A prominent diversity, equity, and inclusion nonprofit declared bankruptcy this month after its board accused its founder and top employees of stealing millions of dollars, a Daily Wire investigation found. Bill Clinton and Oprah Winfrey are set to keynote a conference run by the alleged thief, apparently through his for-profit firm, next month.
The National Diversity Council filed for bankruptcy on March 17 after its board said in a lawsuit that its founder R. Dennis Kennedy “improperly paid himself millions of dollars from NDC’s donor funds.” The suit said Kennedy “paid himself a grossly excessive salary” while using the nonprofit as a front for his for-profit diversity consulting business called Diversity & Leadership Inc (D&L).
The group’s 2020 IRS disclosure said Kennedy was paid $450,000 for 10 hours of work per week. In 2022, at the height of corporations’ DEI hype, Kennedy, chief executive officer Ángeles Valenciano, and chief financial officer Jason deGroot also “unilaterally decided that they were owed almost $3 million in ‘back pay,’ and then paid themselves more than $1 million of donor funds,” the lawsuit said.
As board members became suspicious and determined that there was no basis for the payments, Kennedy systematically moved the nonprofit’s trademarks and web domains into his own name, and essentially created a fake organization with the same name that would trick people into paying him directly, the suit indicated.
“Kennedy, Valenciano, and deGroot conspired to protect their scheme and ill-gotten gains by attempting to destroy NDC and move its resources and partnerships to another organization where they could continue exploiting donors’ funds and the organization’s resources with minimal oversight,” it said.
The suit said the trio’s conduct “gives rise to criminal liability…at a minimum, a third degree felony.”
NationalDiversityCouncil.org now leads to a website of an organization that purports to be the National Diversity Council, listing Kennedy as its founder and no board. Dawn Hooper, an accountant who is managing the bankruptcy for NDC’s board, told The Daily Wire that the site is “not operated by the National Diversity Council.”
In addition to the for-profit D&L Inc., Kennedy ran two Texas-based nonprofits, the Texas Diversity Council and the California Diversity Council, which were used to double-dip on salaries for the trio and siphon off consulting revenue from NDC, while using NDC staff and resources for all the groups’ expenses, the lawsuit said.
According to tax disclosures, in 2021 Kennedy was paid $787,000 in salary by the national nonprofit and $351,113 from the Texas one; Valenciano was paid $460,000 from NDC and $133,000 from Texas; and deGroot was paid $460,000 from national and $123,000 from Texas. The IRS filings claim Valenciano and deGroot worked 40 hours a week for the Texas nonprofit while also working 35 hours a week for the national nonprofit. They also claim Kennedy worked 40 hours a week for the Texas nonprofit, which would leave little time for his many for-profit ventures or the national nonprofit.
“Kennedy, along with his co-defendants, used NDC resources, such as their own time and the time of NDC staff, to assist with non-NDC organizations in order to benefit Kennedy’s other ventures and, ultimately, Kennedy himself,” the suit said.
Dwayne L. Mason, a lawyer for Kennedy, did not return a request for comment.
The imposter NDC website advertises a conference in Los Angeles next month from April 7-10, which it says will feature Bill Clinton and Oprah Winfrey. The website is vague about who is actually running the conference; on one page there is a passing reference to this year’s conference being “Hosted by Diversity First Consortium.” A web page for Diversity First Consortium says Kennedy and deGroot are on its staff. A company called DiversityFirst was incorporated by Kennedy in Texas in 2005, but its charter was revoked in February 2024 for failure to pay taxes.
A tax form provided to help attendees pay for conference tickets indicates that the payment would go to D&L Inc. According to Texas business filings, D&L Inc.’s corporate registration was revoked in March 2023 for failure to pay taxes, but was reinstated two months later.
The fake NDC website says “The National Diversity & Leadership Conference celebrates its 25th year as one of the largest and most prestigious events dedicated to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace and beyond. This year’s conference will feature an inspiring keynote address by Oprah Winfrey.” The conference site says that Bill Clinton, former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julian Castro, and left-wing professor Cornel West will also keynote. Conference-goers can meet them for $4,999.
In 2024, in what was advertised as the conference’s 21st year, Hillary Clinton, Magic Johnson, Castro, and Eric Holder spoke. For $8,900, participants could “take photos with each keynote speaker listed on the Speakers page except for Hillary Clinton.”
For years, people were led to believe that the elaborate conference was part of NDC’s charity work, not Kennedy’s for-profit business. In 2020, a press release said “The National Diversity Council will host the 2020 National Diversity and Leadership Conference virtually on October 27-28, 2020, and November 4-5,2020.” A video documenting the 15th annual National Diversity & Leadership conference in 2019, showing Barack Obama as its keynote speaker, had the NDC logo, introduced Kennedy with his NDC affiliation, and made no mention of any other group.
The lawsuit said “at some point during his relationship with NDC, Kennedy covertly began a scheme to utilize NDC’s trademarks, reputation, and contacts to establish and build separate for-profit and non-profit organizations designed to compete with NDC and personally benefit Kennedy—all while being compensated by NDC.”
