APRIL 2015 31 different time zones. So sometimes I’m making diversity- and inclusion-related presentations early in the morning or late at night,” Vaidya said. Such employee efforts when it comes to diversity are especially valuable, Ford said. “When our employees are seen, heard, valued and respected in all their diversity, they are much more engaged at work,” Ford said. “That engagement translates to better ideas and better solutions for our customers, which enables innovation and positions us for greater success in the marketplace.” Hicks, for example, volunteered to be the first president of the Puget Sound chapter of the Boeing Veterans Employees Association Affinity Group (now Business Resource Group— renamed to strengthen focus on the business results the groups already help drive), when the chapter was formed in 2013. Today, that chapter is Boeing’s largest, with more than 700 members. But Hicks said it’s less about the size of the membership and more about developing one-on-one connections with veterans, both inside and outside Boeing. Hicks, along with Traci Fuller, diversity officer in the Puget Sound area, gathered a team of Boeing employees who are veterans to educate employees about veterans issues, such as posttraumatic stress disorder, and to serve veterans in the community, through a mentoring program and by supporting groups such as Wounded Warrior and Hire America’s Heroes. “Chili really pushed us to go beyond setting up a booth at a veterans career day,” Fuller said. “He inspired us to get ‘boots on the ground’ and put our people in front of veterans as much as possible.” That’s not unlike the work done by Vaidya that is helping Boeing become even more inclusive and diverse—but her boots are virtual. n len.vraniak@boeing.com Photo: Boeing employees Curtis Nimmons, from left, Charlie Conley, Chili Hicks and Dana Siegel are also military veterans who help others transition from the military to the civilian workforce. BOEING
Frontiers April 2015 Issue
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