Advisory Committees
Recognizing the unique concerns of groups which have often been marginalized even within the LGBT community, Out & Equal has two advisory committees devoted to providing direction and guidance on programming and workplace issues relevant to the mission and vision of Out & Equal.
People of Color Advisory Committee
contact: kjones@outandequal.org
Transgender Advisory Committee
- Stephanie Battaglino
- Jennette Caden
- Lori Fox, chair
- Jamison Green
- James Scott Pignatella
- Ryan Polly
- Sharon Skipper
- Michelle Smith
- Breanna L. Speed
- Moonhawk River Stone
contact: TAC@outandequal.org
View photos of the 2007 Out & Equal Workplace Summit from the People of Color Advisory Committee
Stephanie Battaglino
Stephanie Battaglino is an Assistant Vice President - Communications Director at New York Life Insurance Company, located in Sleepy Hollow, New York. She successfully transitioned on the job in October of 2005, and is the first transgendered person to do so in the 165–year history of the company. In so doing, she worked collaboratively with NYL’s human resources executives to establish a process for successful workplace transitions for transgender employees.
Stephanie’s professional career spans over 28 years in marketing, marketing communications and related fields. Stephanie received her BA in Communication from the University of Delaware and holds an MBA in Marketing from Fairleigh Dickinson University. She resides in Cliffside Park, NJ with her partner Mari and her son Andrew.
Lori Fox
Chair, Transgender Advisory Committee
Lori Fox served as a director of human resources and business partner for McDonald's Corporation, living and working throughout the United States and Asia; consulting in unique cultures, with unique people. Lori works as a diversity, employment, and image consultant. She is a frequent speaker and facilitator for LGBT issues on university campuses and organizations throughout the US.
As a transgender woman, Lori has served in leadership, training, and coaching roles in a variety of local and national organizations, and truly lives her life with a passion for authenticity.
Jennette "Jenny" Caden
Jenny is a technical writer currently employed on a short-term contract assignment. She is vice-chair of the Equality Ohio c4 board, the state-wide LGBT lobbying group. In addition, she is a past board member of the Greater Dayton LGBT Center. While working on a recent 2-year assignment at NCR Corp., where she successfully transitioned in 2007, she was the Dayton Chapter Representative for League@NCR, the NCR BRG for LGBT employees. During this time she was also instrumental in establishing a set of Gender Workplace Transition Guidelines for NCR. Jenny has spoken about transgender issues at many places and events throughout the greater Dayton, Ohio area, such as LGBT events, medical schools, college classes, area organizations, and in 2007 was the first transgender speaker ever at the annual Dayton Pride Dinner. Recently, she was the subject of an article on transgender life in Dayton that was published in the Dayton Daily News March 16, 2008 edition on the front-page.
Jamison Green
San Francisco-based author, activist, and public speaker Jamison Green is internationally recognized as a leader in the fields of transgender law, policy, theory, and education. He serves on the boards of several nonprofit organizations, including the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, the Transgender Law & Policy Institute, and TransYouth Family Allies. His book, Becoming a Visible Man, was a Lambda Literary Award Finalist, and won the Sylvia Rivera Prize for "Best Book in Transgender Studies" from the Center for Lesbian & Gay Studies in NYC. In 2009 he received a Distinguished Service Award from the Association of Gay and Lesbian Psychiatrists for his contributions to LGBT mental health, a Transgender Advocate award from the National LGBT Bar Association, and a Vanguard Award from the Transgender Law Center. He has been an invited speaker at colleges, governmental agencies, professional conferences, and LBGT community pride events in over a dozen countries.
Following a 30-year career managing technical publications for companies several industry groups (including Visa U.S.A., Sun Microsystems, Cooper Medical, and others), Jamison is president of Jamison Green & Associates, specializing in transgender training and policy consulting for business, education, and government. In December, 2007, he formed the Transgender Education Partnership with Donna Rose in response to congressional refusal to include "gender identity and expression" in the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. He is also currently employed as the Primary Care Protocols Manager at the national Center of Excellence for Transgender Health in the Department of Family & Community Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.
Jamison is the proud husband of Heidi Bruins Green and the proud father of two adult children. He holds a MFA degree in English (Fiction Writing), and will complete a PhD program in Law in 2010.
James Scott P. Pignatella
Scott is a Senior Systems Engineer at Raytheon. He started his engineering career with Hughes Aircraft Company in 1994 as a new college hire and completed transition on the job shortly thereafter. He has served on the board of Tucson's chapter of the Raytheon GLBTA employee resource group since 2006 and was elected President of the chapter for 2010. In 2007, Scott was chosen by his engineering peers at Raytheon to be designated an engineer "with Honors." Scott earned a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from New Mexico State University. He is on the board of, and a tenor in, Southern Arizona's GLBTS chorus, Desert Voices. Scott's other activities include volunteer work mentoring youth; semi-pro photography; and a smattering of hobbies.
