An Entrepreneur’s View of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

David Tarver (BSE MSE EE ’75 ’76) is currently a lecturer in the Michigan Engineering Center for Entrepreneurship and founder and board president of the Urban Entrepreneurship Initiative. After working at AT&T Bell Labs, he founded Telecom Analysis Systems in 1983, which was acquired in 1995 for $30M.

Examining corporate and academic circles’ views on DEI efforts, David Tarver will share his perspective as he’s witnessed the evolution of DEI up close and personal as a tech entrepreneur.

In this lecture, he will discuss effective DEI strategies that aim to inform the choices organizations make about the communities they choose to engage, the resources they choose to deploy, and the problems they choose to solve, which ultimately lead to higher-performing organizations, communities, and societies.