Ms. Zina Merritt

Zina Daché Merritt is the Chief Diversity Management Officer at the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO). She has served in her current capacity since September 2022 and is responsible for providing expert senior advisory services that helps GAO promote an environment that is fair and unbiased and that values diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility. Zina is responsible for overseeing the implementation of GAO’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility Strategic Implementation Plan and advising audit engagement teams that are examining equity in federally administered programs.

From 2017 to 2022, Zina was the Special Assistant to the Comptroller General for Diversity and Inclusion. Prior to this position, she directed performance reviews of national and international security programs and activities. Zina received several GAO-wide awards including Distinguished Service, Meritorious Service, Community Service, Equal Employment Opportunity, Diversity and Inclusion, and a two-time recipient of the John Henry Luke Mentoring Award. In 2022, she was elected as a National Academy of Public Administration Fellow and received the Association of Government Accountants Eleanor Clark Diversity Leadership Award. Zina completed the Harvard John F. Kennedy School of Government Senior Executives National and International Security Program and Women and Power Program. She received a B.S. degree in Business Administration from Tuskegee University and a M.S. degree in Information Systems from Texas A&M University Central TX.