Bobby Jefferson to Lead Global Diversity, Equity, Engagement, and Inclusion Function

December 06, 2021

Bobby Jefferson has been named DAI’s Global Head of Diversity, Equity, Engagement, and Inclusion (DEEI). Jefferson was previously Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for DAI Global Health, where he helped establish DAI’s successful digital and global health teams.

“Bobby is steeped in the issues of racial and social justice,” said Sarah Helmstadter, DAI’s Senior Vice President, Global Workforce, in announcing the appointment. “He has reflected on those issues for decades as a professional in the global development industry and beyond, and over the past 18 months in particular he has lent his insights to DAI’s Racial and Social Justice Initiative (RSJI), serving on the RSJI Steering Committee since its inception.”

In 2020, Jefferson joined the Board of Directors of the Society for International Development-Washington, D.C. Chapter, a position to which he was re-elected in 2021. As a member of SID-Washington’s Executive Committee, he has been instrumental in shaping the organization’s strategic thinking on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI): chairing the DEI Committee; establishing the Race, Ethnicity, and Diversity Workgroup; and setting in motion the DEI Strategic Plan. Jefferson is also co-chair of the Council of International Development Companies’ new DEI Committee and participates in British Expertise International’s Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion Working Group.

“Over the past year-and-half there has been a great deal of work by DAI’s affinity groups, RSJI team, management, and the Board,” said Jefferson. “It’s important that our employee-owned company lives up to the commitment of fairness and inclusion embedded in its values. I’m looking forward to building on what we have learned so that DEEI is woven into the fabric of DAI.”

Before joining the firm in 2016, Jefferson served as Vice President and Director of the Center for Development Informatics at Palladium, where he built a practice focused on ICT for global health and adjacent sectors, leading a staff of 120 in 10 countries.

He serves as a board member and advisor for enterprises including THINKMD, ClickMedix, DataElevates, Covelocity.Health, SimPrints, and the Mentor Capital Network, and he mentors diverse entrepreneurs and their startups.