Diversity consultancy Accordant Advisors adds four new consultants

21 September 2020 Consulting.us

Accordant Advisors – an Oakland, CA-based consultancy focusing on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) – has added Deborah Gould and Stephen Relph as partners and John Greene and Carlton Yearwood as general consultants.

Accordant was founded in 2019 by a group of eight executives and professors, and delivers consulting services in culture & stakeholder engagement and DEI. The firm’s culture offering diagnoses the conditions needed for positive stakeholder engagement, and then delivers evidence-based solutions to create the greatest organizational impacts. The firm’s DEI offering helps companies align diversity initiatives with broader business strategy – using the same rigor and discipline that is used to address financial or operational issues.

With demand for DEI consulting increasing amid the racial-equity-driven protests of 2020, the firm has added four professionals to their team – which has professionals located in the US, Canada, and Europe.

Gould, Relph, Greene, and Yearwood bring decades of senior leadership experience in the respective fields of healthcare, technology, management psychology, and business ethics.

Shariq Yosufzai and Andrew Faas, Accordant’s co-CEOs, said "The addition of Deborah, Stephen, John, and Carlton strengthens our already excellent capabilities and enhances our offerings. We are delighted they have joined the Accordant team."

Deborah Gould, Stephen Relph, John Greene and Carlton Yearwood

Deborah Gould, MD, has 38 years of experience practicing medicine, with the majority of her career spent at the Permanente Medical Group in Northern California, where she was a leader in medical care delivery, compliance, ethics, and diversity and inclusion.

Stephen Relph previously spent 11 years at Procter & Gamble’s Toronto office, where he was latterly a director managing the Shoppers Drug Mart account. In 2011 he founded TheOverflow, a music streaming service for the Christian and gospel genre, which he led for the next eight years. He was also previously a senior director of partner development at retail technology firm Flipp.

John Greene, PhD, is a management psychologist focusing on executive assessment and development, organization strategy, and diversity and inclusion. Green is a principal at Milwaukee-based organizational consultancy i5 consulting, and was previously a VP of global learning and development at Johnson Controls.

Carlton Yearwood is a seasoned consultant and executive specializing in change management, culture, and diversity and inclusion. He is currently a general partner at consultancy True Blue Inclusion, and was previously a senior partner at Brimstone Consulting Group. Yearwood also was previously the chief ethics and diversity officer at Waste Management and director of diversity and WorkLife programs at PwC US and Allstate Insurance.