City focuses on Boston diversity jobs

Posted on December 8, 2014

The city of Boston is dedicating itself to creating more Boston diversity jobs and focusing on diversity by creating an Office of Diversity.

The mayor then appointed the city’s first-ever Chief Diversity Officer, Shaun Blugh, and Deputy Chief Diversity Officer, Freda Brasfield.

The Mayor’s Office of Diversity will lead Mayor Walsh’s diversity agenda, including the ongoing development and delivery of the city’s diversity goals and objectives in areas of hiring, leadership and career development, diversity training, strategic planning, recruitment and retention. The Mayor’s Office of Diversity will also be tasked with analyzing and improving the city’s procurement strategies, to support and increase opportunities for minority- and women-owned businesses to engage directly with the Boston.

The Chief Diversity Officer and Deputy Chief Diversity Officer will perform outreach to community, academic, and business organizations in order to increase diversity of employee candidate pools, and assist in the development of hiring processes to ensure maximum opportunities for employment and career advancement for candidates from underrepresented demographic groups.

Blugh currently serves as the Director of Due Diligence for IMB Development Corporation. In this role, Blugh assists in the recruitment and vetting of minority candidates for employment in IMB’s portfolio companies. Blugh worked closely with large corporations looking to increase their diversity spend, and engaged the national landscape for small diverse businesses to facilitate procurement for state and city contracts. He previously served as a paralegal for Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP, based in New York City. Blugh is a graduate of Georgetown University.

Freda Brasfield has served as the Administration and Finance Manager for the Mayor’s Office. In this role, Brasfield worked closely with the Budget Office and Human Resources Department, serving as a liaison to oversee all personnel transactions within the Mayor’s Office, develop HR policies and procedures, and ensure compliance with the City’s residency policy.