Yuri E. Brown-Cruzat

CEO, Epic Consulting Group

Yuri Brown-Cruzat is the CEO and Founder of EPIC Consulting Group, LLC.  EPIC is a full service workforce and business consulting firm that serves Fortune 50, 100 and 500 corporations.  EPIC is uniquely positioned with alliance partners to deliver products and services that are fueled by solid methodology, research and measures of success.  EPIC has a client list which includes (but not limited to) General Dynamics, United Health Group, Gulfstream Aerospace, A&E Television Networks and Monster.  The breath of work ranges from global diversity/inclusion strategy development, human capital planning, emerging market consumer development and supplier strategic sourcing.

Yuri was the former National Director of Strategic Diversity & Inclusion for U.S. Cellular Corporation.  She designed and developed the strategic inclusion plan for U.S. Cellular with the intent of defining the business imperative, measures and customer experience.   She is an expert speaker on trends, processes and strategies for the diversity & inclusion industry domestically and abroad.  One of her featured speaking engagements was at the World Diversity Leadership Summit in Prague, Czech Republic.

She has over 20 years of combined experience in business consulting, sales, corporate recruiting/staffing and project management. She was Director of Consulting Services for Hudson Inclusion Solutions a division of Hudson Highland Group, a 4,000 person global executive search and human capital consulting firm where she was responsible for the leadership, design and development of Hudson’s Global Diversity Consulting Services Practice.  Yuri led and managed consulting engagements with sales targets ranging from 200K to $4M each.

While at Abbot Laboratories and Merck Pharmaceuticals, Yuri managed client relationships and business development goals upwards of $3M in annual sales.  As a HR professional she was Regional Recruiting Manager across multiple locations for both Blue Cross of California (now WellPoint) and Ernst & Young Consulting.  Yuri and her team were responsible for the design, implementation, metrics development and competitive analysis. Additionally, as a Director of Finance, she implemented Six Sigma driven, multi-million dollar finance process redesign projects, supplier diversity and organizational restructuring initiatives for CNA Insurance. She is a certified Black Belt in Six Sigma.

Yuri received her B.S. Degree in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley with contributing certifications from Oxford University, Education Abroad Program.  Yuri has served on several professional and nonprofit boards. She is a previous board member for Lawrence Hall Services, a child/family protective agency; a previous advisor for Women on Boards which works to prep and position executive women to obtain Board of Director positions for Corporate Boards; a previous advisor for the League of Black Women, a national research and professional networking organization focused on the advancement and empowerment of Women of Color.