DEI exec fired after former employees allege ‘toxic behavior’

Greg DeShields, center, at a 2018 press conference. DeShields was fired from his role as executive director of Tourism Diversity Matters after several women accused him of toxic behavior.

A prominent leader in the world of Philadelphia tourism and diversity and inclusion has been fired after eight women signed an open letter accusing him of creating a toxic workplace.

Greg DeShields, the former executive director of Tourism Diversity Matters, a nonprofit that aims to diversify the tourism industry, was fired Sunday following a unanimous decision by the nonprofit’s board, board chair Adam Burke said. CEO Mike Gamble has also stepped down, said Burke, who is also the president and CEO of the Los Angeles Tourism and Convention Board.

In a statement shared by Burke, the Tourism Diversity Matters board said that last year, it learned of concerns “of a lesser nature” about DeShields raised by former board chair Brandi Baldwin and dealt with them through coaching and performance management. But in January, it “became aware of these far more serious allegations,” placed DeShields on administrative leave, and started an investigation.

After receiving the open letter last week, according to the statement, “The Board … unanimously decided that a leadership change was the most appropriate path forward.”

Former employees say a Philadelphia diversity and tourism executive is a toxic boss

In an interview Tuesday, DeShields said he respected the Board’s decision but disagreed with how his former employees and board chair characterized his leadership.

“There may have been a misperception or a paraphrase that may have presented not the full clarity of a conversation to others,” he said. “But I would respect the fact that everybody walks away from any conversation with a perception, so I’m not minimizing or eliminating their point of view. But I would certainly want people to know that that would never have ever been my intent. Based on my long-standing service to the city of Philadelphia, that would be somewhat evident.”

DeShields, who noted that he is “very dedicated to providing advocacy and voice in the world of diversity, equity and inclusion as African American gay male,” said he was shocked and disheartened by the “targeted campaign” against him.

“In light of all that I’ve tried to do in terms of providing a voice for those who don’t have a voice, to have someone take a targeted campaign, to demean, to embarrass me, to move me to a point of unemployment, … that what’s really disheartening for me.”

Gamble declined to comment, referring questions to Burke.

The women who spoke up about DeShields — all of them Black women and women of color, and several of whom were interns at Tourism Diversity Matters and the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau — said DeShields demeaned and disrespected them, made inappropriate comments about their appearance, and retaliated when they attempted to speak up.

Sofia Mendoza-Muller, a former executive assistant at the tourism nonprofit, said in the open letter that DeShields “would constantly make references to the fact that English isn’t [her] first language.”

“He made me feel like being a native Spanish-speaker somehow made me less professional,” she wrote.

In January, after raising her concerns, she was laid off.

Tourism Diversity Matters was founded by Gamble in 2021 in the wake of the George Floyd protests. Gamble and DeShields were previously executives at the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau, a major donor and founding partner of Tourism Diversity Matters. Gamble, who is white and lives in the Twin Cities area, is also the president and CEO of an executive search firm, SearchWide Global.

Since the open letter has posted, another woman has come forward with complaints.

Natacha Agnant-Jacque, a former consultant for Tourism Diversity Matters, said that while working for DeShields, she was consistently paid late and is still owed money for work she did a year ago.

“They hired mostly women of color for their consulting team to look like they valued diversity,” she wrote in a narrative posted on the open letter.

The Convention and Visitors Bureau declined to comment.

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