About bci

Our Story

bhasin consulting inc. (bci) was founded in 2010 by Ritu Bhasin LL.B. MBA, after spending ten years in the legal profession — first practicing law and then as an HR leader at a prominent global law firm. After years of examining why organizations face talent management-related challenges, Ritu knew there was a need for a new type of leadership and DEI consultant — one who’s driven by the principles of empathy, equity, vulnerability, authenticity, belonging, and intersectionality, and with a commitment to real change. This is what led her to launch her own leadership and DEI consulting firm, and bci was born!

Close up of Ritu Bhasin in 2014 presenting a keynote speech on a conference room

Since then, Ritu has won numerous awards for her work in creating impactful change and bci has become a global leader in providing leadership and DEI training, consulting, and coaching services. We have now worked with hundreds of world-renowned organizations across industries, and our team continues to expand their depth of expertise across leadership areas. We are committed to pushing the envelope and creating meaningful change within organizations. We are particularly known for our in-depth work with executive leadership teams, empowering professionals from equity-seeking communities, our inspiring and thought-provoking keynotes, and highly practical and strategic consulting services.

What Sets Us Apart

  • We provide customized, strategic consulting on how to elevate best practices in leadership, DEI, and talent management
  • We deliver targeted executive leadership training, coaching, and consulting
  • We’re known for our in-depth empowerment and leadership programming for equity-seeking professionals
  • We’re unparalleled in our excellence in delivering keynotes for large events and retreats
  • We’ve developed niche content and expertise in a range of leadership, talent management, DEI, consulting, and coaching areas

Our Values

2
4
1
5

Excellence

We pride ourselves on delivering high-quality work and infusing excellence into every aspect of our business

Innovation

We are always learning and developing cutting-edge leadership and DEI frameworks and concepts for our clients

Disruption

We strive to break down the institutional, structural, and systemic barriers that prevent the creation of healthy, inclusive workplaces

Belonging

We are fierce advocates for unlocking belonging in the workplace, through authenticity, empathy, psychological safety, and trust

Personalization

We don’t believe in “off the shelf” experiences – we customize all our programming to meet the needs of executive leadership teams

Professionalism

We pride ourselves on our empathy, reliability, responsiveness, and unwavering commitment to our clients and partners

2
4
1

Excellence

We pride ourselves on delivering high-quality work and infusing excellence into every aspect of our business

Innovation

We are always learning and developing cutting-edge leadership and DEI frameworks and concepts for our clients

Disruption

We strive to break down the institutional, structural, and systemic barriers that prevent the creation of healthy, inclusive workplaces

5

Belonging

We are fierce advocates for unlocking belonging in the workplace, through authenticity, empathy, psychological safety, and trust

Personalization

We don’t believe in “off the shelf” experiences – we customize all our programming to meet the needs of executive leadership teams

Professionalism

We pride ourselves on our empathy, reliability, responsiveness, and unwavering commitment to our clients and partners

2

Excellence

We pride ourselves on delivering high-quality work and infusing excellence into every aspect of our business

4

Innovation

We are always learning and developing cutting-edge leadership and DEI frameworks and concepts for our clients

1

Disruption

We strive to break down the institutional, structural, and systemic barriers that prevent the creation of healthy, inclusive workplaces

Belonging

We are fierce advocates for unlocking belonging in the workplace, through authenticity, empathy, psychological safety, and trust

Personalization

We don’t believe in “off the shelf” experiences – we customize all our programming to meet the needs of each client and their teams

5

Professionalism

We pride ourselves on our empathy, reliability, responsiveness, and unwavering commitment to our clients and partners

Our Founder

Ritu Bhasin, LL.B. MBA, (she/her) is the CEO and Founder of bci. Recognized globally for her leadership, talent management, and DEI expertise, Ritu is an award-winning speaker and bestselling author who has received numerous distinctions for her work.
ABOUT RITU
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Our Team

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Dr. Summer Allen

she/her

Leadership and DEI Coach

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Dr. Komal Bhasin

she/her

Senior DEI Consultant
Mental Health Expert-in-Residence

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Joanna Kirke

she/her

Leadership Coach and Speaker

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Alyse Runyan

she/her

Director of Operations

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Silvia Li

she/her

Client Relations Manager

CONTACT US

Our Clients

INTERNATIONAL LAW FIRMS

  • Baker McKenzie
  • Hogan Lovells
  • Kirkland & Ellis
  • Paul, Weiss
  • Skadden

GLOBAL BANKS

  • Bank of Montreal
  • National Australia Bank
  • TD
  • US Bank

INSURANCE

  • Manulife
  • RenaissanceRe
  • Sun Life Financial
  • Equitable

HEALTH CARE

  • Kaiser Permanente
  • Pfizer
  • Novo Nordisk
  • Mass General Brigham
  • Baycare

TECHNOLOGY

  • Salesforce
  • Google
  • Microsoft
  • Medidata

PUBLIC SECTOR

  • City of Toronto
  • Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation
  • Employment and Social Development Canada

