Centric Consulting, an international business and technology consulting firm, recently announced Jodi Merriday has joined the company as the new leader of its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) program. The move signifies Centric’s ongoing commitment to elevating its DEI program at a time when many companies are scaling back.
“My mission at Centric is to embed DEI companywide. I am committed to leading Centric through our DEI journey as it matures and accomplishes its objectives,” said Merriday, who spent the last 10 years providing more than a hundred universities, corporations, and school districts with DEI, Title IX and multicultural curricular content, culture and climate auditing, strategic plans, and curated facilitations. Merriday earned her master’s degree in development management from the London School of Economics and Political Science and her Ph.D. from Temple University, giving her a global lens on DEI.
Fortunately, Centric had already established a strong foundation before Jodi arrived with the establishment of Centric Together, an initiative aimed at deliberately and boldly becoming more diverse and inclusive.
“Centric Together has become our DEI engagement model. It creates space for awareness, understanding and empathy through the exploration of DEI concepts at work and in life,” said Jen Barnes, Vice President of Culture, DEI, and Engagement at Centric Consulting. “However, to meaningfully move the employee experience needle for all team members at Centric, we need to go beyond the concept of ‘creating space.’ We need to create DEI competencies, capabilities, processes, and standards at every level of Centric.”
Since joining Centric, Merriday has been working alongside Centric’s HR team to put metrics around the company’s DEI objectives.
“We want to broaden our spheres of influence, elevate the Centric brand to underrepresented groups and underserved communities, and increase our diversity-focused recruiting and internship strategies,” Merriday said.
Merriday will be pivotal in continuing Centric’s commitment to developing new and diverse talent streams, including adding value to current programs. For example, Centric continues to partner with InRoads, a nonprofit that provides pathways to careers for diverse college students, to build relationships between promising interns and Centric employees.
Merriday acknowledges that truly embedding DEI across the company requires a careful balance of business imperatives and the conviction that DEI is simply “the right thing to do.” The challenge for DEI leaders like Merriday is to demonstrate that DEI is not a reactive move but an ongoing commitment to both the business and the people who sustain it.
“The compelling thing about DEI is that, at Centric, it is a business imperative on multiple levels. We know that truly diverse companies are more innovative, more effective, and more sustainable than those that are not. Beyond this, Centric’s culture and our commitment to providing an unmatched experience for our employees require us to create an environment that is diverse, inclusive and equitable at its core. Our clients are asking for it, and our employees deserve it,” added Barnes. “We’re so excited to have Jodi part of our Centric team to help lead us through our journey.”
Explore HRtech News for the latest Tech Trends in Human Resources Technology.
