BIO
Aida Sabo
SVP, Global DE&I
As Senior Vice President of Global DEI for Parexel, Aida Sabo is responsible for the Global Diversity & Inclusion Strategy and for finding creative ways to execute this strategy. The strategy consists of building D/I awareness and launching a culture change to ensure D/I is part of Parexel's DNA. Some elements of this strategy include Gender Partnership- promoting an inclusive environment so that all genders flourish in the company, Engaging Men as advocates and champions, empowering a globally diverse workforce, Gender Intelligence, and leveraging Big Data/Predictive Analytics to identify and address institutional blind spots and barriers. Her work extends to global initiatives in India, Germany, the UK, Japan, Argentina, and other regions. Additionally, launched a Leadership and Inclusion Forum to enable diversity and inclusion thought-provoking discussions with not only internal PAREXEL leaders but also our local community so that we all advance- this has been extended to all the external communities in the Boston, Berlin, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Tokyo, and Uxbridge- focusing on the larger hubs in the company.
Her trail-blazing work at Cardinal Health continues to be recognized by many organizations nationally and regionally for innovative approaches to promoting Diversity and Inclusion. Under Aida’s leadership, Cardinal Health was one of the first companies to begin the trailblazing work of engaging men as advocates of change. Before working at Cardinal Health, Aida led the launch of the corporate diversity functions at EMC in Boston and Agilent Technologies in Palo Alto, CA. During her tenure at Agilent, she was the first In Silicon Valley to link Diversity & Inclusion to innovation.
The child of Mexican immigrants, Aida moved to the United States when she was three. With a passion for learning, she excelled and earned a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of California at Davis. She then completed engineering graduate work at the University of California at Berkeley and Georgia Tech. She also has participated in programs in Executive Education at Harvard’s JFK School, Harvard Business School, Stanford University, and UCLA.
In 2017 she was recognized by White Men as Full Diversity Partners with a Courageous Leader Award. In 2014 she received awards from the State of Ohio and Ohio State for work with Latino Community in Ohio. In 2012/13, she received awards from the Human Rights Campaign and Stonewall for her work with the LGBT community. In 2012, the National Association for Female Executives recognized her as a Woman of Excellence. In 2011/12, she was recognized by the Women’s Book and WELD, Women for Economical and Leadership Development. In 2006 Aida was selected as a Fellow with the National Hispana Leadership Institute and received the Santiago Rodriguez Diversity Award from Hispanic National Engineers Association. Aida has served on various boards, including Partnership Inc., the Howard University College of Pharmacy Board of Visitors, and the Harvard JFK School’s Women’s Leadership Board. She is a Catalyst’s Expert Community member and a taskforce member of the Center for Talent Innovation (Sylvia Ann Hewlett’s organization).
While her current office is at the headquarters of Parexel in Newton, MA, her home is in the San Francisco Bay Area, and her heart lives in the quest for the inclusion of all under-represented groups in our society.