Miguel Joey Aviles

Miguel Joey Avilés served as the first civilian in the history of the US Coast Guard to become the Chief of Diversity and Inclusion.  Recognized as a 2021 Top 15 Champion of Diversity by Diversity Global Magazine, as a Top 100 Executive Leader by Diversity MBA Magazine, and featured as an Inclusion Innovator by the Society of Human Resources Management (SHRM). He is a D&I Thought Leader with over a decade of experience at the Department of Defense (DOD), the Department of Interior (DOI), and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Miguel Joey Aviles is a TEDx speaker, and has been featured at the Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, Telemundo, the Change Management Conference, the Human Capital Institute, the SHRM Talent Management and D&I Conferences, Fortune 500 companies, and other global organizations. Architect of D&I interventions that equip global organizations to build a captivating business case for Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, exponentially increase D&I budgets and manage D&I related national scandals involving domestic terrorism, United Congress progress convenings and high-stake televised cases.

After almost 15 years in the Federal Government Miguel said farewell to public service to lead MJA International, a consulting firm focused in creating transformational learning experiences. Mr. Avilés held several other key positions at DOI and DOD. He served as the Division Chief of the Office of Recruitment and Retention Programs at BLM. He was responsible to lead 5 enterprise-wide programs: The BLM White House Executive Orders Program; the Direct Hire Authority – Resource Assistant Internship Program; the BLM Pathways Programs; the BLM D&I Program to include 500 Diversity Change Agents and the Diversity Talent Acquisition Pilot; and the BLM Employee Engagement and Retention Program to include the BLM Employee Engagement Ambassadors and the BLM Exit Interview Process.  He served as the Deputy Program Manager of the Executive Leadership Development Program, the Defense Civilian Emerging Leaders Program, the DoD Managerial and Supervisory Training Program and the DoD-wide Mentoring Resource Portal. He started his federal career as a GS-4 Diversity Recruiter in Mayaguez, PR and served as an HR Specialist in the DOD's Recruitment Assistance Division. Mr. Avilés is the former Chair of the Young Government Leaders (YGL) Advisory Panel and past President.

Miguel is a graduate of Yale School of Management Fostering Inclusion and Diversity Certificate, the Excellence in Government Fellows Program, the DoD Defense Civilian Emerging Leaders Program (DCELP). In addition, he is a certified Professional Diversity Coach by the Coach Diversity Institute. He has a bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Puerto Rico in Mayaguez. He is the winner of the HR Leadership Award of Greater Washington for Excellence in Mentoring 2014. Miguel is a proud Millennial Latinx from San Sebastián, Puerto Rico. He recently relocated to Puerto Rico to pursue his dream of becoming a full-time thought leader with his wife and best friend Michelle Rosa, a Cyber Security Risk Senior Manager at the U.S. NAVY, and his two rescued puppies Bella and Stella.