Dawn Gipson is Senior Director of Culture Activation for Centene Corporation, where she leads enterprise efforts to strengthen organizational culture through employee engagement, leadership development, recognition, strategic communications, and culture transformation initiatives. She is responsible for creating programs and experiences that help employees feel connected, supported, and empowered to do their best work.
Prior to joining Centene, Dawn spent 19 years at FleishmanHillard, where she led communications, event strategy, and diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. As Diversity and Inclusion Champion for the firm’s Global Headquarters, she helped launch inclusive workplace programs, a high school mentoring initiative, and the office’s first LGBTQ+ employee resource group. In recognition of her contributions to business and community leadership, she was named a recipient of the St. Louis Business Journal’s Diverse Business Leaders Award in 2018.
An active civic and community leader, Dawn serves as President of St. Louis Forum, Chair of the St. Louis Delta Foundation, and is a member of the St. Louis Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Her volunteer leadership focuses on advancing education, mentorship, leadership development, and opportunities that strengthen the St. Louis community.
A certified yoga instructor since 2016, Dawn is also passionate about wellness and mindfulness and works to make those practices more accessible to underrepresented communities.
Born and raised in St. Louis, Dawn earned a Bachelor of Journalism degree from the University of Missouri–Columbia and a Master of Fine Arts in Graphic Communications from the University of Illinois Chicago.
