CenterState CEO promotes Rogers to management team as VP for racial equity & social impact

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — CenterState CEO announced it has promoted Dr. Juhanna Rogers to its leadership team as its new vice president for racial equity and social impact.

She will lead the newly formed racial equity and social impact portfolio within the regional economic-development organization.

Rogers previously served as CenterState CEO’s director of community engagement and empowerment within its economic inclusion portfolio, developing communication and engagement activities and strategies that “drive change in Syracuse,” CenterState CEO said. 

Specifically, Rogers will deliver diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) training for CenterState CEO staff and will develop DEI organizational metrics and processes to ensure its DEI goals are being met. She will also lead the development and implementation of CenterState CEO’s DEI services, including “enhanced” partner/vendor engagement, sales, delivery and evaluation, and the development and deployment of new DEI training and consulting services to be offered by the organization to the business community.

While this emerges, Rogers will continue to lead the community engagement and empowerment work associated with the organization’s JPMorgan Chase (JPMC) AdvancingCities grant, as well as CenterState CEO’s participation in the “Syracuse Surge” program, including planning and executing Surge tech and culture summits, and managing the Surge fellow program.

Additionally, Rogers will lead CenterState CEO’s “Generation Next” and “Tech and Culture” initiatives.

Her work to date includes spearheading the “Generation Next” initiative, co-leading the JPMC AdvancingCities application process, and supporting internal talent attraction and recruitment efforts at CenterState CEO to “yield a more diverse organization.” Prior to working at CenterState CEO, Rogers was director for health services at Syracuse Community Connections.

Rogers earned her undergraduate degree in integrative arts from Penn State University and a master’s degree in higher education student affairs from Indiana University.

Rogers is also a part of Indiana University’s history, CenterState CEO noted.

While completing her doctoral program in 2016, she and seven of her colleagues were deemed “The Great 8,” recognized as the largest number of black women to complete doctorate degree requirements simultaneously. The Great 8 were selected as Ebony Magazine Power 100 honorees for being “change makers in education,” per the news release.