Desira Stearns is the Strategic Diversity Outreach Director for Leidos where she is responsible for building and managing external diversity partnerships with Minority Serving Institutions, national diversity organizations and conferences, and community outreach organizations. As a trusted partner and leader, she provides enterprise-wide solutions and expertise to senior executives, managers, talent acquisition, and human resources teams to execute inclusion and diversity strategies. She has over 25 years of experience across a variety of disciplines including software engineering, human resources, and project management. She is also an avid K-12 STEM champion, previously managing a K-12 STEM diversity talent pipeline initiative supporting six high schools across three counties in Maryland. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree, Magna Cum Laude, in Computer Science from Tennessee State University and a Master of Science degree in Engineering Science from The Pennsylvania State University (Great Valley).