Claire Casey

About Claire Casey

I was born in Seoul, South Korea, grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, gave up frigid winters for year-round Florida sunshine in 2008 and haven\'t looked back since. I spent the first 15 years of my professional career at a startup in the higher ed space that I helped scale nationally and then globally as I took on progressive leadership roles. Throughout all my diverse professional experiences DEI work has been the thread that weaves together my strengths, passion, and values. My spectrum of DEI experience has evolved from participating in, designing, and managing programs to developing and implementing global strategies and action plans that help organizations optimize their performance, enabled by a strong and healthy culture of inclusion and belonging. I thrive on the lifelong DEI journey of inspiring curiosity and self-reflection, building connections, and continuously learning, teaching, sharing, and growing.What I value: authenticity (be real), engagement (be present), balance (be whole), growth (embrace change) and collaboration (rise together).What I don\'t have patience for: careless mistakes, binary thinking, ignorance, wasting people\'s time, pessimism and indecisiveness. Extra tidbits: I\'m an outgoing introvert, serial exerciser, globetrotter (35+ countries so far), ex-harpist/pianist/violist/violinist/vocalist, and power hugger.

Experience

1. Senior Manager, Talent and Inclusion

   IHG Hotels & Resorts

   Jan 2024 — Present

Education

• University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

  BS, Advertising

  1998 — 2002

• University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

  MS, Advertising-Communications

  2002 — 2003

• Cornell University

  Certificate, Strategic Human Resources Management

  2009 — 2010