INVESTMENT FIRMS

  • Blackstone
  • Wellington Management
  • Fidelity Investments
  • Research Affiliates

MANUFACTURING

  • Ferrero
  • Lactalis
  • Heartland Coca-Cola
  • BASF

ARTS & MEDIA

  • National Geographic
  • Penguin Random House
  • Scholastic
  • Universal Music Canada
  • Netflix

RETAIL

  • McDonalds
  • Canadian Tire
  • Walmart

ACADEMIC INSTITUTIONS

  • University of Toronto
  • University of Michigan
  • Toronto Metropolitan University

PROFESSIONAL SERVICE FIRMS

  • Accenture
  • LexisNexis
  • Gartner
  • Ernst & Young

NON-PROFITS & PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS

  • Investment Advisor Association
  • Water.org
  • Association of Corporate Counsel

AND MORE

Ritu and team really took the time to get to know our organization prior to our workshop, learning about our employees, customers, culture and shareholder impacts, to customize the content, making it both specific and relevant. She created a safe environment, where we felt open to asking questions that we might otherwise have not raised. The bci team has a unique way of impacting both minds and hearts of participants.

Megan Jones

Vice President Card Product Development and Benefits Strategy,
CIBC and Former Vice President Financial Products & Services,
Canadian Tire Financial Services

Komal brought a logical yet compassionate perspective and was spot on in engaging the audience. Our leaders walked away with practical skills that can be applied and shared across their teams. We love working with bci, they always bring an authentic view to important topics.

Mahreen Rashid

Executive Vice President, People Services, Excella Consulting

“Ritu is a memorable, timely, and high-impact partner to work with for any organization looking to start or continue the diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging conversation.”

Amanda Stewart

Fortitude Re, SVP, Head of Employee Experience and CHRO
bci logo

bhasin consulting inc. is a world-renowned leadership and DEI consulting firm that’s recognized for shifting leadership, cultivating belonging, growing empathy, and unlocking psychological safety in workplaces.

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AREAS OF EXPERTISE

LAND ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The bci team primarily works from lands that are part of the Dish With One Spoon Territory, a treaty between the Anishinaabe, Mississaugas, and Haudenosaunee that brought these communities together to share, serve, and protect these lands.

bci is deeply committed to honoring the spirit of this treaty, and we recognize our privilege in enjoying the benefits of these lands, which supports all that we do. We’re passionately focused on undertaking our work in alignment with the values of Truth and Reconciliation, and we actively seek to decolonize societal and workplace systems, as well as our individual behaviors.

Ritu Bhasin, LL.B. MBA

Ritu is an award-winning speaker, bestselling author, global consultant, and world-renowned expert in leadership, talent management, belonging, DEI, and empowerment.

Since 2010, Ritu has worked with hundreds of top organizations and senior leadership teams around the world, presented to hundreds of thousands of people globally, and coached over a thousand leaders. Ritu is a certified cultural competence and neuroscience strategies coach, as well as a yoga and mindfulness teacher and practitioner, and very shortly she will complete a trauma professional certification program.

Before founding bci, Ritu spent ten years in the legal profession – first as a civil litigator and then as the director of legal talent for the preeminent Canadian law firm Stikeman Elliott LLP. Ritu also served as an instructor in the Executive Programs at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto for three years. She regularly appears on national television and radio in the U.S. and Canada as an expert on leadership, talent management, DEI, belonging, empathy, and empowerment.

Ritu’s personal experiences with adversity and her desire to help others have led her to work as a social justice champion for over thirty years, volunteering with dozens of organizations and mentoring hundreds of youths and young professionals. She has won numerous awards and distinctions for her work, including: Real Leaders Top 50 Keynote Speakers, Success Magazine’s Woman of Influence, The Women’s Center Leadership Award, the South Asian Bar Association Diversity Award, the Indo-Canadian Chamber of Commerce Female Professional of the Year Award, the City of Toronto’s William P. Hubbard Award for Race Relations, and Western University’s Young Alumni of the Year Award.

Ritu has written two bestselling books: We’ve Got This: Unlocking the Beauty of Belonging (2023) which is also now a multiple award winner and The Authenticity Principle: Resist Conformity, Embrace Differences, and Transform How You Live, Work, and Lead (2017).

Ritu lives in Toronto, Canada. When she is not working, you’ll find her traveling around the world to eat, swim, hike, dance, and chill.

To explore Ritu’s empowerment tools and resources for individuals, visit her personal empowerment site, ritubhasin.com.

Education:

  • MBA, Rotman School of Management (Executive Program), University of Toronto
  • LL.B. (With Distinction), University of Western Ontario
  • B.A. (With Distinction), University of Toronto
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Dr. Summer Allen, PhD

Summer is an executive level leadership coach, speaker, and consultant with over 15 years of experience in crafting and driving organizational strategy and improving employee performance through her expertise in culture transformation, DEI, and leadership development, through the lens of emotional intelligence. She has her doctorate in organizational change and leadership from the University of Southern California, and is currently pursuing a second doctorate in psychology from Rutgers University to deepen her research in emotional intelligence.

