Washington, D.C. – Today, the U.S. Chief Diversity Officers Executive Council (CDOEC) marks one year since its inaugural interagency meeting to advance the national strategy for diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) across the federal government. The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) convened the Council to help advance the federal government as a model of excellence for DEIA by strengthening the government’s ability to recruit, hire, develop, promote, and retain our nation’s talent. 

“Chief Diversity Officers are key voices across the federal government,” OPM Director Kiran Ahuja said. “They advance equity, support employees, and ensure our workforce reflects the wide variety of talent and lived experience across the nation. OPM is committed to supporting CDOs and working together to build a stronger federal workforce to serve the American people.”  

“I am thrilled to honor the CDO community with the one-year anniversary of the Chief Diversity Officers Executive Council because it is one part of the larger strategy to build sustainability for DEIA for generations to come,” said Janice Underwood, Director of OPM’s Office of DEIA and Governmentwide Chief Diversity Officer. “Like all diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility work, it takes time to engrain these practices within agencies, but the result is a government that is far more effective and responsive to what Americans need every day.” 

Since the Council’s inaugural interagency meeting, OPM worked with partnering agencies to accomplish the following:  

• The CDOEC charter establishes the Chief Diversity Officers Executive Council as: 1) a coordinated effort to embed DEIA principles across the federal government in accordance with the merit system principles, and 2) to build subject matter expertise within executive branch agencies at the senior level in support of achieving mission critical outcomes for management and budgetary concerns. 
• Established the CDOEC webpage. 
• Established a forum to implement and sustain a national strategy for DEIA across the federal government and position the federal government as a model for DEIA. 
• Established four Working Groups: Standards; Policy; Data; and Professional Learning, Training and Outreach. Each group is working on specific deliverables for the federal DEIA community. For example, the Standards Working Group is in the process of drafting a standard CDO Position Description. 
• Collaborated over the past year with the CHCO Council and many other federal councils to advance a long-term partnership and sustainability for DEIA. 
• Agency Chief Diversity Officers presented on DEIA promising practices across federal agencies at the quarterly CDOEC meetings. 

Background on the Chief Diversity Officers Executive Council 

The Chief Diversity Officers Executive Council was established as a coordinated effort to embed DEIA principles across the federal government to advance merit system principles and build governmentwide subject matter expertise in support of achieving mission critical outcomes for management and budgetary concerns. Executive Order 14035, issued on June 25, 2021, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility in the Federal Workforce, set forth the authorities supporting development of this Council. 

The Council Leadership consists of: 

• Kiran Ahuja, OPM Director; CDOEC Chairperson 
• Charlotte A. Burrows, Chair, EEOC; CDOEC Vice Chairperson 
• Jason Miller, OMB Deputy Director for Management; CDOEC Vice Chairperson 
• Janice Underwood, Director, OPM Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility; Government-wide Chief Diversity Officer 

In addition to the Council Leadership, permanent members include a chief diversity officer or equivalent executive across all CFO Act agencies and membership from the Small Agency Council. Other members include representatives from the White House and Intelligence community. See the full list of agencies in the CDOEC charter, and watch the video featuring the Council Leadership.