Sharon Wong
Sharon M. Wong was selected as the Executive Director for Strategic Recruitment, Diversity & Inclusion for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in November 2016. In this capacity, she leads strategic recruitment, and diversity and inclusion management for the third largest Department in the Federal government, covering nearly 200,000 employees located throughout the country and around the world. Prior to this role, Sharon served as the Deputy Director (and Acting Director) for OPM’s Office of Diversity & Inclusion (ODI), the office that leads and manages the government-wide diversity and inclusion effort. As the Deputy Director for ODI, she was responsible for D&I policy initiatives, coordinating with the 60+ Federal agencies that submitted D&I Strategic Plans to provide technical assistance on implementing D&I strategies and goals, creating and sustaining D&I Councils and Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), and developing and executing the Diversity & Inclusion Dialogue Program to improve the Inclusion Quotient (New IQ) of agencies. She also coordinated with the National Affinity Groups to build strategic relationships for outreach and collaboration, and improve the representation of diverse communities. Ms. Wong came to OPM in September 2011, after serving as the D&I Officer at NASA/GSFC, where she led the D&I efforts since the program inception in 2000, leaving NASA/GSFC with a #2 ranking for Diversity (out of 220+ agencies) in the Best Places to Work in Government, as well as a detail to NASA HQ to standup the NASA D&I program. Her work experiences include 15 years as a Lead Software Integration and Test Engineer at NASA, and in Strategic Planning and Outreach at NASA HQ. Ms. Wong is returning as the National President for OCA, a national Asian Pacific American (APA) social justice and civil rights advocacy organization for which she was National President in 2013 – 2014; she’s a past Chair of the Asian American Government Executives Network (AAGEN), an organization of federal APA executives; and a Past President of the FAPAC. Ms. Wong served on the Maryland Commission for Women, and recently on the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Board of Governors. She is a lifetime member of Blacks in Government (BIG) and the Federally Employed Women (FEW) Ms. Wong has received the NASA/KSC Equal Opportunity Award, the Astronaut Silver Snoopy Award, and an Outstanding Leadership Award from NASA/GSFC. She has also been recognized by external organizations such as AAGEN with the Stanley Suyat Memorial Leadership Award, and with the 2016 Community Catalyst Award by the National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance (NQAPIA), and was inducted into the Hall of Honor at Wheeling Jesuit University in 2017. She has a B.S. in Physics, a M.S. in Engineering Systems Analysis from the University of Central Florida (UCF), and a Diversity Management Certificate from Cornell University.
