Alicia Williams is Vice President and Head of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) at Saks, the premier leader in luxury fashion and the largest e-Commerce company in the U.S. As VP of DEI, Alicia is responsible for furthering Saks’ progress on its DEI commitments while shaping its go-forward strategy. As part of Saks continued advancement of DEI, her deep expertise has been monumental in evolving Saks’ current DEI roadmap.

 

Prior to joining Saks in summer 2022, Alicia was the inaugural Executive Director and Head of Diversity & Inclusion for U.S. Banks at Morgan Stanley, where she led DEI strategy and talent management. As a member of the Leadership team, Alicia advised the CEO, President, COO, and Head of Risk Management for U.S. Banks on DEI priorities and impact for the business. She was instrumental in amplifying DEI reporting tools, adding growth and engagement opportunities for diverse talent, and creating a more robust executive diversity recruiting strategy.

 

Before that, Alicia was VP and Diversity Lead, and Head of the North American campus recruiting program for JPMorgan Chase’s Investment Banking, Wholesale Payments, and Global Corporate Banking businesses. In this role, Alicia and her team redesigned the recruiting process across the Americas, EMEA, and APAC regions in introducing a more innovative and equitable hiring process that significantly increased the number of hires from underrepresented groups.

 

Alicia has also held DEI, program management, and human resources leadership roles at top universities globally, including New York University in Shanghai, Cornell University and Harvard University. In 2022, Luxury Daily named Alicia a Luxury Woman to Watch in 2023. Most recently she was recognized by Savoy Magazine as one of the 2023 Most Influential Executives in Diversity & Inclusion. Additionally, she has chaired and served on various boards such as the New York Urban League Young Professionals.

 

Alicia holds a Doctoral degree (EdD) in Organizational Change and Leadership from the University of Southern California, a Master’s degree from Towson University, and a Bachelor’s degree from Howard University. She is a Baltimore native turned Brooklyn transplant, wife and mother of two (Stokely and Garvey), and member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated.