Our Founder
Ken Charles is founder and chief executive officer of Intentional Talent Advancement, a boutique consultancy providing proactive and strategic advice to create thriving organizations that are intentionally diverse, equitable and inclusive.
Most recently, he served as Chief Inclusion and Diversity Officer for American Airlines. In this role, Ken led American’s global inclusion and diversity strategies. This included establishing the company’s Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion to ensure best practices were implemented across all aspects of American’s people and business processes.
Charles joined American from U.S. Bank, where he was Senior Vice President of Enterprise Talent, and brings more than 30 years of private sector experience, including a decade of inclusion and diversity leadership. He also served as Vice President for Global Inclusion and Staffing and Chief Diversity Officer at General Mills leading them to award-winning performance in diversity and inclusion.
In addition, Charles has received the Ted Childs Life Work Excellence Award from Working Mother magazine, only the second male to receive the honor. Previously, he was listed as one of the Top Executives in Diversity by Black Enterprise and served on the Human Rights Campaign Business Advisory Council.
Charles holds a master’s degree in Public Administration from the University of Kansas and a bachelor’s degree from Duquesne University.
Awards/Recognitions
- Urban League Twin Cities Community Champion Award
- Black Enterprise “Top Executives” in Corporate Diversity
- Ted Childs Life Work Excellence Award from Working Mother Magazine, only the second male to receive the honor
- Top 100 Executives in America by Uptown Professional
- Recipient of the Winds of Change Award from the Forum on Workplace Inclusion
- 75 most influential people in the Twin Cities by Minnesota Monthly magazine
- Who’s Who in Diversity and Inclusion, Diversity Executive magazine
- National Black MBA Association, Chairman’s Award
- Consortium for Graduate Study in Management, Peter C. Thorp Corporate Leadership Award
