Michelle Gethers is a culture architect and author of  leadership content that empowers and informs current and future leaders.  Her most recent leadership experience was as Visa’s Chief Diversity Officer and Head of Corporate Responsibility, and Vice Chair of the Visa  Foundation. Prior to joining Visa, Michelle was a servant leader as President and CEO at United Way of Greater Greensboro where she focused on developing a strategy and partnerships to end poverty. Prior to the United Way, Michelle held various leadership positions at American Express including Senior Vice President and General Manager of Card Operations. Michelle’s speaking engagements focus on leadership, inclusion and social impact.

Recent talks include: 

From Poverty to the C-Suite, Michelle shares her life journey as a New York City girl from public housing who becomes the first African American woman to sit in the C-Suite of a Fortune 150 company.

The Next Level focuses on how to become adept at navigating organizational cultures, and aligning career success with personal attributes and quantitative outcomes.

CEO of Your Life and Career gives every employee the tools to be their own leading advocate and owner of professional growth. The talk focuses on how to set priorities, uncover what matters, and create a roadmap for individual accountability and success.

Talent Management 2030 is a guide to defining, attracting, and developing human capital that delivers the five-year strategic plan.  The talk gets deep into the four questions that drive the efficacy of any talent plan: Who works here? Who is succeeding here? Who does not work here? Who is not succeeding here?

Solutions for Social Issues enables leaders in CRA, ESG, and Social Impact to apply principles of our shared humanity to address longstanding social and economic disparities including poverty reduction, financial inclusion and sustainability, and to build the case for change. 

Michelle’s accomplishments and career have been featured in Ebony, Black Enterprise, Working Mother, Biz Life, Triad Business Journal’s 2017 Most Admired CEO and 2021 Leader in Diversity, and as a speaker at two regional TEDxGreensboro talks.

Michelle currently serves on the Board of Trustees for her alma mater, Long Island University. Michelle lives in Greensboro North Carolina and is the mother of two adult children.