(Source: Railroad Retirement Board press release, March 15, 2018)
CHICAGO — The U.S. Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) has named Pamela M. Tate as its Director of Equal Opportunity. At the time of her appointment, she was an Equal Employment Specialist at the agency, a position she had held since 2008.
As the Director, she will oversee the activities and responsibilities of the RRB’s Office of Equal Opportunity (OEO), which include management of affirmative action, diversity, and equal employment opportunity programs. In addition to protecting the rights of RRB employees and increasing the diversity of the agency workforce, the OEO handles questions and complaints about alleged discrimination on the basis of disability in the RRB’s benefit programs. She will report directly to the agency’s three-member Board.
Ms. Tate joined the RRB as a claims examiner in 1985, and has also worked at the agency as a training specialist and compensation reporting specialist. Before joining the OEO, she served for several years as a union vice president for the RRB local of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE). Ms. Tate was elected as AFGE’s 7th District Women’s Coordinator in 2002, and in that capacity assisted union members in Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin with equal employment opportunity issues.
A native of Alexander City, Alabama, Ms. Tate received a bachelor’s degree in fine arts from Howard University (1979). She now lives in Chicago with her husband, Derone Tate, who is the owner of Tate Transport, Inc. They have two daughters and eight grandchildren.
She replaces Lynn Cousins, the Director of Equal Opportunity since 2003, who retired in January 2018 with 38 years of Federal service.