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medinajett_headshot2_pablo     Medina Jett, JD, MBA

     Founder & CEO — JETT SPEAKS, LLC., Integrated Compliance Solutions, LLC.

As this country demands an end to racial inequality across many spectrums, Medina emerges as a leading voice in the empowerment of African Americans, professionally and financially. Medina is differentiated by her passion for racial equality and also by her unique perspective having been an attorney in private practice and in corporate law departments, a Senior Executive at not one, but three Fortune 500 companies and an international business owner in one of the most white male-dominated industries.

Medina is currently the Founder and CEO of Integrated Compliance Solutions Group, LLC (“ICSGroup”), an international compliance firm that provides legal and compliance services to Wall Street firms throughout the United States, London and Africa. A former securities attorney turned litigator in private practice, Medina joined the Aetna law department where her focus was on employment law and race relations at the company. She eventually made her way back to securities law and become the Vice President and Deputy Chief Legal Officer and Chief Compliance Officer at Cigna Investments. Medina’s leadership, legal expertise, and business acumen led to her ascending to the role of Senior Vice President and Chief Compliance Officer at Prudential Retirement and The Hartford Group Benefits all before reaching the age of 40. A champion for diversity her entire career, Medina has served on hiring committees, diversity committees, task forces focused on the hiring and retention of Black lawyers, served as the Executive Sponsor for The Hartford’s company-wide Diversity & Inclusion initiative.

In 2008, Medina earned an MBA while maintaining her CCO role at The Hartford and immediately embarked on her dream of being an entrepreneur. Medina made history by becoming the only African American woman in the entire world to own an asset management compliance firm. ICSGroup is proudly one of very few minority-owned businesses to be featured in a Harvard Business Review case study. Harvard Business School students and students around the globe now learn from Medina and her entrepreneurial journey to launch and scale her company.

During the pandemic, Medina was moved to launch her newest venture, Jett Speaks, LLC, through which she is able to pursue her passion to inspire and empower professional women and people of color. Jett Speaks focuses on four verticals: career development, entrepreneurship, financial literacy and diversity consulting. Through speaking engagements and individual and group coaching managed by the Jett Speaks team, Medina inspires women and people of color with her story and provides them with the skills, strategies, and unwritten corporate rules they need to excel in their careers. Medina was also tasked with leading the Hopkins School Board of Trustees’ Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Task Force to eradicate racism on campus and cultivate a more inclusive and equitable community. Hopkins School, located in Connecticut, is one of the oldest independent schools in the country and Medina’s alma mater.

Medina is the recipient of many awards and recognition most notably: the Anti-Defamation League’s Torch of Liberty Award for her advocacy on social justice and racial equality issues; the Urban League of Southern Connecticut’s Diversity Award; the Tri-State Diversity Council’s Influential Women Award; and the Hartford Business Journal’s Top Women in Business Award. As the Alumni Speaker at the University of Connecticut’s Executive MBA Program Commencement, Medina recently inspired the Class of 2019 to “dream big and execute”.

Medina is a graduate of Wesleyan University, Georgetown Law School and she holds an MBA in finance from the University of Connecticut School of Business. She is also a graduate of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Program at Babson College. Medina resides in Atlanta, Georgia.

@colormagazineusa