NDC Index
staff
Meet the Team
SVP Strategy and Research
Texas Diversity Council
Cecilia Orellana-Rojas, Ph.D.
Cecilia Orellana-Rojas serves as senior vice president of strategy and research for the National Diversity Council. In this role, she oversees the execution of the organization’s strategic goals to generate new revenue streams. She leads the consulting function as well as innovative, high-quality educational and research initiatives in diversity and inclusion. She is the creator of the DiversityFIRST™ Certification Program curriculum, which prepares professionals for successful careers in the DEI space; the NDC Index, a tool that measures organizational commitment to diversity and inclusion among companies in the United States; and the DiversityFIRST™ Virtual Suite, which offers top-notch learning solutions to enhance DEI skills. She is also the developer of the DiversityFIRST™ Toolkit, a unique diversity reference portal and research consolidator.
Cecilia brings 15 years of experience at AT&T, where she started as a manager in diversity marketing. She spent most of her career at the telecommunications giant as associate director and lead consultant of corporate diversity. In this role, she offered support in the formulation, implementation and direction of AT&T’s diversity and inclusion strategy including metrics, communications, and training. She also provided consulting in all aspects of workforce diversity. Prior to her corporate role, she worked as a journalist and later taught in academia for more than 10 years in the area of sociology, with emphasis on U.S. race relations, gender, Latin America, and research methods.
Cecilia is a passionate advocate for diversity and inclusion. She was instrumental in the launch of the Texas Diversity Council and served as the first president of the San Antonio Advisory Board. As a founding member of the Texas Hispanic/Latino Summit, she played a leadership role in establishing the mission of the summit as a venue for Latino/a voices within the Texas Leadership and Diversity Conference. She has been recognized numerous times with the Diversity Champion Award and Diversity Leadership Award for her commitment and dedication to diversity business practices.
Currently, Cecilia serves on the Emeritus Board of Directors for the Masters Leadership Program of Greater San Antonio. Previously, she has served as an external member of the Workforce and Diversity Committee for the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) and on the Immigration and Refugees Action Team for the City of San Antonio’s Faith-Based Initiative.
A native of Chile, Cecilia earned a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Texas at Austin and a master’s degree in Latin American studies from the University of New Mexico. She graduated Summa Cum Laude with a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of North Dakota. She resides in San Antonio, Texas, with her husband, Henry, and their son, Rodrigo.
Director of Research
National Diversity Council
Lucy C. Arciniega, Ph.D.
Lucy has over ten years of experience in the diversity, equity, and inclusion industry. As a Managing Research Director at theNational Diversity Council, a non-profit 501 (c) 3 organization, where she oversees the NDC Index,an annual survey which measures organizational commitment to diversity and inclusion. In this role, Dr. Arciniega designed the methodology for assessing the results of a 200+ question survey according to world-recognized diversity and inclusion best practices. She also designed the NDC Index Report, to help companies use their survey results to create an efficient D&I organizational strategy that maximizes their investment in organizational change.
Formerly, Dr. Arciniega held position as a Visiting Assistant Professor in Business and Organizational Anthropology at Wayne State University. As a trained anthropologist, she has also used her cross-cultural perspective to bring key insights into the customer service experience,management leadership strategies, and employee and team engagement dynamics.
Lucy Carrillo received her Ph.D. and M.A.degrees in Anthropology from theUniversity of California, Irvine. Her doctoral research on the diversity and inclusion industry received numerous awards, including the Wenner-Gren Foundation forAnthropological Research Grant. She is currently working on her book based on this work out of Los Angeles, California.
Research Assistant
National Diversity Council
Georgina I. Gill
Georgina joined the National Diversity Council in January 2021 as an intern. She quickly gained experience in diversity, equity, and inclusion. Now she works as a Research Assistant for the NDC Index. In this role, Georgina provides support for all aspects of the NDC Index reporting services, including the research design, execution, and write-up of the NDC Index Report. She also has designed the NDC Index website, to help companies learn more about the index and register for the survey.
Georgina received her M.A. degree in Business and Organizational Anthropology from Wayne State University. She was a graduate student researcher for a human-centered design project with Ford Motor Company’s D-Ford team. Georgina is passionate about understanding the individual as someone embedded in their unique identities. Through her anthropological training, she offers a holistic and empathetic perspective.
Georgina is passionate about diversity and inclusion. She was paralyzed at a young age and believes that all spaces should be accessible and inclusive. In her free time, she is a para-equestrian where she advocates for the equestrian sport to be inclusive.