to the technical teams they support. Erika obtained a Master of Science degree in Media Communications/Marketing and Advertising from Webster University and a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration/Marketing from the University of South Florida. She is a member of the Society of Professional Services Marketers (SMPS) and Women’s Transportation Seminar (WTS). Erika has the honor of serving as SMPS Central Florida Chapter President-Elect and WTS Central Florida Chapter Diversity Co-Chair. When she is not mentoring young marketers, Erika enjoys watching movies and catching up with family and close friends.

EVENT CHAMPIONS

       
Felita Bunn, Mid-South Area Marketing Lead