Veronica Villalobos
Director, Office of Diversity & Inclusion, U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM)
Ms. Villalobos was appointed to the Senior Executive Service in October 2010. She currently holds the position of Director, Office of Diversity and Inclusion, with the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM). In that capacity, she manages OPM’s government-wide diversity effort to develop, drive and monitor strategies and initiatives designed to create a more diverse and inclusive Federal workforce.
Prior to her current position, Ms. Villalobos was employed at the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC or Commission), as one of the agency’s first Honor Program Attorneys. From 2008 through 2010, she served as the Director of the Office of Equal Opportunity where she was responsible for EEOC’s EEO Complaint Processing and Affirmative Employment Programs. In spring of 2010, she detailed to OPM as Special Counsel to Christine Griffin, OPM Deputy Director and Chair of the Inter-Agency Work Group on Diversity (Work Group). She coordinated the Work Group’s efforts to develop a Government-wide Strategic Plan to create a Federal workplace that represents all segments of society.
In 2008, she served as the Chair of the Federal Hispanic Work Group, which was charged by the EEOC Chair with examining the Hispanic community’s systemic concerns about federal sector employment and executive development. From 2000 through 2008, Ms. Villalobos was assigned to the Office of Federal Operations where she issued decisions in cases covering the entire spectrum of legal bases of alleged discrimination, including race, color, sex, national origin, age, disability, religion, and reprisal. In 2006 and 2008, she served as a supervisory attorney and was responsible for reviewing the appellate decisions drafted by attorneys on appeals from agency and EEOC Administrative Judge decisions issued on federal sector discrimination complaints.
During a detail in 2002, Ms. Villalobos worked in the EEOC’s Office of Legal Counsel, where she litigated Equal Employment Opportunity and Merit System Protection Board cases on behalf of the Commission and provided legal advice to the Chair and Commissioners regarding complex disability cases, as well as administrative and union matters. In 2003, she detailed to the National Labor Relations Board, where she worked in both the Chairman’s Office, drafting Board decisions, and the General Counsel’s Contempt Litigation Division.
Ms. Villalobos was born and raised in El Paso, Texas. She graduated from Saint Mary’s College in South Bend, Indiana in 1996 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and Psychology. After graduation, she received the Telecommunications Fellowship with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, through which she gained hands-on experience at the non-profit Public Technology, Inc. From 1997 to 2000, she attended American University’s Washington College of Law in Washington, D.C., where she earned her law degree. Ms. Villalobos is a member of the Maryland and Michigan Bars.