Debra Chew is the Deputy Director of the Division of Inclusivity, Culture, and Equity (DICE) at the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). In this role she serves as the EEO Director, Director of the Office of Minority and Women Inclusion (OMWI), and the Chief Culture Officer. In these capacities, she oversees a portfolio consisting of EEO complaints of discrimination, affirmative employment, conflict resolution, the Values-Based Culture Initiative (VBCI), and advancing diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility in employment, management, and in all business activities.

A 25-year veteran practitioner in EEO, diversity, inclusion, and civil rights, prior to FHFA, Debra was the Director of the Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) at the National Institutes of Health where she led innovative data driven strategies to advance EEO, diversity, and inclusion for the premier biomedical research institution in the world. She served on a trans-NIH committee dedicated to re-engineering the NIH harassment prevention program and monitoring and evaluating said program. Debra served as the Acting Director of the Office of Equal Employment Opportunity and Diversity Management (OEODM) at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), after having served as the Director overseeing the EEO complaints program, reasonable accommodation program, and alternative dispute resolution program. While at the FDA, Debra was awarded the Health and Human Services Award for Excellence in Management, the highest Secretary’s award for leadership at the Department. Debra served as the Human Capital Officer for the Internal Revenue Service where she led 1,600 human capital professionals dispersed across the country.

Debra is an attorney who practiced in the areas of employment discrimination and medical malpractice defense in private and public sectors. She litigated employment discrimination and tort claim cases before the Northern District of Georgia, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the Merit Systems Protections Board. She served as a senior staff attorney in the Office of the General Counsel for the Department of Health and Human Services, advising on and litigating employment related matters and medical malpractice cases.

A graduate of the American University, Washington College of law and the University of Virginia, Debra is a local Washingtonian and resides in Rockville, Maryland with her husband and two sons.