Nikita Pearson

Director of the Office of Minority and Women Inclusion (OMWI), Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)

Nikita Pearson

Nikita Pearson

Director of the Office of Minority and Women Inclusion (OMWI)
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)

Speaker 2021

Nikita is the Director of the Office of Minority and Women Inclusion (OMWI) at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). Under provisions of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Act), Section 342, she is responsible for:

  • developing standards for equal employment opportunity and the racial, ethnic, and gender diversity of the FDIC’s workforce and senior management of the agency, consisting of approximately 6,000 employees;
  • assessing the diversity policies and practices of approximately 3,200 banks supervised by the FDIC; and
  • increasing participation of minority-owned and women-owned businesses in the programs and contracts of the FDIC, including standards for coordinating technical assistance to such businesses.

Nikita led a barrier analysis to help identify potential root causes to diversity challenges at the FDIC and has helped develop the agency’s 2021 DEI Strategic Plan, including new programs and concrete solutions to further the agency’s DEI goals. Last year, she testified before the U.S. House Financial Services Diversity and Inclusion Subcommittee to discuss the agency’s efforts to enhance diversity and inclusion in the FDIC’s workforce and contracting, and to promote financial inclusion.

Nikita has more than 22 years of bank supervision experience and has held numerous leadership roles over the course of her career. She serves on several of the FDIC’s executive committees, including co-Chair of the Executive Steering Committee for Entry-Level Examiner Hiring, Chair of the Executive Task Force to promote DEI within the bank examiner workforce, and voting member on the council that advises the Chief Information Officer.

Nikita holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in accounting from Savannah State University, Savannah, Georgia, where she graduated magna cum laude. She is also a graduate of the Graduate School of Banking at Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and the Senior Managers in Government Program at Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.