At MITRE, we know that solving problems for a safer world starts and ends with people-our talent, our communities, and our worldwide impact. Today, more than ever, it’s crucial for companies to integrate and scale sustainability along with incorporating inclusion, diversity, and equity principles.
That’s why I’m proud to accept my newly expanded role as Vice President, Diversity and Chief Sustainability Officer. And I’m excited to use my personal passion and professional experience in improving the environmental, social, and economic well-being in the communities where we work, live, and serve.
The Work of Inclusivity and Sustainability
At MITRE, our integrated sustainability framework will center equity and fairness across our environmental, social, and governance (ESG) priorities. As we continue to evolve our I&D journey, good corporate governance will play a key role in delivering value to each of our stakeholders. Last year, we invested in assessing our inventory on greenhouse gas emissions, consolidated waste pilots, and began to monitor our overall sustainability profile.
We want to continue to be a responsible entity of society, working collaboratively in meeting the needs of our stakeholders without compromising the needs of future generations. Sustainability for us is about interconnectedness and intersectional work; it requires time, patience, openness, kindness, and a commitment to learning and ongoing change. This is no different than what is required for inclusion and diversity to be fully integrated in our processes, policies, and practices in our organizations.
MITRE has always prioritized social stewardship for the public good. We have formally designated sustainability as a corporate strategic initiative, which is an important step toward ensuring a visible and sustained focus on our behaviors, our actions, how we treat one another every day, and the health of our planet. Cultivating an inclusive work environment helps move us toward our goals of serving our employees, our customers, our partners, and our world.
One example? MITRE’s partnership with MassChallenge, in which our two organizations developed a new mentorship program for accelerating growth in startups with Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) founders. The goal was lowering systemic barriers of entry for the next generation of innovators through expanded government-market knowledge, key resources, and connections to potential investors and end-users.
And we go deeper. At MITRE, we’re also doing the work to address the largest disparities between Black and white children in their fourth- and eighth-grade standardized test scores-piloting a 10-year project to mitigate these disparities and ensure brighter beginnings for our world’s future changemakers. Our social innovation function is leading these endeavors, which began with our funded Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) Innovation Initiative research project to highlight teaching and research capacities, and surrounding K-12 communities within each state of the 15 ABET-accredited HBCU schools of engineering.
We know from our up-and-coming talent that the emerging workforce puts high value on diversity and sustainability as a point of differentiation when choosing where to work. Likewise, proving our commitment to a culture of innovation that embraces diversity, inclusion, and flexibility helps us retain and further develop the top talent we already have.
Inspiration and Aspirations
From an early age, and throughout my personal and professional life, I’ve been passionate about immersing myself in different cultures and exposure to different places and people. I honor my natural curiosity to learn and grow.
Above all, I’m determined to look at all our behaviors-personally, as a company, and as a worldwide community-and
how they can help us leave the world in a better place than we found it. To me, it comes down to knowing and doing what’s right and good. My moral compass is aligned to what I do, and it does not get any better than that.
