Meet Lesley Slaton Brown
Former Senior Vice President and Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer for the National Basketball Association (NBA) and retired Hewlett-Packard (HP) executive
College of Arts and Sciences
Class of ‘88
Lesley Slaton Brown is a transformative executive leader, widely recognized for driving business results through the power of equity, inclusion, culture and economic sustainability.
At the NBA, Brown embedded DEI and economic sustainability into core business functions and long-term risk strategy. She partnered with leagues and team leadership to elevate representation and equity from ownership and coaching to vendors and suppliers. Her leadership transformed DEI into a strategic engine for culture, performance and financial resilience.
Before joining the NBA, Brown served at HP, where she executed a 10-year DEI and racial equality and social justice strategy. This initiative not only advanced over 78% of underrepresented employees but also aligned equity with HP’s innovation pipeline and supply chain sustainability.
Earlier in her career, Brown co‑founded Curated Pathways to Innovation (CPI), a personalized learning platform advancing underrepresented groups in STEM.
A respected leader in corporate DEI, Brown has been named one of the Most Powerful Women in Corporate Diversity by Black Enterprise, a Top Influential Woman in Corporate America by Forbes, a DEI Trailblazer by Business Insider and Diversity and Inclusion Champion of the Year by Girls in Tech.
She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from Boise State University, where she played collegiate basketball, and completed the Stanford Graduate School of Business Black Leaders Program.
She currently serves on the board of trustees for the University of California Merced, as co-chair of the nominations committee, and on the board of directors for CPI. She is also a proud member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.