In 2021 and 2022, Kennedy filed for 350 trademarks with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, registering NDC’s name, initials, and key program names such as the National Diversity Awards to himself personally. In some cases, Kennedy allegedly waited for notification that the NDC’s trademarks were expiring, and instead of renewing them for the organization, he re-trademarked them in his own name without telling the board. To prove that he personally owned the phrase “National Diversity Council,” Kennedy sent USPTO a screenshot of NDC’s website, which said at the top, “National Diversity Council (NDC) is a non-partisan 501-C3 organization.”
Kennedy and deGroot bought thousands of domain names with NDC credit cards, but put them in Kennedy’s personal control. Kennedy allegedly created new websites with the same names and branding, seemingly tricking major corporations into thinking they were supporting a longstanding nonprofit instead of an imposter. Kennedy is “now directly competing with NDC for conference participants and sponsors; and, upon information and belief, is using information and materials that he misappropriated from NDC to do so,” the suit said.
In December 2023, a board member requested that they return the supposed “back pay,” saying there was never anything in NDC’s financial books justifying it. “Unbeknownst to NDC at the time, this email prompted Kennedy, deGroot, and Valenciano to conspire about ways to destroy NDC and/or remove its Board members who were seeking to exercise proper and necessary oversight over Defendants’ recent misconduct (i.e., self-dealing),” the lawsuit said.
Kennedy, who was chairman of the board, told deGroot and Valenciano to ignore the board, and deGroot began working to destroy NDC’s revenue by canceling events and causing corporate sponsors not to renew, according to emails presented in the lawsuit.
“Any deliberate attempt to suspend NDC’s partnership renewals would be detrimental for two reasons: (a) it would potentially force Board Members to roll off because their board positions are contingent upon their affiliate organizations having a partnership with NDC, leaving NDC without a governing board; and (b) it would cut off a key revenue stream for NDC,” the suit said.
On January 13, 2023, Valenciano asked a NDC employee to copy all of its documents so they could be used by another organization, according to the lawsuit, leading the employee to write that “I do not feel comfortable doing so.” Four days later, Kennedy wrote an email to the other two plotting a coup, saying he would “remove board from website & Create a New Board,” and “Drop the insurance for the Board; cancel today.”
On January 22, 2023, the board voted to suspend the trio with pay, pending an investigation. When the board instructed its IT person, Jason Lee, to lock Kennedy out, Lee — who is now listed as working for Kennedy’s for-profit firm — instead helped Kennedy expropriate NDC’s documents and emails, according to the suit, which named Lee as a defendant. Valenciano and deGroot were supposed to be interviewed as part of the investigation on February 1, 2023, but the trio resigned that day instead. Shortly before resigning, deGroot transferred $200,000 to the Texas nonprofit, the suit said.
A Daily Wire review found that Kennedy is now operating a slew of purported diversity organizations, all of which appear to secretly be fronts for his for-profit firm, such as:
- The Racial Justice Institute, which says it is holding the National Conference on Racial & Social Justice on April 10 at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in Los Angeles
- The National Belonging Institute, which says it is holding the Belonging Institute Conference at the same time
- The Inclusion Lab, which sells an “Inclusive Leadership Certification” for $2,499
- The National ESG Council, which sells certifications for $999
- The Center for Diversity Certification
- The Global Diversity Council
- The National Women’s Consortium
- The Alabama Diversity Council
The groups feature near-identical websites with photos of their “founder,” Kennedy, sharing the stage with figures like Barack Obama. They all sell paid training, consulting, or certifications, and make no mention of being affiliated with any company. The sites are largely devoid of substance, instead featuring boilerplate content and pablum such as a quote from Kennedy saying “If I could inspire a movement, it would definitely be providing more opportunities for youth in inner cities to reach their full potential, while focusing on education reform.”
In January 2025, the Texas Diversity Council changed its name to the Texas Leadership Consortium, according to a state business form filed by deGroot. Its website says it currently employs Kennedy, deGroot, and Valenciano.
Valenciano did not return a request for comment. A bio says before she “shattered glass ceilings when she assumed the position of Chief Executive Officer at the National Diversity Council (NDC), becoming the first woman to ever hold this position,” she was “the director of diversity and inclusion for 84 Lumber Company,” where she ensured that the lumberyard was “underpinned by a rich tapestry of inclusivity.”
NDC’s finances were further strained by a lawsuit in which Kennedy a decade ago accused a contractor of, ironically, conducting a similar scheme to unlawfully enrich herself using DEI trainings.
The group racked up significant legal fees going after Carmen Michelle Carter, but never recovered any money. Carter, while a full-time professor at Strayer University, took a job as a Chief Talent & Diversity Officer for NDC, but arranged for a client, agriculture company Archer Daniel Midlands, to pay the $147,000 it spent on diversity consulting — including $3,375-a-day “training” — to her personally instead. Carter declared bankruptcy to try to get out of a judgment, but a judge ruled in 2018 that it was not dischargeable because she repeatedly perjured herself.
The lawsuit by NDC against its executives, which is still ongoing, was filed in 2023 but has not been previously reported. This month’s bankruptcy filing was first spotted by CourtWatch.
Kennedy, Valenciano, and DeGroot have sued the national nonprofit demanding backpay, and also sued its insurer for refusing to cover their legal fees. A judge agreed that NDC’s insurer should not have to pay to cover executives that NDC itself alleges engaged in “fraudulent and willful misconduct… including misappropriation of donor funds and self-enrichment.”
