We sat down with Carla Dawson, chief human resources officer at financial technology company OCC, and Pat Vihtelic, founder and CEO at meal kit and delivery service Home Chef to learn a little bit about how they knew it was time to hire a dedicated, full-time DEI leader. Dawson and Vihtelic share how their respective DEI leader’s positions came about, the qualities they looked for when interviewing potential candidates and the role executive leadership played throughout the process.
Landing a $9 million round of funding is no small feat in and of itself. Naperville native Brian Barnes did it while his startup was still in stealth mode.