The Central Florida Diversity Learning Series (CFDLS) is the next generation and brainchild of the Northwest Diversity Learning Series (NWDLS). Bill Hertan, founder and owner of TRI Partners, Inc. was one of the early Sponsors to the NWDLS when he was in the role of Director of Diversity for Starbucks Coffee Company. Having left Starbucks, Bill and TRI Partners eventually took over the NW Series, honoring a decade of success and building on the Series' strong foundation.

The NWDLS began when progressive Northwest employers decided in early 1998 to collaborate and sponsor a two-year Diversity Learning Series in the Seattle area. The goal was to leverage diversity education inside and outside their organizations. With the help of the Series' organizers, Cultural Diversity at Work, a journal published by The GilDeane Group, Inc., in Seattle, and The Diversity Difference, a local consulting and research firm, the first year's seminar series (1999) was launched. The first Series focused on the Foundations of Diversity Work in Organizations, some basic components of a diversity initiative. Each Series since has honed in on topics and issues of importance in the field of Diversity and Inclusion. In 2012 the NWDLS enters its fourteenth year of regional collaboration just as the CFDLS is poised to begin its first successful year.

This bimonthly, morning seminar series will become a popular diversity education resource in the Central Florida area. Every other month, managers and employees from many companies and organizations will come together for a 3.5-hour session to learn about diversity and inclusion in the organizational environment. Each annual Series focuses on a theme — and the six sessions during the year explore that theme.