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Ciara Lilly's Headshot 2024

About Ciara

With an impressive tenure spanning over a decade in her industry, Ciara Lilly serves as Senior Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion at Diversified Maintenance. Within this role, Ciara masterminds and supports executing the organization’s national strategy for diversity, equity, inclusion, and supplier diversity.

Under Ciara’s leadership, Diversified Maintenance has proudly spent over $50 million with small and diverse businesses, established a robust Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion training curriculum, and created over $20 million in new business growth working with other corporations that share a commitment to supplier diversity and diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Ciara holds an Executive MBA from the Jack Welch Management Institute and a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She has also completed certificate programs at renowned institutions such as Dartmouth University, Cornell University, the University of South Florida, and the University of Richmond, providing her with expertise in diversity and inclusion, supplier diversity, executive management, and entrepreneurship. Currently, Ciara is pursuing her Master of Divinity at Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School.

Throughout her career, Ciara has received several awards for her leadership and commitment to community building. She was recognized as one of the Top 15 Chief Diversity Officers by Diversity Global Magazine, one of the Top 50 Women Leaders in North Carolina by Women We Admire, named one of Business Equality Pride Magazine’s 40 Leaders Under 40, acknowledged as one of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Black Chamber of Commerce’s 30 under 30, and awarded the Recognition of Excellence and Emerging Entrepreneur Award by the Carolinas LGBT Chamber of Commerce.

To complement her work at Diversified Maintenance, Ciara is an active member of CNBC’s Workforce Executive Council, Chief, the Private Directors Association, the Carolinas LGBT Chamber of Commerce, Birmingham Business Alliance’s Inclusive Procurement Council, and Charlotte Business INClusion’s Advisory Council.

Outside of her professional endeavors, Ciara is passionate about incorporating the tenets of diversity, equity, and inclusion into her ministry work at St. Luke Missionary Baptist Church, where she serves as a minister under the leadership of Rev. Dr. Clifford Matthews.

"You were great. Not only did you talk about empathy and transparency (hallmarks of inclusive leadership) but you also gave concrete guidance on how to make DEI and Supplier Diversity a business imperative." - Ali L.

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