AVIXA’s CEO, David Labuskes, has signed the PCMA’s Ascent CEO Promise. The Ascent CEO Promise “seeks to marshal leaders in the business events community around issues of inclusion and diversity,” according to the PCMA website.
“The Ascent Promise is new for PCMA, but it’s not new for us,” said Labuskes. “It’s an acknowledgement of what we believe. Hopefully that’s very clear and visible, authentically, in terms of the behavior of our organization, our volunteer leadership, our staff, and the quality and philosophy with which we exercise our industry events.”
Lasbuskes believes the promise is “reflective of the culture that AVIXA is putting forth.” He added that his team is working on putting forth a “very clear” harassment policy for InfoComm 2018 and beyond.
Labuskes also noted that there is a movement within the AVIXA membership to develop a diversity council to address “broader diversity needs in the industry beyond gender like racial background, sexual orientation, and all of the different aspects of what makes human beings interesting.”
“I’m proud to put us onto that petition, and proud to continue to participate in the movement,” concluded Labuskes. “It [inclusion] is in our DNA, but it doesn’t just happen. It’s a conversation that we need to continue to have.”
