Legacy Awards

Lee A. Gill, J.D.

With more than 20 years of experience in the diversity field, Mr. Lee Gill is a nationally recognized leader with both university and private practice experience and currently serves as the University of Louisville’s Vice President for Institutional Equity.

Prior to joining the UofL team he served as Clemson University’s Chief Diversity Officer and Special Assistant to the President. While at Clemson, he is credited with building a sustainable infrastructure to incorporate diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts into the campus culture, and with creating programs that support and address the challenges facing women, Black and Hispanic students, and the LGBTQ community. He created the Clemson University Men of Color National Summit, which brings together more than 2,000 students, educators, business professionals, government officials and community leaders from around the country to explore issues and share best practices to increase high school and college graduation rates.

Gill also served for eight years as Associate Vice President for Inclusion and Equity and Chief Diversity Officer at The University of Akron. And before joining Akron was the Chief Executive Officer of Stratus Group Consultants Inc., a firm providing diversity audits, training and organizational assessments.

Prior to that role, he held the position of Dean of the Institute for Diversity and Leadership at Lake Michigan College in Benton Harbor, Michigan.

Gill holds a Juris Doctorate in Law from the Chicago-Kent College of Law, Illinois Institute of Technology and Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Michigan.

Jolene A. Lane, M.Ed

Director, Akron Innovation Team, Johns Hopkins University and City of Akron
President and Founder, Equity Lane, LLC

Jolene A. Lane has recently begun a new endeavor as Director of the Akron Innovation Team (i-team), an initiative of the Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation at Johns Hopkins University, working with the Mayor and City leadership focusing on building prosperous futures through climate action and advancing racial wealth equity. She is also President and Founder of Equity Lane, LLC, a consulting practice that focuses on the aspiration of organizational belonging, diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility strategy, and working with organizations and their leaders in the corporate, education and non-profit sectors offering practical guidance in developing intercultural competence, work project improvement and organizational change. Jolene is a member of the Akros Network – Compliance and Consulting Services proactively and reactively protecting organizations. Jolene built her career in education and served previously as Vice President for Inclusion and Equity and Chief Diversity Officer at the University of Akron, as well as Senior Director for Diversity and Community Affairs at Teachers College, Columbia University. A seasoned educator, she has worked in higher education administration and as an elementary and secondary school principal, and in the non-profit sector specializing in college access, leadership development, and providing access and opportunity for first generation and underrepresented students.

Jolene studied mathematics and pre-med at Harvard University, earned a Master of Education from Harvard’s Graduate School of Education in Administration, Planning and Social Policy and is currently completing her doctoral dissertation from Teachers College, Columbia University in Adult Learning and Leadership. She is also a Qualified Administrator of the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) assessment of intercultural competence.

Jolene is actively involved in community initiatives supporting inclusivity and building relationships that foster community involvement impacting race and gender equity, education and the dual tenets of economic and social justice. She serves on several non-profit boards including the Boards of the Akron Urban League where she serves as Board Chair, Athena Akron where she serves as Vice President, the Women’s Endowment Fund, the American Heart Association, the International Soap Box Derby, the Greater Akron Chamber’s Diversity Professionals Council, the Akron Community Foundation’s Community Investment Committee, and the Summit County Arts & Inclusion Council. Jolene will begin her term on the Akron Community Foundation Board in the summer of 2025. She served as co-chair of the Education Subcommittee of the [Akron] Mayor’s Racial Equity and Social Justice Task Force, and on the Sojourner Truth Project. Jolene has recently completed her twenty-seventh year of service as a trustee of the Fountain Valley School of Colorado, her alma mater, where she was honored in 2022 with the Distinguished Alumni Award. Jolene was honored in 2020 with the Athena Leadership Award. She is a member of Leadership Akron Signature Class 35 and serves a Coach for Diversity on Board. Jolene is a member of Kappa Delta Pi International Honor Society in Education. Jolene and her husband, King Lewis, proudly enjoy their legacy of four adult children, 15 grandchildren, and Zuri, the Great Dane.