Keynote speaker Toya Cirica Bell will discuss the power of elevating diversity and ensuring Inclusion in philanthropy during her presentation after the two panels at Discovery Day on January 12, 2019. She draws on a deep well of experience in this area as you can see from her bio below. REGISTER HERE for Discovery Day on January 12.
Toya Cirica Bell
Deputy Chief Ethics Officer, Texas Health and Human Services System
Toya Cirica Bell is a career attorney with a focus on ethics and compliance. Over the past 25 years, Toya has counseled executives in the public and private sectors in such areas as legislative interpretation, employment law, and ethics program development and management. Throughout this time, Toya has maintained a passion for and commitment to diversity and community service.
As Board Chair for Leadership Austin in 2017-2018, Toya led a collaboration among the City of Austin and stakeholders to bring the transformative Beyond Diversity training program to Leadership Austin alumni and the greater Austin community. As part of her own journey in diversity, she recently completed practitioner training in Courageous Conversations About Race.
Toya is a Sustaining Advisor to the Junior League of Austin, where she is supporting the organization’s launch of a comprehensive diversity and inclusion initiative. As Vice Chair of the Austin Bar Foundation, she leads the Community Grants Committee, which awards funds to area nonprofits focused on law related services. Toya also volunteers on the association’s Diversity Committee that provides clerkship opportunities to diverse law students. Toya is a Social Venture Partner with Mission Capital and member of the board of directors for the Association of Rice University Alumni. She is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., volunteering as the Risk Management Chair for her local chapter.
Toya is a graduate of Rice University with a B.A. in English and the College of William & Mary, where she earned her Juris Doctorate. Among the honors she has received, Toya was recently awarded the Austin Bar Association’s Joseph C. Parker Diversity Award, named Mission Capital’s Community Leader of the Year, selected Mentor of the Year by Austin Under 40, awarded Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority’s Graduate Good Citizen Award and the Attorney Award from the Travis County Women Lawyers Association.
