The IDEA Office is pleased to announce and welcome Kevin L. Nichols as the newest member of our team!
Kevin will serve as the Senior IDEA Integration Partner to operationalize and embed inclusion, diversity, equity, and accountability within Berkeley Lab’s talent and organizational processes. He will start on February 22, 2021. This new role will partner closely with the Chief Diversity Officer, Human Resources, and Area/Division management to improve IDEA integration within personnel processes and employee experience, including data-informed solutions and interventions. Kevin will serve as a resource by lending subject matter expertise and consultation, and collaborate with our partners to improve equitable and accountable practices and processes; promote an inclusive work culture; and enhance the Lab’s ability to attract, engage, and retain a diverse workforce. He will also manage and track the progress of our IDEA strategic plan, including Labwide goals and objectives.
Kevin has over 20 years of experience managing the overall analysis, development, and implementation of DEI strategies for diverse organizations, including Fortune 500 companies such as Visa and FitBit, and nonprofit organizations. His expertise in DEI consultation and integration within organizational processes and approaches include: building diverse talent pipelines and pathways, attracting and retaining underrepresented talent, change management, career development, recruitment and hiring, mentoring, workplace climate assessments, DEI trainings and learning, diversity councils, employee resource groups, community outreach and engagement with students, and more. Kevin’s experience includes process improvement initiatives, conducting programmatic gap analyses and evaluations, and building organizational capacity and sustainability through data insights and industry best practices.
His interest in diversity and technology began at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), where he was an intern in mechanical engineering and the Equal Employment Opportunity office. He later became the Regional Public Relations Chairperson for the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), and Executive Director of the California Diversity Council and the African American Wellness Project.
Kevin studied Political Science and African American Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, and completed an Executive Program for Social Entrepreneurship at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business. He recently received the Alliance for Inclusive Artificial Intelligence (AIAI) certificate for Inclusive Data Science from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business.
