Workforce Diversity Network Transitions Leadership
Dr. Michael D’Arcangelo to Succeed Mike Streeter, WDN Founder, who is Retiring after 26 Years as Executive Director
Rochester, NY—April 12, 2022—The Workforce Diversity Network (WDN) announced today that following a national search, Dr. Michael D’Arcangelo has been selected to succeed Mike Streeter as Executive Director of the organization effective May 1. Streeter will retire after 26 years of service as Executive Director of the non-profit, an organization he helped found in 1996. Streeter will remain as President and on the Board of Directors. The WDN is a leading network of professionals and organizations dedicated to enhancing professional development, understanding, promotion, and management of diversity and inclusion as an essential part of organizational success.
"I am pleased to pass the baton to Dr. Michael D’Arcangelo as the new Executive Director of the WDN. As a founder of the WDN, I am proud of all that we have accomplished over the past two and a half decades as an innovative, collaborative, and essential resource for area organizations. From the start, we recognized the rewards of welcoming diverse talent and perspectives to achieve business success. I look forward to seeing the WDN’s continued impact under Michael’s leadership," said Streeter.
"I am truly excited to begin work as the Executive Director for WDN. We live in a time when our domestic and international demographics have never been better poised to justify the business case and commitment to robust diversity at all levels of organizations’ operations, leadership, consumer goals, and human resources," said D’Arcangelo.
"WDN serves as a viable resource for information and strategies by which organizations can either begin or advance their individual initiatives, and I look forward to helping WDN grow and in both virtual and live outreaches to serve as a premier catalyst in those efforts."
D’Arcangelo, a former employee at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) has served in a variety of diversity, administrative, and educational roles during his tenure there, including as the university’s first Director of Diversity Education, which interwove his involvement in WDN beginning in 2010, and previously, as a Director of Campus Life for 17 years. In those roles, D’Arcangelo created numerous assessment-based, and custom-designed educational programs for staff, faculty, and students, which addressed myriad issues related to a broad range of underrepresented populations in the community. The programs include Bridges, a cross-cultural competency program; the Race Talks discussion series; overseeing the university’s Partnerships in Pluralism program, faculty research grants, search committee training regarding unconscious bias; and serving as a co-collaborator with RIT and YWCA staff in the creation of the YWCA’s city-wide Person2Person program. In his previous roles, D’Arcangelo instituted permanent programs regarding leadership development, community service, Hispanic programming, the LGBTQ+ population, gender equity programs for faculty, and serving as a hearing officer, advocate, and appeals officer for Title IX complaints.
D’Arcangelo received his Ph.D. in Educational Leadership & Policy from the State University of New York at Buffalo, his Master of Science in Human Resource Development from Rochester Institute of Technology, and Master of Arts in Student Personnel from Bowling Green State University, Ohio, and Bachelor of Arts from Westminster College (PA). D’Arcangelo is a member of Theta Chi International Fraternity to which he has served as an adviser, including advisership to RIT chapters of Phi Kappa Psi and Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. He is a past President of RIT’s chapter of The National Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, which he revived in collaboration with the Provost’s Office in 2011.
Streeter, who holds a Master of Business Administration from Rochester Institute of Technology, and his Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Ithaca College established the WDN to provide continuous support to its corporate, educational, healthcare, legal, and non-profit members as they develop their diversity and inclusion initiatives. Streeter is a former employee of Kodak, where he earned a national reputation as a leader in international distribution, training, and diversity operations.
About Workforce Diversity Network
For over 26 years the Workforce Diversity Network has been the standard of excellence in the Rochester region in providing continuous support to its member organizations as they develop their diversity and inclusion initiatives. The Network was formed in 1996, in response to needs expressed by several businesses to develop a network of members who could work together to broaden and apply the concepts of diversity and inclusion to a larger audience. As a non-profit 501c3 corporation, WDN h organized some of the largest and most highly regarded conferences in the country focused on the importance of diversity, inclusion and equity as key elements of successful organizations.