Barbara Adachi is a proven business leader in professional services with expertise in human capital strategy and in the healthcare and insurance industries. She has provided key leadership to organizations as they reassess the future of work and changing workforce dynamics. Specifically, her efforts focus on developing strategies for large, complex organizations to address emerging human capital issues and the future of work, including reskilling of the workforce resulting from AI and the post-pandemic hybrid workplace. Her expertise includes talent strategy, workforce design, employee retention, career development and advancement, employee engagement, and culture.

Prior to her retirement, Adachi was the chief executive and national managing partner for Deloitte Consulting’s Human Capital Consulting Practice, a $1B practice with over 3,000 practitioners in the United States, Mexico, and India. In this role, she was responsible for all aspects of operations overseeing P&L, business strategy, sales, and talent management. During her tenure, the Human Capital Consulting Practice experienced 43 percent top-line growth and 41 percent bottom-line growth, including three acquisitions. Prior to Deloitte, Adachi built and scaled high-growth consulting practices in three other organizations from the ground up, working with many large, national companies regarding talent strategy, cultural transformation, employee benefits, and change management.

As a board director, Adachi brings expertise in human capital strategy, cultural and organizational transformation, executive compensation, and diversity and inclusion. She currently serves as a director for VSP Vision, the largest managed vision care company in the United States, providing benefits to over 90 million individuals. She chairs the compensation and human capital committee. In 2021, Adachi joined the board of Old Republic International (NYSE: ORI), a Fortune 500 multiline property and casualty insurance company, where she serves on the audit and the governance and nominating committees. In 2020, Adachi joined the board of Atlas Technology Solutions, a leading SaaS-based Human Experience Management (HXM) company providing employer-of-record services to companies seeking global expansion, where she chairs both the compensation and the audit committees. In late 2023, Adachi became the lead executive advisor for Ascend Pinnacle, whose mission is to advance API representation on corporate boards. Adachi achieved the NACD.DC™ designation in 2022 and the CERT Certificate for Cybersecurity Oversight in 2024.

Adachi has always been viewed as a trailblazer, both as the first minority and as the first female partner to lead the national human capital consulting business at Deloitte. She served as national managing principal for Deloitte’s award-winning Women’s Initiative (WIN) for the entire US firm from 2007 to 2011, achieving a significant milestone of 1,000 women partners, principals, and directors. Under Adachi’s leadership, Deloitte LLP received its second Catalyst award in 2010. Viewed as an expert in workplace diversity, Adachi has had over 75 external speaking engagements, including appearing on Good Morning America.

In 2024, Adachi was recognized by BoardProspects as one of 100 AAPI Board Members Making a Difference and named an NACD Directorship 100™ honoree in 2022 by the National Association of Corporate Directors, which recognizes the most influential leaders in the boardroom. She was also previously named one of the “100 Most Influential Women in Business” by the San Francisco Business Times for 10 consecutive years from 2003 through 2012 and then endowed as Forever Influential. She also received Consulting Magazine’s Women’s Leadership Award, the Asian Women in Business Leadership Award, and was listed among “Women Worth Watching” by Profiles in Diversity.

Barbara graduated from the University of California with a bachelor of arts degree, and for fun enjoys international travel, fly fishing, and entertaining.