Black Excellence at Booz Allen

Black Excellence is the theme of Booz Allen’s 2024 celebration of Black History Month. Throughout the month of February, the firm will host a range of events showcasing the firm’s Black trailblazers and provide employees with opportunities to network and find mentors.

Vice President Ricky Reid’s career path exemplifies this theme, from his growth as a leader in federal IT modernization to his work mentoring the next generation of 
Black leaders.

Read on for Ricky’s story.

Ricky’s professional journey started at Boeing, where he was a software developer modernizing various business applications for NASA. In 2002, he joined Booz Allen as a IT developer at NASA Ames Research Center in Sunnyvale, California. A few years later he relocated to Los Angeles where he supported a number of space programs for 10 years. He then moved to the Washington, DC, area for new career challenges as he led digital transformation across Booz Allen’s Air Force business. Not long afterwards, he took on a new role at the firm, as a leader in the firm’s mergers and acquisitions (M&A) operations.

“As we were looking to buy different companies, I was responsible for integrating them and outlining what would be needed to ensure a successful merger,” he says.

Today, Ricky heads a sub-account within Booz Allen’s aerospace business, managing a team of over 600 employees and helping to determine strategic direction.

When the Black Engineer of the Year Awards (BEYA) recognized Ricky’s leadership in 2023—his second award from the organization—it served as a milestone for him of how far he’d progressed.

“About 15 years ago, when I was in a hands-on role writing code for NASA, I won a technology award, and I thought that was the coolest thing ever," says Ricky. "And now the latest award is about how I'm now impacting the institution from an IT perspective.”

Ricky still remembers his first mentor at Booz Allen and a pivotal conversation. “She sat me down and told me, ‘Booz Allen is what you make of it,’ if you're willing to really reinvent yourself at times and learn new things and just understand where the firm is going—I really took that to heart.”

She was the first of many mentors. Those who guided him in his career were “individuals who looked like me and individuals who did not look like me,” Ricky says. And the advice these mentors gave him wasn’t the only way he benefitted from their support.

“Frankly, I wouldn't be in the position I'm in right now if it wasn't for those who advocated for me when I wasn't in the room, he says. “They were people who really understood what I was doing and how these things were benefiting our clients and business.”

Today as a leader at Booz Allen, Ricky is committed to paying this support forward. He estimates he spends about a quarter of his time on the job providing mentorship and guidance.

“I have a lot of one-on-one meetings with both people who report to me directly and people outside of my chain of responsibility,” Ricky says. “I just talk to them about some of their challenges and try to help guide them.”

Some words of advice? “Be constantly willing and able and have the right kind of attitude and aptitude to be in learning mode all the time,” he advises. “Rather than think of 10 reasons why something can’t work, say, ‘Hey, we're going to figure out a way to make this work.’”

Ricky also brings his years of experience into these conversations. “I'm a storyteller, so I like to tell stories about what's worked for me and what hasn't, and I try to be very truthful.”

Ricky has been involved with Booz Allen’s Multicultural Business Resource Group (BRG) and the BRG’s African American Network (AAN) throughout his time at the company. He says the connections he has made and the perspective he has gained have been invaluable.

“It’s good to have honest and open conversations about some of the challenges we see and face every day as African Americans,” he says. “For example, people might not see us as very technical when we first walk into the room, before we have the opportunity to show them what we know and can do.”

Through venues like AAN, Ricky says, “I can bounce ideas off of individuals who look like me, they can talk about some of the challenges they’ve faced, and we can talk about ways to overcome it.”

AAN’s Black History Month events will hold such conversations through an intersectional book club, discussions about diversity in recruiting and promotions, and more. Ricky explains its celebration and connection in the service of a greater mission.

“The African American Network doesn’t just put on programming for the sake of programming,” he says. “AAN is here to advance equitable outcomes for Black employees at the firm and move the needle for everyone in substantial, consistent, and significant ways.”