Captain Julius Pryor III

Captain Julius Pryor is a recognized leader in leveraging diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) to accelerate innovation and deliver business results. Over the course of his career, he has created and led groundbreaking strategies at six global corporations, often serving as the first executive in newly established diversity leadership roles. He has held senior positions at Johnson & Johnson, Coca-Cola Enterprises, Abbott, Russell Athletic, Takeda, Cerner, and Genentech (Roche), where he served as Head of Innovation, Diversity & Inclusion.

Pryor approaches DEI not as a compliance function but as a driver of revenue, market share, and breakthrough thinking. By building organizational “diversity maturity,” he helps companies generate ideas across traditional boundaries and empower leaders to make smarter, more inclusive decisions.

His leadership philosophy was shaped in the U.S. Navy, where he rose to the rank of Captain and served as a Surface Warfare Officer, instructor, and commanding officer. He held posts in both the Atlantic and Pacific fleets and was a member of the historic re-commissioning crew of the USS Missouri (BB-63). He credits the Navy with instilling in him an uncompromising commitment to results and responsibility.

Pryor is Chair of the Board of Directors at the Center for Healthcare Innovation and also serves on the boards of the Andrew Young Center for Global Leadership and AArete Corporation. A graduate of Morehouse College and The Williston Northampton School, he is the author of Thriving in a Disruptive World: 6 Critical Concepts for Navigating the 21st Century. He was initiated into the Psi Chapter of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity at Morehouse.