Cordell brings more than 20 years to his pursuit of a society and organizational cultures where everyone belongs and has equitable opportunities to thrive. He is currently the executive director of the Aspen Institute Socrates Program, a global education forum and the founding director of the Aspen Institute’s Project on Belonging. Finally, Cordell founded the Festival of the Diaspora, a Medellin, Colombia based convener of diasporic communities across the Americas and Expectant Advisory, LLC, a human capital advisory firm. Before his current roles, Cordell held leadership roles with the TechTown Foundation, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle Public Schools, Business Roundtable, National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, and the IBM Corporation.

For the Aspen Institute, he curates more than three dozen off the-record leadership seminars annually in capital cities around the world reaching more than 1,000 leaders each year. He is also leading the Aspen Institute’s efforts to shift the national conversation on racial equity and inclusion from compliance to belonging via an annual LATAM-based summit called the “Festival of the Diaspora.” As the creator and lead facilitator of “Becoming an Inclusive Republic and producer of the documentary “The Road Trip to Belonging”, he is a sought-after facilitator and speaker on belonging and inclusion, post-secondary success, and democratic ideals. Over the last few years, he has delivered dozens of keynote speeches, facilitated roundtables and moderated panels all over the globe. Through Expectant Advisory, Cordell advises leaders and boards of directors at various points on their enterprise-wide inclusion and belonging learning journeys.

Over the last decade, he has spoken in 15 different countries and 20 US states. His leadership has been recognized all over the USA. In June 2021, President Joseph R. Biden appointed him as Commissioner, to the President’s Commission on White
House Fellowships. His other honors include: a designation as a 2023 Minority Executives Making Moves by the Minority Business Review, 2021 Distinguished Alumni Leadership Awardee by Cultural Vistas, an Eisenhower Fellowship to China; designation as a “40 under 40” by business and civic organizations in Washington State and Tennessee; University of Notre Dame Law School alumni of the year awardee; selections as a Robert Bosch Foundation Fellow for Young American Leaders and a Broad Foundation Resident in Urban Education and being feted by the Obama Administration as a 2016 Champion of Change for Computer Science Education.