Marilyn Nagel has an unusual background including over 30 years of experience in the corporate world as a C-Suite executive, entrepreneur and executive coach. Marilyn is Co-founder and Chief Advocacy Officer of RISEQUITY, a company dedicated to empowering employees, developing leaders and transforming company cultures. She is also Chief Learning Officer of SAMI, a game-based leadership development company, and has had her own consulting firm Ready-Aim-Aspire. She is widely recognized in the field Diversity, Inclusion and Equity, as well as executive and board development, leadership and networking.
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Prior to co-founding RISEQUITY, Marilyn served as CEO of Watermark launching their Conference for Women and created breakthrough programs while Chief Diversity Officer at Cisco. She was recognized as a thought leader in shifting the  focus on inclusion, launching the first Inclusion Index, flexible work practices, and developed the Maturity Model for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion that has become an industry standard.  Marilyn has co-chaired the Conference Board Global Diversity Group, formed a consortium in Silicon Valley for Diversity Officers and was a senior advisor to the Center for Talent and Innovation.
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Marilyn consults with pre and post IPO companies, fortune 500 and global multinational companies on developing and implementing diversity strategies. Marilyn develops programs for Diversity Woman Media and has produced the Women in Tech conference. 
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Marilyn is the speaker curator/producer of Sonoma TEDx, serves on the Board of Directors of Ceres Community Project and has served on the Board of Directors of Watermark, Professional Business Women of California (PBWC), the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering, Inc. (NACME), UPWARD, and Family and Children Services. Marilyn also currently serves on the Advisory Boards of YOL, The Everest Project, as well as the Advisory Council of Courageous Leadership.
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Marilyn holds a bachelor’s degree in fine arts, a master’s degree in Social and Systemic Studies and a master’s in public administration MPA.  She is also ABD on a Doctorate in public administration.