Degrees : BA - Communications, BS - Marketing, MS - Organizational Development, Honorary Doctorate

Experience: Michelle Gadsden-Williams is managing director and global head of diversity and inclusion at Credit Suisse in Zurich, Switzerland. In this role, she provides strategic direction and thought leadership promoting the development of an inclusive environment by integrating diversity practice into all aspects of the business on a global scale. Gadsden-Williams is a seasoned diversity practitioner with more than 15 years of prior experience in the pharmaceutical industry. Gadsden-Williams has received a number of accolades for her work, including profiles in Black Enterprise magazine, DiversityInc, Diversity Executive, Ebony, Essence, Fortune, Jet, New Vision, Science, Sister to Sister, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal, among others. She was recognized in 2006 as one of 40 Outstanding Executives Under 40 in America by the Network Journal. In 2010, she was ranked 6th among the Top 25 Women of Substance in Healthcare by Heart & Soul magazine and 48th among the Top 100 Executives in America by Uptown Magazine. Also in 2010, she was honored with the Maya Way Award for Diversity Leadership by Maya Angelou. Previously, she received the Harvard Black Men’s Forum Businesswoman of the Year Award, the Rainbow Push Coalition’s Bridge Builder Award, and an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters Degree from Kean University for her outstanding personal and professional accomplishments. Gadsden-Williams has a BS in marketing and a BA in communications from Kean College and an MS (with honors) in organizational dynamics from the University of Pennsylvania. She and her husband live in Basel, Switzerland.