Janet Emerson Bashen is an American entrepreneur, business consultant, and software inventor who is best known for patenting a web-based equal employment opportunity (EEO) software application to assist with EEO investigations and claims tracking. As a result of her work with EEO and diversity and inclusion, Bashen is regarded as a social justice advocate.

As a child growing up in the segregated South in the 1960s, Bashen recalls having many questions about race that were left unanswered. “As a young adult, I realized that questioning the racial status quo in Alabama then was a futile endeavor for most older Black folks. But our collective racial condition sparked a curiosity within me that led to a life-long quest to better understand our country’s history and struggle with racial issues,” she quotes in her biography.

 In September 1994, Emerson built her business, Bashen Corporation, from the ground up. With a commitment to succeed, Bashen found success servicing many clients, which led to the design of her case management software, Linkline. Since its inception, Bashen has developed additional tools to bolster and support diversity in the workplace.

Dr. Bashen’s educational background includes a degree in legal studies and government from the University of Houston, postgraduate studies at the University of Texas at Austin, McCombs School of Business, and Rice University’s Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Administration. Dr. Bashen is also a graduate of Harvard University’s “Women and Power: Leadership in a New World” and is a graduate of Tulane Law School with a Master of Jurisprudence in Labor and Employment Law.