Summer is also the author of Lose the Debate: A Practical Guide to Emotional Intelligence and Successful Dialogue (2024).

Summer is passionate about working with leaders to deeply understand their individual and organizational development needs in order to build cultures that are rooted in DEI, emotional intelligence, empathy, and belonging. Summer holds a range of facilitation designations and coaching certifications, including being a qualified administrator of the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI).

Summer has provided one-on-one coaching to hundreds of senior leaders across a range of industries and globally renowned organizations. She is known for her thoughtful, dynamic, and inviting coaching style, and for cultivating meaningful learning experiences around challenging DEI areas like unconscious bias, cultural competence, allyship, authenticity, belonging, and more.

When Summer isn’t working, you’ll find her writing, watching Investigation Discovery, or playing with her dog Coco.

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Dr. Komal Bhasin, MSW, MHSc, DocSocSci

Komal is bci’s Senior DEI Consultant and Mental Health Expert-in-Residence and an accomplished DEI facilitator, coach, and strategist. Komal has over 20 years of experience in providing strategic and advisory guidance and program development across a range of sectors, with a particular concentration in mental health and racial inclusion. Komal is also the founder of Insayva Inc., a social enterprise focused on providing accessible DEI and health equity support to charities and non-profit organizations.

Komal has extensive experience in creating and delivering programming in a range of DEI areas, including unconscious bias, cultural competence, mental health inclusion, psychological safety, and allyship. She is passionate about driving transformational change in workplaces and has worked closely with bci clients – corporations, professional service firms, health care providers, and educational institutions – to embed cultures of DEI within their organizations.

Komal has provided one-on-one inclusion coaching to hundreds of senior leaders and brings a unique approach that is informed by her background as a psychotherapist. Using a trauma-informed lens and somatic approaches, she also has experience guiding leaders and teams in mending relationships, and rebuilding trust where harm has occurred due to inequities, intercultural conflict, value mismatches, exclusion, and psychological or geopolitical safety issues, with the goal of creating a more inclusive, resilient or organizational culture.

Komal also offers a performance coaching program designed specifically for BIPOC leaders. This program aims to help BIPOC leaders harness their place, position, and identity to thrive in the workplace and beyond. Komal is a qualified administrator of the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI).

As bci’s Mental Health Expert-in-Residence, Komal offers tremendous expertise around workplace mental health. As a doctoral trained mental health clinician, certified health executive, and registered social worker, Komal has assisted organizations looking to advance employee mental health inclusion and well-being through offering programming on inclusive dialogue, anti-stigma, burnout prevention, psychological safety, resilience, and self-care. Komal is committed to advancing mental health and wellness across the life course; she currently serves on the board of the Alzheimer’s Society of Ontario and previously served on the board of Children’s Mental Health Ontario and the YMCA of Greater Toronto.

When Komal is not working, you’ll find her painting, cooking or snuggling with her cat.

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Joanna Kirke, MBA, PCC

Joanna is a Professional Certified Coach by the International Coach Federation (ICF), expert facilitator, and consultant with 20+ years of talent management, DEI, and leadership consulting, and executive coaching experience. Joanna is renowned for developing and delivering high impact workshops and coaching programming for a range of sectors including financial services, technology, law firms, consulting, retail, telecommunications, mining, education, and not-for-profits, and across a spectrum of areas including leadership, innovation, leading change, emotional intelligence, DEI, self-awareness, team effectiveness, cultural competence, and women’s advancement.

Joanna has coached hundreds of leaders in global organizations in several areas including inclusion strategies and cultural competence. She can quickly gain trust and build rapport with her coaching clients in order to create greater accountability, behavioral change, and personal growth.

Joanna is qualified to administer the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) and the Intercultural Conflict Style Inventory (ICS). Joanna is also qualified to administer several leadership assessment tools including: EQ-i 2.0 Assessment, EQ-i 360 assessment, DiSC, Myers-Briggs Type Inventory, the Innovation Aware Simulation, and Experience Change Simulation.

When Joanna isn’t working, you’ll find her volunteering in the community with organizations including Habitat for Humanity, UNICEF, and the Canadian Women’s Foundation.

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Alyse Runyan

Alyse is responsible for overseeing bci’s day-to-day business operations, including client and partner relationships, and team management. She is also involved in strategic decision making and managing special projects. She holds a Masters in International Studies from Oxford Brookes University. When she is not working, Alyse is typically running after her kids or reading in a rare quiet moment.

Silvia Li

Silvia is responsible for managing all of bci’s business development inquiries and is our client’s main point of contact. Silvia also manages the entire life cycle of all of our client engagements, providing logistical support and ensuring the successful completion of our engagements. She holds a Master’s degree from Wilfrid Laurier University. When she is not working, Silvia can be found enjoying a coffee/brunch date with a friend or family member, taking care of her house plants or thrift shopping.

Create a Culture of Belonging

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