The Inclusion, Diversity, Equity & Accountability (IDEA) Office is part of the Laboratory Directorate, reporting to Director Witherell. Its mission is to promote, advance, integrate, and operationalize inclusion, diversity, equity, and accountability (IDEA) approaches and best practices within all levels of the organization.
In partnership with senior leaders, the IDEA Office is responsible for guiding Berkeley Lab to develop, execute, and lead an IDEA strategy and program that is embedded in Berkeley Lab’s culture and aligns with the Lab’s research mission. These efforts are organized under three IDEA pillars: workforce (employee experience and talent life cycle); workplace (policies, practices, and procedures); and community (external partnerships).
The IDEA Office manages and supports and IDEA Senior Leadership Council, IDEA Chairs Council, Employee Resource Groups, and IDEA Working Groups. It also provides consultation to local Areas and Divisions on their IDEA-related goals and activities. The IDEA Office supports institutional efforts to prevent harassment, discrimination, and retaliation; and partners closely with Human Resources to foster the recruitment, retention, and development of exceptional and diverse scientific, engineering, and operational talent.
We can be reached at: IDEA@lbl.gov
Aditi Chakravarty
Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer
Aditi Chakravarty serves as Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Officer for Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Aditi is a social scientist who specializes in adult development, diversity, equity, & inclusion (DEI) strategy & research, and change management.
Previously, Aditi served as Berkeley Lab’s Head of Learning & Organizational Development, conceiving of and leading a number of initiatives and programs to advance the institution’s IDEA goals. Prior to joining the Lab, she served as a culture and DEI researcher and consultant to a wide range of institutions for over a decade. She has her master’s in organizational psychology from Harvard University, and has served as an Organizational Behavior researcher at the Harvard Business School and Harvard Learning Innovations Laboratory.
Janie Pinterits
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Program Manager
E. Janie Pinterits, Ph.D., Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DEI) Program Manager: Dr. Pinterits promotes solutions for inclusive leadership and belonging in organizations. As the former Diversity Officer, former Assistant Provost, and Associate Professor at Alliant University’s California School of Professional Psychology, she oversaw all DEI committees across six campuses. She supported 80+ events and projects per year for affinity groups related to: Accessibility, African-American, Allies, Asian/Pacific Islander, Indigenous Peoples, Latinx, Pride/LGBTQ, Veterans, Women, and more.
Dr. Pinterits has conducted 100+ engaging workshops and presentations related to diversity, equity, and inclusion, including implicit bias and microaggressions. She has been awarded grants to support pipeline programs for underrepresented students in behavioral science careers. Her publications related to DEI have appeared in The Journal of Counseling Psychology, Counselor Education and Supervision, PsycCRITIQUES, and The Oxford Handbook of Social Class in Counseling. She earned the American Psychological Association’s (APA) Society of Counseling Psychology Section on Ethnic and Racial Diversity’s 2013 Outstanding Service to Diverse/Underserved Communities award. She earned her Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from UC Santa Barbara. An avid bicyclist, she is a recipient of East Bay Bike Coalition’s Bicycle Commuter of the Year award.
Kevin Nichols
Senior IDEA Integration Partner
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.
Kelly Perce
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Program Manager
Kelly comes to the DEI office with seven years of experience working as an administrator with the Energy Analysis & Environmental Impacts Division in the Energy Technologies Area. She has extensive experience managing programs, projects, operations and events at the group, division and area levels.
Prior to LBL, Kelly worked at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business and College of Natural Resources as well as the non-profit Trust for Public Land in San Francisco. She also spent 15 years working in the outdoor travel industry with Backroads, a Berkeley-based company that offers bicycling and hiking vacations around the world. Among her many roles at Backroads, she was a professional trip leader managing regional operations and trip logistics throughout Europe as well as acting as an interpreter, naturalist and guide for groups of up to 26 people.
She earned her undergraduate degree in French Literature from Colgate University in New York and has a Masters in Counseling Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco. Her favorite place to be is outside hiking, biking, kayaking, cross-country skiing and occasionally snowshoeing.
