Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

David M. Gordon serves as president of The Cheesecake Factory Inc., the leading upscale casual-dining restaurant in the United States with revenues of approximately $2.0 billion.

Mr. Gordon holds full responsibility for this high-growth restaurant company. Working directly with the founder and CEO, he oversees all aspects of the business, including financial and strategic planning, international restaurant development and operations, product procurement, and people development for over 300 restaurants throughout the United States and Canada under brands including The Cheesecake Factory®, North Italia®, Flower Child®, and a collection within the Fox Restaurant Concepts business. Internationally, 28 The Cheesecake Factory® restaurants operate under licensing agreements. Mr. Gordon works directly with the executive team to implement and execute the company’s strategic priorities.

A native of Southern California, Mr. Gordon resides in Los Angeles with Stacey, his wife of 28 years, He has two adult children: Griffin, age 24, and Abigail, age 21.

James Pogue provides thought leadership to leaders and organizations to push them to address Diversity, Inclusion, and Bias (DIBs)™, directly and significantly. As the President and CEO of JP Enterprises, Dr. Pogue has spearheaded the development of The DIBs Model™, a critical component of the organization’s work and success. An outgrowth of research and grounded in theory, this model spawned the DIBs Assessment™, a tool used to measure where an organization, team, or individual is on their diversity journey, thus providing the best opportunity for strategic recommendations and change.

Dr. Pogue is also the creator of The No Nonsense Experience™, a diversity discussion series that leverages cohort learning and emergent best practices to keep participants “The RIGHT Kind of Uncomfortable”™.

Dr. Pogue’s expertise and experienced content delivery take the form of Keynotes and Toolkits, thought-provoking Workshops and Webinars, and Executive Coaching. He supports leaders in making the decisions that attract, engage, and retain talent at all levels, and deepens the learning around Diversity, Inclusion, and Bias.

Dr. Pogue’s military service, scope of research, and work as a speaker and entrepreneur give him tangible examples of the critical balance between leaders and followers on teams. He provides leaders with professionally researched data, partnered with highly engaged training, to improve their ability to influence organizational behavior and the bottom line.

In his leisure time, Dr. Pogue occasionally competes as a martial artist, where he has five national titles, in addition to Silver and Bronze medals at the World Championships. Dr. Pogue has two daughters and six granddaughters.