Dawn Cooper

Dawn Cooper, MA is Principal of DMC Consulting Services and a seasoned Diversity and Inclusion professional who provides strategic and tactical direction, consultative support and training to clients looking to implement change, manage conflict, and improve organizational effectiveness.  She also consults to organizations on ways to leverage diversity and build inclusion as an organizational imperative. She specializes in cross-cultural communications, program development including initiating diversity councils/ committees, developing and facilitating training programs, retreat facilitation, program evaluation, leadership development and executive coaching. She has served in diversity leadership positions at The Arc of the United States in Washington, DC; Erickson Living in Baltimore, MD; InterAction in Washington, DC; Freddie Mac in McLean, Virginia; Amoco in Chicago, Illinois; and American Express in New York, New York.

Dawn specializes in developing strategic diversity plans and has worked with organizations to create action items and deliver measurable results. She developed the 5-year diversity strategic action plan for The Arc and implemented a Diversity Annual Report for monitoring progress. She developed Amoco’s Annual Diversity Award, and managed corporate-wide training initiatives for American Express, Freddie Mac, American Friends Service Committee, the World Bank, and Erickson Living. She has also implemented and supported Employee Resource Groups and creating and supporting Executive Diversity Councils and Business Unit diversity teams.

She has coached executives on multicultural communications, cross-cultural competencies and advised managers on conflict management/resolution strategies. Dawn’s 25- year career in change management, HR and diversity has included assignments in staffing, performance management, employee relations, EEO/AA, communications, and leadership and employee development. Her project highlights include creating a website and training for the talent management process at the World Bank; creating EEO/AA reports for all divisions at Erickson Living; conducting investigations and coaching employees; developing monthly (The Arc) and quarterly newsletters (InterAction) that reached over 1000 members; creating website content on an organization’s diversity commitment and progress (The Arc, InterAction, Erickson Living, and Freddie Mac); and creating and managing a mentor program which impacted over 150 staff at American Express.

As an independent consultant, Dawn has taught courses in Diversity Certification programs at Cornell, Georgetown and most recently at Thomas Jefferson University including: Facilitating Strategic Diversity Planning and Goal Setting, Diversity Strategy and Leadership, Fundamentals of Conducting a Diversity Assessment, Introduction to Diversity as Organizational Change, Strategic Approach to Diversity Councils and Measurement and Evaluation.

Dawn has a M.A. in I/O Psychology from New York University and a B.S.in Psychology from Howard University. She is based in Washington, DC.

Strategic Diversity Planning