BPDA appoints Barry Reaves as Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Oct 16, 2020

The Boston Planning & Development Agency (BPDA) today announced the appointment of Barry L. Reaves as the agency’s first ever Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Reaves brings over twelve years of experience in diversity and equity management, including employee relations, organizational design, training, and development, and strategic communications. He will serve as a member of the agency’s senior leadership team and be charged with development and oversight of the BPDA’s racial equity and diversity priorities, and will work to establish collaborative partnerships with internal and external stakeholders and foster a more inclusive, equitable, welcoming, supportive, and diverse agency.

Reaves currently serves as the Assistant Director of Investigations and Training for the City of Boston, and has previously managed the Discrimination Complaints Program for the United States Naval Air Systems Command. He has served in various roles for the U.S. Army, including as an Equal Opportunity Advisor. He is a veteran of the U.S. Army, serving on Active Duty for 18 years and has a deep background in diverse leadership development, diversity and inclusion programming, analytics and effectiveness. He is also a graduate of the Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute.

“I am pleased to welcome Barry to our team and look forward to the unique expertise he will bring to the BPDA,” said BPDA Director Brian Golden. “BPDA staff members spend every day engaging with community members about how our neighborhoods can offer more opportunities for all, and Barry will help us improve and expand this important work.”

“I am honored to be appointed to this important work leading the newly established office of Diversity and Inclusion,” said Barry Reaves, Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at the BPDA. “Under Director Golden’s leadership, the BPDA has already taken large strides towards creating a more equitable and inclusive workforce. I look forward to serving in this new role in our journey to achieve a racially and socially equitable Boston.”

The work of the Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion will build on efforts already underway. The BPDA uses Imagine Boston 2030 as a framework to support equity by creating affordable housing, jobs, and open space in every neighborhood, and leverages funding from large real estate development to support workforce development and training, supports equitable procurement policies and requires diversity criteria for developing publicly-owned land. Since 2018 the BPDA has partnered with YW Boston to create a customized and measurable action plan addressing diversity, hiring, retention, and training practices, and have hosted an agency-wide implicit bias training and smaller group participation in the year long InclusionBoston.