Maggie Williams is leaving her mark on the staffing industry one company at a time. Williams, who recently joined Arevo Group Inc. as associate VP of operations, started women’s employee resource groups at her previous two companies, opening up opportunities for women in leadership.
Having been in the staffing industry for about a decade, Williams became involved in DE&I in 2014. Her current focus is helping women as well as people with disabilities and individuals experiencing homelessness and incarceration.
“When I joined my previous company in 2018, I was the only female director,” she says. She became involved with getting women more visibility and helping them become engaged at higher levels. Her tenure saw the addition of four more female leaders at the director level.
She also included men in the women’s ERG at that company, which she believed helped employees understand how genders work together. “I had to do a lot of educating about the impact of the things people say to women in the workplace,” she says. “They hadn’t thought about it from that perspective. We had to bridge that conversation with some of the men, because it’s uncomfortable if you’ve never had that conversation before. It was important for them to hear women’s experiences.”
Outside her workplace, Williams participates in the American Staffing Association’s Women in Leadership Council. She also serves as chair of the council’s Scholarship Task Force.
She has worked with Bello Machre, a Maryland-based nonprofit that serves individuals with disabilities, and Lighthouse Shelter, a local nonprofit focused on helping people experiencing homelessness or previous incarceration to transition toward employment, housing and self-sufficiency.
Armed with the lessons she has learned in her work, Williams says, “I’m excited to see how I can impact my new company and customers.”
2023 DE&I Influencers List