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MARKET RISK ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING

SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES

FEBRUARY 23, 2021

PANEL

CAN WE TALK: DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION IN THE DERIVATIVES INDUSTRY

Yemi Akisanya

Director and Head of Diversity and Inclusion, Options Clearing Corporation

In this role, Yemi Akisanya focuses on creating short- and long-term plans to help build a more diverse 

and inclusive workplace and positive corporate culture. To this end, he led the creation of OCC’s 

Diversity and Inclusion Dashboard, used to identify areas of opportunity and measure the impact of 

initiatives across the company, and helped launch the company’s first Employee Resource Group, 

designed to increase employee engagement and align overall objectives with an enterprise-wide 

Diversity and Inclusion strategy. 

Mr. Akisanya also sits on the steering committee of the Financial Services Pipeline on behalf of OCC, a 

coalition of 18 Chicago-based financial services firms focused on increasing the representation of Latinos 

and African-Americans within the Chicago area financial services industry.

Previously at OCC, Mr. Akisanya served as a Product Development Manager. He joined OCC in 2011 as a 

Senior Quality Assurance Analyst, where he was responsible for identifying business application 

operational gaps, analyzing tradeoffs between usability and performance to meet business 

requirements. Prior to joining OCC, he held positions as Senior Analyst at CME Group and JP Morgan 

Chase. 

Mr. Akisanya serves on the Board of Directors for i.c.stars, a program that provides technology-based 

workforce development, leadership training, and access to career opportunities for low-income adults in 

the Chicago area. He also serves on the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Advisory Group of Kellogg School 

of Management, as well as on the Advisory Board of the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

Mr. Akisanya is a graduate of Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management MBA program. 

He also holds a Master of Science in Communication from Northwestern University. He graduated from 

Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, IL, with a bachelor’s in Management Information Systems.

Keisha M. Bell

Managing Director, Head of Diverse Talent Management and Advancement, DTCC

In this role, Keisha Bell is responsible for recruiting and retaining best diverse talent and developing 

DTCC’s next generation of leaders through focused sponsorships and talent advancement strategies. She 

believes in changing mindsets, forging progressive practices, and views each employee as an agent of 

change. Ms. Bell partners with business leaders to identify diverse talent across all levels focusing on 

their growth and mobility, and with Human Resources to ensure diversity and inclusion are fully 

integrated into working practices. Additionally, Ms. Bell also leads Corporate Philanthropy and Social 

Responsibility for DTCC.
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In her prior role, Ms. Bell was Managing Director of DTCC’s Risk Management Reporting, Governance, 

Analysis and Program Management group. She successfully led Board and Management Risk 

Committees, regulatory, audit and compliance reporting, management control testing, and program 

management of the Financial and Technology Risk initiatives. Previously, she served as Executive 

Director of Wealth Management Services. She was also a member of DTCC’s Global Diversity and 

Inclusion Council, a founding leader of the LGBTQA professional network and represented DTCC at The 

Alliance, an inaugural gathering of the world’s most influential LGBTQ leaders held in Lisbon, Portugal.

Ms. Bell has more than 20 years of experience in the financial services industry, spanning broker/dealer 

operations, technology transformations, program management and business analysis. She earned her 

B.S. in Organizational Behavior from New York University.

Erika Irish Brown

Chief Diversity Officer, Goldman Sachs

In this role, Erika Irish Brown is responsible for global diversity and inclusion strategy and driving 

inclusive culture initiatives and efforts related to the recruitment, retention and advancement of diverse 

professionals. She joined the firm as a managing director in 2018. Prior to joining Goldman Sachs, Ms. 

Brown was global head of diversity and inclusion at Bloomberg from 2015 to 2018. Prior to this, she led 

diversity hiring efforts at Bank of America between 2009 and 2015 and Lehman Brothers between 2005 

and 2008. Ms. Brown's background includes a range of banking and finance roles, including head of 

business development for Black Entertainment Television, senior associate in the high yield capital 

markets group at Morgan Stanley and senior policy analyst for domestic finance for the United States 

Department of the Treasury. She began her career as an analyst in the public finance department at 

Lehman Brothers. Ms. Brown is a member of the Executive Leadership Council, vice chair of the Bedford 

Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation and serves on the Board of the Riverside Hawks. She earned a BS in 

Economics from the State University of New York at Albany and an MBA from Columbia Business School.

Leslie Schreiner

Director of Diversity and Inclusion, Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta

Leslie H. Schreiner serves as First Vice President and Director of Diversity and Inclusion for FHLBank 

Atlanta. She is responsible for the development, oversight and implementation of the Bank's strategic 

diversity and inclusion goals, and is a certified diversity professional as well as certified diversity, equity 

and inclusion coach. Ms. Schreiner was a founding member of the Bank’s Diversity and Inclusion Council 

and has run the Bank’s supplier diversity program. Previously, Ms. Schreiner served as the Bank's 

Director of Strategic Planning and Accounting Services from 2016-2018, and was responsible for 

strategic planning and budgeting, business intelligence initiatives, as well as accounts payable, fixed 

assets, and expense reimbursement. She joined the Bank in 2007 as Director of Accounting Automation 

and Technical Compliance, and prior to this time held senior accounting roles with various companies. 

Ms. Schreiner earned a B.A. in Accounting from the University of Georgia and an M.B.A in Finance from 

Georgia State University. She is a certified public accountant.
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Sacha Thompson

CEO & Founder, The Equity Equation LLC

Sacha Thompson is the founder of The Equity Equation, LLC, a diversity coaching and consulting firm 

based in the Washington, DC area. With nearly 20 years of experience within the education, non-profit, 

and tech industries, Ms. Thompson has seen the challenges faced by executives with good intentions 

struggling to make decisions around diversity; where executives are motivated to do the ‘right thing’ 

regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) but may be hindered by their own biases and fears. She’s 

also seen and experienced the damage endured by Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) 

employees when they feel they are not centered/valued in their company’s DEI efforts.

Ms. Thompson’s work is about removing barriers or providing support in order to get to a place of 

equality. She helps executives and leaders have that meaningful dialogue and coach them to the 

necessary, long-term changes that develop institutional cultures of DEI.

Ms. Thompson is a Certified Professional Diversity Coach and 4Stages of Psychological Safety Certified 

Coach. She received her bachelor’s degree in Sociology, concentrating on Cultural Diversity & Ethnicity 

and a Master’s in Educational Policy, Planning, and Leadership from The College of William and Mary. 

She has also acquired her Masters of Business Administration from Johns Hopkins University, where she 

focused on management and marketing.