Whitney Maddox

Background

About Whitney Maddox

Whitney M. Maddox is NPR’s Vice President, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion. She helps shape the company’s strategy for DE & I and leads a portfolio of training and internal consulting in support of NPR’s efforts to create a workplace culture where everyone can grow and thrive. Maddox advises the NPR Leadership Team in the creation and execution of their DEI efforts while adding perspective to broader matters undertaken by those leaders. She also supports the Chief Diversity Officer in deepening the company’s focus on working with station colleagues in the NPR Network as they pursue similar DEI goals. Maddox also collaborates with the Chief People Officer to guide and support the work of the DEI Committee of the NPR Board. Shortly after coming to NPR, Maddox led the Leadership Team and the company in a two-year focus on improving the work experience of women of color, an effort that still informs the way many leaders operate and gave rise to the still-vibrant Women of Color affinity group. In addition, Maddox leads company-wide anti-racism workshops as well as other leadership and diversity training to support more than 250 Member stations across the country. She also facilitates inclusion and belonging workshops across the organization for leadership and staff to help individuals and teams advance DE & I goals. Maddox introduced NPR to STAR – Start Talking About Race – a twice-monthly gathering of staff across the company (and now around the Network) to work on deepening their ability to discuss and understand one of the most enduring challenges in the workplace and the country we serve. Since STAR launched in 2021, Maddox’s sessions have reached more than staff at NPR and Member stations. Before joining NPR in 2021, Maddox spent more than a decade at Georgetown University working with students, faculty and staff on matters of race, racism and privilege. At Georgetown, she served as Assistant Director for Leadership Development and Racial Justice Initiatives as part of the university’s Center for Social Justice Research. She designed and launched STAR to help the university address "how race impacts how we show up and do business." She also taught a course titled How to Lead From What You Believe, where Georgetown students learn leadership skills "from a socially just and values-based perspective." Maddox also taught STAR as a course at Georgetown. Maddox is a graduate of Alabama State University's Communications program and holds two Masters degrees – one in journalism, the other in communication, culture and technology – from Georgetown.