Sharon Skipper
Sharon Skipper is CEO of LGBT Career Assistance, Inc. and the CEO of an international nonprofit firm, The Foundation for New Directions. Ms. Skipper has been a professional educator at several colleges and universities, including the Graduate School, College of St. Francis, DeKalb College, Stetson School of Business and Economics, Saint Leo College, and the School of Education at Mercer University. She was also on the faculty of the American Institute for Computer Sciences. She holds a Master of Science in Systems Management from the University of Southern California, and a Master of Military Arts and Science from the Command and General Staff College. Sharon also earned an undergraduate degree in Business Administration from the University of North Carolina - Wilmington. She is a member of the Society for Human Resources Management, and a Board member for the Southern Association for Gender Education (SAGE).
Ryan Polly
Ryan Polly is a Workforce Educator for Fletcher Allen Health Care in Burlington, Vermont. In his role he is responsible for staff training and development. Ryan is also a consultant and patient advocate. He works with health care providers in understanding the needs of their transgender patients. Ryan has nearly ten years experience as an educator and was a full time instructor at Pioneer Pacific College in Wilsonville, Oregon prior to accepting his position with Fletcher Allen Health Care. Ryan is a M.Ed. candidate and has a BS in Health Education.
Michelle Smith
Michelle Smith is an engineering process focal in Boeing’s Advanced Military Aircraft Division of Integrated Defense Systems. She has held leadership positions in Boeing’s LGBT affinity group since its inception in 2005. She also supports all diversity activities at the site and is a Boeing Diversity Change Agent. Michelle’s support of the LGBT community in the Greater St Louis area includes holding the positions of vice president and outreach director for the St Louis Gender Foundation, a transgender support organization and past secretary of Pride St Louis, Michelle speaks at local community forums and to university classes and groups about the St Louis Gender Foundation and what it means to be transgender.
Michelle with her wife who supported her through her transition have dedicated themselves to improving the acceptance of transgender individuals by being visible, supporting others to be themselves, and by the sharing of their experiences.
Breanna L. Speed
Breanna is currently employed as an Oracle and SQL Server Database Administrator at Hewitt Associates. She received her Bachelors Degree in Computer Information Systems from DeVry University, 2004 and is currently married to a accepting and understanding wife.
Breanna is also very active on the leadership team of Hewitt’s Pride Alliance associate network group. She has been instrumental in developing Affirmations display and booklet telling the stories of other associates thought out the firm. Recently she has been chosen to direct and teach Hewitt’s Diversity Chorus.
She attend her first Out and Equal conference September 2004 and was in total awe of her first experience and has since been a champion to inform others through out the Chicago land area about the great things Out & Equal is doing. She was able to help coach HR on transgendered health care and transition guidelines as we diligently adopt gender identity and expression in our diversity policy. She’s very excited about O&E coming to Chicago.
Breanna has been out at her current job over 5 years and actively worked with HR to establish guidelines for transitioning associates on the job. Breanna has successfully completed her own in-place transition this past February 2007, the first transition to occur at Hewitt Associates.
Moonhawk River Stone
Moonhawk River Stone, MS, LMHC is a psychotherapist, consultant, educator, public speaker and author and in private practice in the Albany, NY area and is, himself, an out, open and proud transsexual man. In his clinical practice, Mr. Stone has specialized in working with the LGBT community (especially with transgender people of all ages and their families), with survivors of childhood trauma, and people with dissociative disorders for over two decades. As an educator/trainer, he has presented hundreds of workshops and trainings at numerous conferences and companies locally, nationally and internationally, both academic and clinical on many topics, but specializes in transgender education, especially in human resource issues, policy development and implementation, and legislation. Stone has over two decades experience with transgender workplace issues where every client he has ever worked with has successfully transitioned in their employment. Stone has a devoted many years of service in leadership positions in nonprofit organizations, among them The AIDS Council of Northeastern New York, New York Association for Gender Rights Advocacy, GLSEN, International Foundation for Gender Education, FTM International, Empire State Pride Agenda. Currently, he serves on the Board of Directors of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force where he is Vice Co-chair. He is also Vice President of Trans Youth Family Allies, and he serves on many other advisory boards. He is a leading proponent in removing Gender Identity Disorder from the DSM. Stone writes a monthly column, Trans View, for his regional LGBT paper.