Dr. Reese is a clinical psychologist and the Vice President for Institutional Equity at Duke University and Duke University Health System (1996 – present).  He has responsibility for diversity/inclusion, affirmative action/equal opportunity, and harassment/discrimination prevention and complaint handling for faculty and staff on the undergraduate campus, all graduate and professional schools, and a health system comprised of three hospitals and outpatient clinics.  He is adjunct faculty in the departments of Community & Family Medicine, and Psychology & Neuroscience. 

Dr. Reese has served as the Associate Director of the Fifth Avenue Center for Counseling & Psychotherapy in New York City, the founder and Director of the Institute for the Study of Culture & Ethnicity, and the Ombudsperson for the Rockefeller Foundation.

His areas of specialization are implicit bias, race relations, diversity/inclusion training, conflict resolution and cross-cultural communication. He has more than 45 years experience in the field of race relations and diversity and is a highly sought after national speaker, workshop facilitator and consultant to higher education and the corporate environment.

He has represented both the International Council of Psychologists and the World Federation for Mental Health (non-governmental organizations) at the United Nations. Dr. Reese is the immediate past president of the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education (NADOHE) and served on its founding board.  In addition, he serves on the editorial advisory board of the journal Liberal Education, and is a reviewer for the Journal of Diversity in Higher Education.

In September of 2016, The North Carolina Triangle Business Journal awarded Dr. Reese, The Diversity Lifetime Achievement Award, in recognition of almost a half century of engagement and leadership in the area of race relations and diversity.