Who is Your Organization Excluding? The view from Amit Taneja

Amit Taneja serves as the inaugural senior vice president and chief inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility (IDEA) officer at Chautauqua Institution. He provides leadership on several institutional priorities to make Chautauqua more diverse, equitable, inclusive, and accessible, including the creation of the IDEA strategic plan, training, policy issues and practice updates. Amit engages with the leadership of various Chautauqua community groups and all Chautauquans on IDEA related initiatives. He consults with Chautauqua Institution groups or individuals that want to create their own IDEA related goals that support the larger IDEA strategic plan. He is especially passionate about engaged dialogue and partners with several institutional offices and personnel to infused IDEA principles and practices in the work of the staff, board and community organizations. In his personal time, Amit enjoys gardening, flying kites, and making bow-ties, and he is a techno DJ with his own podcast. He put his bow-tie-making efforts on hold during the pandemic and made and donated more than 200 masks to essential workers, those working in health care facilities, and those at higher risk of COVID-19. He and his husband, Christopher live with their two feline overlords – Calvin and Hobbes.