rdempsey19@nul.org
Speaker Bio
Ray Dempsey, Jr. is Chief Diversity Officer for BP America and President of the BP Foundation. Reporting directly to the BP America Chairman and President, Dempsey leads a broad portfolio including national strategic relationships and initiatives, supplier diversity, workforce diversity, and philanthropy.
Since joining the company in 1990, Dempsey has held a variety of management and operational roles in engineering, strategy, finance, and external affairs in the US and abroad.
Dempsey was named by Savoy Magazine as one of the “Most Influential Blacks in Corporate America” in 2016 and in 2018. He was also named a 2012 “Game Changer” by Politic365, and received the 2013 “Best of Black Business” Award for Visionary Leadership in Energy from the American Academy of Business and Commerce.
Dempsey is Chairman of the Board of Directors for the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering (NACME). He also sits on the board of the National Urban League, the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Foundation, and the Congressional Hispanic Leadership Institute (CHLI). Dempsey is a member of The Executive Leadership Council (ELC), the preeminent membership organization for the development of global black leaders.
Dempsey holds a BS in industrial engineering from Kansas State University, and an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management in Evanston, Illinois.
He and his wife Alysia have four daughters and reside in Vienna, Virginia.