Rebecca Perrault

Championing underrepresented groups is embedded into the very fabric of Rebecca Perrault (she/her), VP of DE&I at Magnit. Initially a mergers and acquisitions consultant, an exercise in succession planning brought out Perrault’s passion, as she was struck by the lack of diversity in her client’s executive staff.

The experience inspired Perrault, a woman of color herself, to dig deeper into the underlying factors that had brought the client to this point: “It wasn’t a lack of intent,” she explains. “I wanted to understand why [its DE&I efforts weren’t] making it to the top.” Within a year, she had made DE&I her career.

Perrault has dedicated the last 12 years to revolutionizing DE&I and making actionable change through data analysis. Her work at Magnit, which she joined in 2020, centers on the ways data analysis supports inclusion initiatives for contingent and full-time staff. Her data-based approach has proven impactful both within Magnit and for its clients.

At a large life sciences company, for example, the Magnit DE&I team helped increase Black and Hispanic representation among contingent talent by 9% and 5%, respectively. “Seeing such significant improvements in representation was exciting,” she shared. “But seeing the impact of the initiative’s visibility on culture was even more fulfilling.” She also developed contingent-specific DE&I awareness campaigns, which have reached nearly 10,000 workers to date.

DE&I is about opening every door and making sure that the path to the role and goal are clear and equitable.

Under Perrault’s leadership, Magnit shared the company’s current DE&I goals in its first Impact Report. “We’ve only just started on the journey,” she said of the company’s DE&I work. “But I am proud when I see leaders make decisions using the lens of equity and inclusion.”

Perrault is also focused on integrating the extended workforce into DE&I. The company’s workforce data analytics highlights opportunities to foster equity in temporary work, supporting her ultimate desire to shift DE&I conversations from “diversifying the workplace” to helping “everyone to thrive.”

In addition to her work at Magnit, Perrault is a TEDx speaker and Forbes contributor, offering insight into the world of DE&I and defining what matters — and to Perrault, her work is just that. “DE&I is about opening every door and making sure that the path to the role and goal are clear and equitable,” she says. “It’s about multiplying small victories that will change the world.”