Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I) Influencers
The DE&I Influencers list honors individuals who are advancing diversity, equity and inclusion within their organizations and across the workforce solutions ecosystem at large.
Shelton Guinn
Honoree profile
Innova Solutions’ Shelton Guinn is no stranger to advocating for the advancement of diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace. For more than 33 years, he has specialized in creating inclusive cultures and employee resource groups driven by his passion for corporate and social responsibility in his work and personal life. “Being an influencer, to me, is encouraging people to believe in themselves and helping them bring their ideas and thoughts to the table, especially those who may have been afraid of being the lone voice in the room,” he says.
Beginning his career in manufacturing in the 1990s, Guinn transitioned to the staffing industry when he joined Aerotek in sales, where his passion for DE&I blossomed. In the early days of his career he attended diversity conferences and made an impression with executives from large corporations around the world. Guinn quickly learned that CEOs of these wildly successful companies were disinterested in attending trade shows. Instead, they more consistently joined diversity seminars. “The most important thing to these organizations wasn’t the products or what they were building; it was their people,” Guinn says. “The executives [knew] they couldn’t expect … to attract the best diverse talent if they weren’t focused in on diversity, which completely changed my outlook on the hiring and work culture.”
Being an influencer … is encouraging people to believe in themselves and helping them bring their ideas and thoughts to the table, especially those who may have been afraid of being the lone voice in the room.
Guinn has shined since joining Innova in January 2023. Within the first six months, he created a diversity framework centered around training and team building, rolling out global employee resource groups that are led by employees and also have executive support behind them. Under Guinn’s leadership, there are now individuals in 26 countries participating in the organization’s ERG initiative. Incredibly enough, he has been able to enact this program without any formal budget. Guinn has also spearheaded a strategic marketing strategy of collaborating with Innova’s customer base to share best practices and show how they can participate in the organization’s ERGs.
Guinn’s efforts have been influential because he is not afraid to be curious and ask tough questions. “You always have to dig deeper than the story because more often than not, there is another story there entirely.”