Kevin L. Nichols

Kevin has been perfecting his craft as an expert in three distinct areas, legal, diversity, and social networking for over 19 years. In legal, Kevin has worked in multifaceted capacities in some of the most prolific international law firms in the country, such as Morrison & Foerster (Mofo), Paul Hastings, Heller Ehrman, and Holland & Knight (H&K). There, he has garnered relationships with some of the most influential and well respected legal minds in the industry, as well as junior associates who through attrition, are now counsel for some of the top Fortune 1000 companies.

Kevin’s involvement with diversity has been an extension of his legal experience. Developing diversity programs at Mofo and H&K and organizing events for the Association for Corporate Counsel and the California Minority Counsel Program, have enabled Kevin to create a proactive and reputable personal brand of excellence. As the Executive Director of the African American Wellness Project (AAWP) and the California Diversity Council (CADC), Kevin strategically advised on event planning, programming, and membership development. In February 2013, the CADC hosted the Diversity and Leadership Conference featuring Donna Brazile and Dr. Cornell West as its keynote speakers. Nichols is now the Founder, President & CEO of an Oakland based, Google and Microsoft funded social impact venture with Stanford University called The Social Engineering Project, Inc. that is designed to address the lack of diversity in the tech industry. Kevin consults with various tech companies on creating an inclusive culture/work environment, recruitment and retention utilizing data-driven analytics, and developing and implementing diversity councils and employee resource groups (ERGs). Nichols also advises startups on raising capital, social media strategy, and diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Finally, Kevin has become a social networking expert. He is the founder of two professional networking LinkedIn groups in the Bay Area with roughly 8,000 members combined, that meet regularly to identify business goals and objectives and facilitate referrals to achieve same. He organizes monthly and quarterly events to bring the Bay Area business community together and creates career-networking opportunities for those who he encounters. Mr. Nichols’s social networking prowess and capabilities have been featured on LinkedIn’s Hall of Fame, Yahoo’s Blog, in the Examiner, CNN Money, MarketWatch and the Wall Street Journal. Millions saw Kevin for 2 years when they logged into LinkedIn‘s Homepage For more information, please visit (link hidden).