Vanessa is an international organization development practitioner with 25 years of experience across industries in organization effectiveness, leadership development and employee engagement. She is the inaugural Vice President of Engagement and Belonging at Children’s Aid and previously served as the inaugural Senior Director of Inclusion and Belonging at the Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute at Columbia University. Prior to this role, Vanessa led the Inclusive Leadership Practice enterprise wide at Citi. In this unique global role, she partnered with colleagues in Learning, Talent Management and Engagement to assess development needs, curate, and create fair and accessible solutions with the goal of developing impactful leaders. She also led the firm’s global flagship talent development program.
Vanessa has led and developed teams globally, created and facilitated leadership courses in North, South, Central America, Europe, Southeast Asia and North Africa. She offers thought leadership, advisory and mentorship across sectors in Spanish, French and English, and serves on several non-profit boards. She grew up in Haiti, holds a PhD ABD in Industrial and Organizational Psychology, a MS in Organization Development from the University of San Francisco, a BS in Business Administration, with specializations in Industrial Management and Human Resources Management from the University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez. She also holds several leadership certifications from Cornell, Harvard, and Cambridge.
Vanessa enjoys coaching, mentoring and sponsoring across industries, cultures and borders. Her expertise is in strategic planning, cultural transformation and change leadership.