Rashida Ricks
Vice President of Strategic Engagement and Business Operations, CGI Federal
Under Rashida Ricks’ leadership, CGI launched a diversity, equity, and inclusion framework to foster more equitable and inclusive environments, moving the business forward through four dimensions ⏤ culture, careers, clients and community. This includes evolving the employee experience by conducting cultural assessments, empowering employee resource groups and partnering with diverse suppliers, academia and nonprofit organizations to achieve CGI’s business goals.
In 2023, CGI’s DEI team spearheaded a partnership with Melwood to create their first neuroinclusive STEM camp for children with and without disabilities ⏤ STEM Week at Melwood’s Camp Accomplish. In collaboration with many volunteers, CGI’s Disability & Neurodiversity Advocates employee resource group and the STEM@CGI program taught campers how to build and test a submersible remotely operated vehicle and engage as citizen scientists in protecting the environment.
CGI continues to expand college and university partnerships, including Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority-Serving Institutions, and we strive through those partnerships to develop a diverse and empowered future workforce. This past year, Ricks led a new internship program in partnership with the Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority and Central State University in Ohio. Participating CSU students received hands-on experience working alongside industry leaders on a variety of projects related to affordable housing. The internship program, called The Collaborative, was designed as an immersive experience, allowing students to live and work in the community they served.
Why Watch
With a career that spans over 20 years, Ricks has consistently demonstrated outstanding business acumen, intentionally approaching all aspects of business with a DEI lens. She is incorporating that approach as she brings together several related initiatives, including DEI, business intelligence, operations and environmental, social, governance programs, under the new strategic engagement and business operations team ⏤ accelerating the delivery of CGI’s business goals through data-driven insights, inclusive communications and organizational change management best practices.
As an advocate and mentor, Ricks serves on the board of directors for Community Transformation Partners, a non-profit focusing on public health, holistic wellness and economic mobility in marginalized communities. She also serves on the Diverse by Design Advisory Board for Per Scholas, an organization committed to advancing economic equity for women and people of color through offering tuition-free IT training and connecting skilled talent to leading businesses.