It is a pleasure to announce that Rachel Gilbert has been appointed as Woodard & Curran’s first Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Manager. This new position in our Human Resources department will drive Woodard & Curran’s D&I strategy, partnering with leadership to develop and implement plans, programs, and metrics that successfully attract, retain, and engage a diverse workforce, and broaden our inclusive work environment.
Rachel started her career with Woodard & Curran in 2004 and most recently served as a project manager in the firm’s Municipal and Institutional Water Infrastructure group. Her experience building her career at Woodard & Curran informs her work in D&I, offering the insight to create programs and policies that account for employees and prospective hires in various stages of their careers.
After joining Woodard & Curran’s D&I program in 2015 as a subcommittee chair, Rachel organized and led monthly D&I Employee Resource Group meetings at the company’s Andover, Massachusetts office. As a result of her leadership, CEO Doug McKeown’s appointed her as the firm’s D&I Advisory Committee Chair in 2017. She helped develop an employee engagement survey to begin measuring the success of the D&I program and led the development of a D&I business plan to ensure execution of the company’s initiatives. Many of the plan’s critical objectives have been implemented across the company and continue to improve a culture of inclusiveness for employees.
In early 2020, Doug felt that the firm could never fully realize its commitment to the D&I efforts without creating a permanent, full-time position. “Diversity & Inclusion is too important to relegate as volunteer or committee work,” he says. “In January, Rachel and I started discussing what this role would look like and it is exciting to make her new position official.”
While Rachel’s new position is official this month, her work is a continuation of her leadership in Woodard & Curran’s D&I program. She will continue her work in building and implementing the firm’s 3-year D&I strategy, elevating insights from Employee Resource Groups, and holding leadership accountable for adhering to Woodard & Curran’s high standards of inclusivity and equity.
