In March, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) made a key appointment in its Office of Minority and Women Inclusion (OMWI), FHFA announced in a release.
Debra Chew joined FHFA in September 2020 to lead the Office of Equal Opportunity and Fairness (OEOF) and became deputy director of the OMWI in March.
The OEOF was created in January 2020 to elevate the importance of Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO), alternative dispute resolution and anti-harassment functions within FHFA and reaffirm FHFA’s commitment to a workplace free of harassment and discrimination.
OMWI, the release stated, oversees all diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility activities for the agency in management, employment and business activities as well as diversity, equity, and inclusion regulation and supervision of FHFA’s regulated entities, both the Enterprises (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) and the Federal Home Loan Banks (FHLBanks).
Chew, a 25-year veteran practitioner in EEO, diversity, and civil rights, came to FHFA from the National Institutes of Health where she served as the director for the Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion since 2012.
Prior to NIH, Chew served as the chief human capital officer for the Internal Revenue Service and led a staff of 1,600 human capital professionals across the country. She held a similar diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility-focused leadership position at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Prior to FDA, she served as a senior staff attorney at the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the General Counsel, Business and Administrative Law Division where she litigated EEO complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and personnel litigation before the Merit Systems Protections Board.
While at the FDA, Chew was awarded the “Health and Human Services” Award for excellence in management, the highest award for leadership at the department. She is a licensed attorney who practiced in the areas of employment discrimination and medical malpractice defense both for governmental and private entities.