Cordell brings more than 20 years to his pursuit of a society and organizational cultures where everyone belongs and has equitable opportunities to thrive. He is currently managing principal of Expectant Advisory, an equity-focused consulting collaborative and the executive director of the Aspen Institute Socrates Program, a global education forum and the founding director of the Aspen Institute’s partnership on ”Belonging” with the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM). Before his current roles, Cordell held leadership roles with the TechTown Foundation, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle Public Schools, Business Roundtable, National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, and the IBM Corporation.

Through Expectant Advisory, Cordell advises leaders and boards of directors at various points on  their enterprise learning journeys. He specializes in creating text-based dialogues for staff and  senior leaders. For the Aspen Institute, he curates more than three dozen off-the-record  leadership seminars annually in capital cities around the world reaching more than 1,000 leaders  each year. He is also leading the Institute’s partnership with SHRM that seeks to shift the  national conversation on race, equity and inclusion from compliance to belonging via an annual  summit entitled “Visionaries Summit: The Future of Belonging in America.” As the creator and  lead facilitator of “Becoming an Inclusive Republic and producer of the documentary “The Road Trip to Belonging”, he is a sought-after facilitator and speaker on belonging and inclusion, post secondary success and democratic ideals. Over the last few years, he has delivered dozens of keynote speeches, facilitated roundtables and moderated panels all over the globe.

One of Cordell’s passions is technology for the greater good, to that end he founded the award winning technology training non-profit TechTown Foundation which resulted in him being feted  by the Obama Administration as a 2016 Champion of Change for Computer Science Education.  He also advises two technology companies, SkillStorm Commercial Services and EVPassport,  respectively, on creating cybersecurity training academies in underserved communities across  America via the Upskilling Together Initiative; and extending electric-vehicle battery charging  stations in low income neighborhoods across the American South.

Cordell’s leadership has been recognized all over the USA. In June 2021, President Joseph Biden  appointed him as Commissioner, to the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships. His other honors  include: the 2021 Distinguished Alumni Leadership Awardee by Cultural Vistas, an Eisenhower Fellowship to China; a White House Champion of Change for Computer Science Education (2016); designation as a “40 under 40” by business and civic organizations in Washington State and Tennessee; University of Notre Dame Law School alumni of the year awardee; selections as a Robert Bosch Foundation Fellow for Young American Leaders and a Broad Foundation  Resident in Urban Education.

Mr. Carter earned a J.D. from the University of Notre Dame Law School, a M.Sc. in Public  Policy and Management Studies from Carnegie Mellon University and a B.A. in Political  Science from the University of Washington.