Elliott Francis

Over his professional career Elliott has advised and worked alongside senior executives and business leaders in private, public and non-profit sectors to develop, implement, and execute equity, diversity & inclusion strategies, achieving organizational success. In his current role, Elliott serves as the Principal DEI Program Manager at SoFi.

Recently, Elliott was the Sr. Manager for the Meta (formerly Facebook) Family of Apps DEI Programs which includes Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, Remote Presence and FacebookApp. He is responsible for leading a global Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Program Management Team through the execution of DEI action plans and global strategies focused on increasing diverse employee representation, engagement, and retention by driving adoption of equitable and inclusive norms. He also establishes enterprise-wide accountability metrics (scorecards/audits/reporting tools) to track progress to key metrics, inclusive of quantitative and qualitative data related to overall effectiveness of DEI strategies.

Previously, Elliott led the Amazon Web Services Global Inclusion Diversity & Equity (ID&E) Learning & Inclusion Team in driving meaningful change with senior executives and stakeholders across the AWS business, to lead the learning & inclusion strategy, launch, and reporting of impact of their ID&E efforts.

In a previous role, Elliott was the Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer at the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), the world's largest trade association representing biotechnology companies, academic institutions, state biotechnology centers and related organizations across the United States and in more than 30 other nations, where he reported directly to the CEO providing leadership to drive change through the development and implementation of strategic diversity and inclusion initiatives in the life sciences industry. Among myriad efforts, Elliott worked closely with the Board of Directors to accelerate gender, racial, ethnic and LGBTQ representation on biotech company boards, in C-suites and in functional leadership positions, and led the BIO Equality Agenda, a national effort led by BIO in collaboration with partners and member organizations in the biotechnology sector that aim to counteract the systemic inequality, injustice, and unfair treatment of underserved communities.

Prior to this, at Booz Allen Hamilton, an international management consulting firm, Elliott led the development, implementation, and management of an enterprise-wide Diversity & Inclusion Strategic Partnering Program across 40 business units, which resulted in:

• Expanding the firm’s reach to highly talented professionals in diverse communities

• Providing access to professional development opportunities for its staff

• Increasing Booz Allen Hamilton’s diversity & inclusion brand in the federal consulting space

In the federal government, Elliott’s work has focused on ensuring the linkage between diversity & inclusion initiatives to federal strategic goals and objectives. At the National Science Foundation (NSF), he led the agency-wide Diversity & Inclusion Strategic Action Planning and Employee Engagement Initiative mandated by Executive Order 13583. At the Department of Treasury (IRS) Elliott was responsible for integrating agency-wide human capital programs with diversity & inclusion initiatives, and served as the Acting Director, Diversity Strategy Division (DSD) as well as the Acting Director, Measures Analysis Reports Section (MARS) within the Equity Diversity & Inclusion Office. At the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) Elliott conducted enterprise workforce planning within the Human Capital Office and led the Workforce Inclusion Recruitment Engagement & Diversity (WIRED) cross functional team aimed at creating the most positive experience for the entire workforce through the various stages of the employee lifecycle.

Elliott received his BA in Sociology from Middlebury College and holds numerous Professional Diversity & Inclusion, Project Management and Human Capital Certifications from Georgetown University, Cornell University, and the Human Capital Institute.

Elliott was born and raised in Harlem, New York City, and lives in northern VA with his wife of 18 years, their two children and their huge 6-year-old Newfoundland dog, Onyx. Elliott is a Certified Krav Maga (Israeli Self-Defense Fighting System) Instructor and regularly trains children and adults to help them achieve their highest level of self-esteem.

Mission Moments

with Elliott Francis

Why do you think pets are important in the lives of people?

We’ve all heard this cliché before, pets give you unconditional love. Cliché or not, it’s the absolute truth. Pets complete our families and can teach us how to better respect and appreciate each other. They also teach us the value of responsibility and empathy. With the surge of pet adoptions during the Covid-19 pandemic, I believe there is a direct correlation to the positive energy, comfort, and love pets give us that we desperately needed to survive and thrive during a difficult period in our human history.

How has your pet (or a previous pet) changed your life?

Our first rescue dog, Lenox, was our everything. My wife Kristina and I adopted him as a pup when we first moved into our new house and before our first child arrived. Unprepared and inexperienced, we adopted Lenox on a whim one day while visiting the local rescue shelter. Kristina was extremely afraid of dogs her entire life, so I decided to help her overcome her fear by periodically visiting the shelter to get acclimated to dogs. It was a long journey. Who knew on one random day, Kristina would fall in love with Lenox who instantly stole her heart while he leaned onto her shoulder and licked her face. Although we lost Lenox after 11 amazing years together, his spirit of love remains with us forever. The love and bond we shared with Lenox is the feeling I want to help all families experience.

What makes you most excited about working with PetSmart Charities?

I’m truly excited to work with PetSmart Charities given the focus on diversity, equity and inclusion as a core component of its internal and external organizational strategy. The team at PetSmart Charities understands that creating a diverse workforce and cultivating a culture of inclusion are the key ingredients to achieving the organization’s vision of a world where communities unite in support of pets together with their families. Furthermore, I’m particularly encouraged by PetSmart Charities’ focus on improving access to veterinary care for diverse communities in urban and rural areas that historically have not received “gold standard” care enjoyed by those in more affluent areas. This includes issuing grants focused on expansion of low-cost, high volume veterinary care and expansion of care to communities with little or no access to even standard pet care. Proactively addressing this system of inequity is a critical aspect of PetSmart’ Charities’ strategy that I am excited about and committed to supporting.