GSSEM's Tough Enough Breakfast

Telva McGruder
Executive Director of Global Body Manufacturing Engineering, General Motors

As the Executive Director of Global Body Manufacturing Engineering at General Motors, Telva leads the next phase of transformation toward an increasingly automated and digital manufacturing approach for body and paint systems at General Motors. The team embraces technology focused on predictive analytics to run safely, sustainably, and efficiently while ensuring operational excellence and quality for the global portfolio.

Previously, Telva was the Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer, where she championed the progress toward a high-performing, inclusive culture while shepherding global impact in diversity. The team fostered partnerships and initiatives that promoted equity inside and outside of the company.

Her passions for culture and sustainable solutions for people and processes fueled notable impacts while leading facility engineering, facility management, and energy strategy in the GM Sustainable Workplaces organization. Earlier in her career, Telva held positions of increasing responsibility and influence within manufacturing engineering and at several manufacturing locations, where she motivated teams to rethink the possible in project execution, maintenance, quality, operations, and labor negotiations. Telva earned her BS and MS degrees in electrical engineering from Purdue University.

Along with her professional accomplishments, Telva is dedicated to teaching and leading others inside and outside of General Motors. Telva is a member of the Executive Leadership Council, a member of the Catalyst Advisory Board, and a member of the Inforum Board of Directors.

Telva is a lifelong Girl Scout. She is currently a member of the Board of Directors for Girl Scouts of the USA. She served as a board member (2016–2018) and Chair of the Board of Directors of Girl Scouts of Southeastern Michigan from 2018–2023.

The Honorable Megan Cavanagh
Michigan Supreme Court Justice

Justice Megan Cavanagh is a lifelong Michigander who grew up in East Lansing and lives in metro Detroit. She graduated from the University of Michigan College of Engineering and Wayne State University Law School. Before joining the Michigan Supreme Court in January of 2019, she had over fifteen years of experience as one of Michigan’s top appellate attorneys and was a shareholder at Garan Lucow Miller P.C. in Detroit.

Justice Cavanagh is the Supreme Court Liaison to Tribal Courts, Child Welfare Services, the Well-Being in the Law Task Force, the Attorney Grievance Commission, and the Judicial Tenure Commission. She also serves as the Co-Lead to the Child Protective Legal Representation Task Force and on the Attorney General's Elder Abuse Task Force.

Justice Cavanagh has served as Chair of the Appellate Practice Section of the State Bar of Michigan, as a council person for the Negligence Section of the State Bar of Michigan, as co-chair of the Michigan Bench Bar Appellate Conference Foundation, and as a member of the Michigan Attorney Grievance Commission.

Before her election to the Court, Justice Cavanagh was rated as one of Michigan's Super Lawyers. Michigan Lawyer's Weekly honored her as Lawyer of the Year in 2006 and a Woman in the Law in 2017.

Justice Cavanagh and her husband have four children.

JoAnn Chávez
Senior Vice President & Chief Legal Officer, DTE
Bio coming soon!

Khali Sweeney
Founder and CEO, Downtown Boxing Gym

Close your eyes and imagine a city undone by poverty, rapid deindustrialization, and the violence and despair that so often emerge alongside a paucity of wellbeing. Imagine generations of children navigating ways of being and knowing in a world no bigger than a few city blocks. Who will they be? Who can they be? For those coming of age in these spaces, it is common for theories of self to be prescribed rather than nurtured. DBG's approach moves to disrupt the prescription of pervasive narratives and to provide youth from underserved communities the opportunity to dream beyond their circumstances. Our mission and dedication to delivering programming that centers youth identity development stems directly from our CEO and Founder, Khali Sweeney, whose experience growing up on Detroit's east side has been thoughtfully integrated into our organizational culture and methodology.

Deprived of academic resources, support, and access to basic needs, Khali's journey to adulthood was fraught with systemically induced obstacles. These challenges were further compounded by adults whose lives and realities had been shaped through their own experiences with these systems. When adults internalize pervasive narratives and wield them as fact, they become the bleak inheritance of the children that surround them. Khali and others like him were raised to believe that imprisonment, violence, and untimely death were unavoidable realities. While other biographies of our Founder and CEO have focused on his efforts to radically transform the trajectory of his adult life, few have questioned his dedication to recognizing and cultivating those aspects of himself that were counter to pervasive narratives in his younger years. Khali's penchant for coalition-building and his thirst for generating a sense of belonging across communities long preceded adulthood. In addition to hanging up a basketball hoop in his community to create more opportunities for play, Khali also orchestrated one of the largest gang ceasefires in Detroit to ensure that other young people would feel safe enough to gather and use that hoop. There are hundreds of anecdotes like these, peppering the timeline of Khali's life. Moments in his formative years that seem stark when juxtaposed against the surface-level narratives that were so readily placed upon him.

The complexity is particularly important here, and we have worked diligently to ensure that this complexity is reflected in the way we mentor and engage our students today. Khali was always community-minded and always moving to forge connections across social barriers—long before the rest of the world took notice. Harsh environmental realities and limiting narratives merely stifled the expression of those innate instincts. That is why, at DBG, we don't see bad kids; We see kids who haven't been heard yet. When students walk through our doors, it is our responsibility as adults to engage them as whole, complex people, with thoughts, desires, dreams, and talents that subvert the identity categories and limited expectations they are labeled with in so many other spaces. It is our responsibility as adults to help them recognize the power they hold and their capacity to shape narratives for themselves. By helping students develop and strengthen invaluable social-emotional skills through mentorship, we work to ensure that the young people we serve are prepared to pursue success as they see it.

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