Deborah L. Plummer, Ph.D.
Deborah L. Plummer, Ph.D. is a nationally recognized psychologist and diversity solutions thought leader with almost 30 years of professional experience. She is the founder of D.L. Plummer & Associates, a consulting firm specializing in diversity management and organizational development. She has consulted for a variety of national and local corporations including Fortune 500 companies, community mental health agencies, public and private school systems, and faith-based institutions. Deborah also has extensive experience inside organizations and has held past positions as a chief diversity officer, university professor, director of a graduate degree program, and a staff psychologist.

Deborah's success in diversity management is largely due to her personal background. Deborah grew up as a first generation American in an inner city Cleveland working-class Black neighborhood. The daughter of immigrant parents, her Jamaican father worked as a parking lot attendant and her Panamanian mother was a homemaker who later worked as a parts inspector in an industrial plant. "I grew up speaking Spanglish with Ebonics in a predominantly White school, attended Mass at a Catholic church and ate rice and beans as well as other traditional Hispanic foods." Deborah credits her parents as her first diversity management teachers, as they were open to what Deborah came to know as the Big 8 Dimensions: race, gender, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, class, mental/physical ability and religion.

"[My parents] lived by the simple fact that we are all humans and part of God's family. We were poor financially but never knew it because of the richness of our American experience. I was more than lucky because I grew up experiencing the benefits of diversity."

Perhaps one of Deborah's most unique experiences was after high school when she went on to spend 13 years as a nun living in a majority White European religious community. "This experience really shaped my belief that in order to truly advance diversity principles one must have multicultural experiences in their lives and friends that cross racial lines."

Deborah is a successful author of Racing Across the Lines: Changing Race Relations through Friendships (The Pilgrim Press), which received the Mayflower Award for best publication in the category of Church and Society, and she is the Editor of the Handbook of Diversity Management: Beyond Awareness to Competency Based Learning (University Press of America). In addition, she is an avid blogger who has written numerous book chapters and journal articles. Active in her civic and faith communities, Deborah serves on several boards and is a member of a host of professional and service organizations.

As a noted national speaker to professional organizations, civic communities, colleges and faith-based groups, she is regularly featured as a guest psychologist and diversity expert for many television, print and radio outlets locally, regionally and nationally.