World Learning and SIT welcome new DEI leader
Publication Date: January 12, 2022
Publication Location: WASHINGTON, DC
Contact: Kate Casa | [email protected]
World Learning Inc. is pleased to announce the hiring of Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Officer Wagaye Johannes, whose experience, voice, and leadership will advance the organization’s core values of social inclusion and justice throughout its operations and programs.
Johannes is currently director of operations and organizational development at Diversity Abroad, where she leads efforts to strengthen the organizational infrastructure and visibility. In this role, she also has led DEI consulting projects including an assessment of World Learning and the School for International Training in 2020-21.
“Wagaye comes to us with extensive experience at the intersection of DEI and international education. She knows us and our organization already which will be invaluable as she begins this role,” said World Learning Inc. President and CEO Carol Jenkins.
Before joining Diversity Abroad, Johannes worked for the Institute of International Education (IIE) where she launched Generation Study Abroad, a campaign involving a network of more than 700 institutions to increase and diversify participation in study abroad. While at IIE, Johannes led the organization’s first diversity and inclusion task force and headed internal global communications. Johannes brings with her a global perspective having worked in Japan, Germany, Hungary, and the Netherlands. She has experience designing programs with a global inclusive lens and facilitating DEI trainings.
In her new role, Johannes will be responsible for driving the implementation of World Learning’s DEI priorities across the organization’s operations and programs. Her work will foster a more diverse, inclusive, equitable, and accessible workplace, learning environment, and culture, in addition to supporting the entire World Learning team’s contributions to lasting, cultural change.
“I am excited to join the global World Learning family and look forward to advancing the mission by working across the brands to embed diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging,” Johannes said.
Johannes was selected for the position after a comprehensive national search lasting nearly five months. Candidates participated in multiple rounds of interviews with staff and faculty members from across the organization, representing diverse backgrounds, roles, seniority, and responsibilities.
World Learning Inc. is a global organization made up of The Experiment in International Living, the nation’s most experienced provider of intercultural exchange programs abroad and virtual for high school students; School for International Training, offering accredited undergraduate study abroad programs through SIT Study Abroad, including the comparative International Honors Program, and internationally focused master’s degrees, certificate programs, and a doctorate through SIT Graduate Institute; and World Learning, a global development and exchange nonprofit organization.