BPIAChats Speaker Series: Integrating Women into Botswana's Defense Force Sara V. Simmons, COL (Ret), US Army

Join Black Professionals in International Affairs (BPIA) and Women of Color Advancing Peace and Security (WCAPS) for a leadership discussion in part with the BPIAChats Speaker Series:

Integrating Women into Botswana's Defense Force

Sara V. Simmons, COL (Ret), US Army

Friday, May 15th, 2020 - 2:00pm to 3:00pm (ET)

Col. Simmons served 28 years of honorable military service in the United States Army.  As a senior advisor, she traveled to engagements with US Army partner nations in Africa, Iraq and Kurdistan to address sensitivities and complexities associated with integrating women into their defense forces.  Sara led the first ever US Army women’s integration and sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) prevention conference on the African continent with 8 participating countries, over 115 attendees and representation from United Nations and African Union.  She increased institutional human capital capacity in US partner nations by assessing, initiating and developing strategic plans for diversity and inclusion, organization development, talent development and leader development. Working various roles, she led and directed Army, joint and multinational organizations consisting of military, Department of the Army civilians, contractors and local nationals.

Applying state of the art leadership and management tenets to increase organizational productivity, she streamlined human resources processes and procedures.  Most recently, as a student at Georgetown University, her project capstone team presented to Uber Diversity and Inclusion Leadership a “Radical Caregiver Toolkit” designed to be a holistic and comprehensive approach to employee caregiver support promoting work-life balance, inclusive workplace culture and increased productivity.  She has a Master’s degree in Organization Development from Webster University.  Her certifications include: Senior Professional Human Resources (SPHR); Executive Certificate in Strategic Diversity and Inclusion Management (SDIM) from Georgetown University; and Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) facilitator. 

Currently, Ms. Simmons provides human capital consulting, training and coaching servicesfor government, non-profit and private sector organizations.  She designs and delivers sessions to articulate the importance of leadership development, talent management, coaching, and diversity and inclusion.  Her background and expertise offer organizations the opportunity to align human capital with strategic objectives. Sara provides organizational leaders techniques to improve communication and “inclusiveness” of diverse groups.