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COVID-19 has changed business and our personal lives forever. For future professional and personal success, we need to better understand how each of us has value and something to offer, and to blend our differences rather than try to homogenize them. We can encourage our businesses, our colleagues, and ourselves to champion an ideal of multiculturalism by: - Championing inclusion and diversity
- Attracting top talent that can blend the strengths of many cultures
- Driving innovation and collaboration
- Connecting, supporting, and serving our communities
Join the Tampa Bay Chapter Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) Q&A Panel as they host a Zoom event to answer questions about: - Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) in the broad scope
- Specifics about what FIS is doing, and what other companies can do to advance D&I
- Using technology (Zoom, etc.) to open meetings/safe spaces where people can tackle issues of D&I
- How our cultural differences affect us, especially relating to recruiting policies, to ensure fair consideration of all races, nationalities, sexes, and creeds (this is not just an African American issue).
What professionals can do to promote D&I, and how they should respond when confronted with the unfair treatment of themselves or others on the job (Zero Tolerance!) Speakers:  Samantha Ettus
CEO & Founder Park Place Payments Samantha Ettus is the Founder and CEO of Park Place Payments, a Sales-Force-as-a-Service business. As a dedicated champion of women, Sam has devoted her career to advocating and supporting women in the pursuit of their dreams. Thousands of women from C-level leaders to administrative assistants to moms returning to the workforce have benefitted from Sam’s unique guidance. In Sam’s quest to help women achieve financial independence, she launched Park Place. Since earning her undergraduate and MBA degrees from Harvard, Sam has become a best-selling author of five books, a renowned speaker and host of a nationally syndicated call-in radio show. Sam recently launched What’s Her Story With Sam & Amy, a weekly women in business podcast for iHeart. Sam makes regular national television appearances on shows including NBC News, The Doctors, Access Hollywood, Good Morning America, Dr. Phil and the TODAY Show, among others. She has been featured and quoted in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, Inc, and Fast Company. Sam is Co-Founder of the Los Angeles Women’s Collective, aimed at supporting women to run for office and win. She serves on the advisory board of the Forbes School of Business and Technology. Sam lives in Los Angeles with her husband and three children.  Ameerah Mukayed
Inclusion and Diversity Lead - North America The People Office FIS Ameerah Mukayed recently joined FID, serving as the Inclusion & Diversity Regional Lead for North America. In this role, Ameerah works to expand the I&D strategy within the region, building a robust, collaborative structure to enhance the impact of FIS's existing I&D Initiatives. Ameerah came to FID with 8 years of experience in the field of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion. Most recently, she held the role of Diversity & Inclusion Specialist as Tech Data Corporation, a global Fortune 100 technology distributor. Prior to Tech Data, Ameerah working with the National Diversity Council as their Programs & Communications Lead. Ameerah is actively involved in various organizations, including serving as Communications Chair for the Florida Diversity Council's Tampa Bay chapter, as well as volunteering for Community Tampa Bay, a non-profit organization that cultivates inclusive leaders to change communities through dialogue and cross-cultural interaction. She also helps to lead the Tampa Bay Harry Potter fan club which boasts over 1,500 members, serving as 'Ravenclaw Prefect.' Ameerah attended the University of South Florida, majoring in International Relations. She is also a National Diversity Council Certified Diversity Professional (CDP). Ameerah currently lives in Tampa, FL with her fiance, Aldo and two dogs, Gypsie & Gyro. In her free time, she enjoys reading, watching movies, tending to her houseplants, and playing tennis.  Melissa Palus
Senior Business Partner - FI Payments Division The People Office FIS Melissa Palus joined FIS (NYSE: FIS) in 2005. She has spent the past 15 years working under the Human Resources scope including Corporate Recruiting HR Generalist, and most recently Business Partner. As the Business Partner for the FI Payments Division she focuses on strategic planning, talent planning, and employee growth and engagement. The FI Payments division is comprised of 9,000 global employees and is responsible for 3B in revenue. Employee engagement is her passion and where she finds the most enjoyment in her role as a Business Partner. Melissa came to FIS from Capital One where she was a Senior Manager in the Payments Division. In her tenure with Capital One she was involved in the Employee Engagement council, Employee Development training, and the mentorship program. Her prior experience in the Payments industry is what led her to FIS to pursue a new career in Human Resources. Melissa is a member of HR Tampa and is a certified Professional in Human Resource Management through SHRM. Melissa has a bachelor’s degree from Florida State University, and a master’s degree in Human Resource management from Villanova. Melissa currently lives in Tampa, FL. She has two children, a daughter who is a Senior at the University of Central Florida, and a son who is a Sophomore at the University of Florida. She herself is an avid Seminole fan! Her hobbies include traveling and her love for her horses. Most weekends she can be found at the stable enjoying the outdoors.  Cynthia F. Knowles
VP, Head of Business Administration Banking & Merchant Solutions FIS Cynthia Knowles is Head of Business Administration for the Banking & Merchant Solutions segment of FIS. In this executive leadership role, she is responsible for overseeing the strategic messaging and chief of staff functions for the Head of Operations and the President of Banking & Merchant Solutions as well as communication, market integration across multiple disciplines and the coordination and external launch of key enterprise initiatives for the $10B+ global division. In addition, Cynthia recently served as co-chair of the Communications & Education Working Group for the U.S. Payments Forum and is on the Board for Wnet (Women in Electronic Payments). With over 30 years devoted to the payments industry, Ms. Knowles’ career includes a spectrum of experiences including Sales Management, Sales and Marketing Strategy, Thought Leadership, Digital Marketing & Communications, Branding, Event Management, Product Development, and Sales Training. She started her career with Telecredit Service Corporation in San Francisco, later purchased by Equifax (NYSE: EFX), then becoming Certegy Inc. (NYSE: CEY) and lastly, acquired by Fidelity National Information Systems (NYSE: FIS) in 2006. Ms. Knowles educational background includes a B.S. degree from Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio where she was also captain of the Women’s Varsity Field Hockey Team. She currently resides with her husband in Bradenton, Florida and together they have four children. Ms. Knowles is an avid outdoors person enjoying hiking, skiing and fishing as well as she involved in several local community organizations including fundraising for LLS.  Donna K. Gem, CISM, CTGA
Sr. Principal Information Security Analyst Product Security & Data Protection Key Management & HSM Services Wnet Tampa Bay Chapter Chair Donna Gem has been an Encryption & Key Management SME in the payments industry for over 27 years. She joined FIS and the Global Security Services team in 2019 and is responsible for helping to manage the FIS global HSMs (Host Security Modules) and banking and POS encryption keys. Being very passionate about compliance and security, Donna’s focus has been to help drive the encryption strategy and roadmap in the payments/fintech industry into the future. As a certified Information Security Manager, and TR39 (ANSI) Auditor, she provides guidance to internal teams on PCI (Payment Card Industry) requirements and card association mandates. Donna was born, raised and still lives in Tampa, FL. She is the founder and Co-Chair of the Tampa Bay Wnet (Women’s Network in Electronic Transactions) Chapter. She started the Tampa Bay chapter in 2019, because she believes in bringing women in the payments industry together through networking, mentoring, and the ability to share challenges and opportunities. In her leisure time, Donna enjoys spending time with her husband, and their four children and six grandchildren. She also loves scuba diving, hunting for lobsters (then eating them☺), and anything else to do with being out on the water.
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