Riikka Salonen

LinkedIn: @RiikkaSalonen

Riikka Salonen, M.A., a bi-national native of Finland, brings more than 20 years of experience as a diversity talent acquisition and talent development professional and an inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility (IDEA) strategist. Riikka’s current interests include the cultivation of cultural curiosity and equity accountability for leaders; reduction of unconscious bias through artificial intelligence; elimination of “cultural fit factor” as a candidate selection criterion; and the development of innovative strategies to diversify and train a culturally-adaptive healthcare workforce.

Riikka is the program manager of Diversity Talent Acquisition at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU), the only academic medical center in Oregon and the largest employer in Portland. Riikka leads diversity recruitment, outreach and diversity talent development initiatives, aiming to increase people of color, immigrants and refugees, women, people with disabilities, veterans and LGBTQ community members in OHSU’s workforce.

Riikka received her graduate degrees in intercultural relations, organizational and speech communications from University of Jyväskylä, Finland. She has earned the Professional Intercultural Certificate from the Intercultural Communication Institute. Riikka is a member of the DEI Futures Project, a ten-month global in-person and virtual convening of contributors worldwide to influence the direction of diversity, inclusion, equity and accessibility industries. During this project, she’s involved in innovating how DEI practitioners will redefine and co-create global, accessible, tech-enabled, personalized health and healthcare for all.

Riikka co-leads the Portland Metro Diversity Employment Network, sharing promising diversity recruitment practices and hosting Diversity Live Resume events. For Inclusion Allies Mentoring, Riikka supports mentees in the areas of IDEA strategic planning, diversity talent acquisition and development in partnership with community organizations and ERGs. Outside of the IDEA context, she volunteers her time by building capacity for Blanchet House of Hospitality which constructs tiny houses for those experiencing homelessness, and working in the Oregon Food Bank’s Learning Garden, helping to end hunger in Oregon.

Previously, Riikka served as an intercultural program specialist and a faculty of intercultural communication at The Scholar Ship. This global assignment took her to 17 different countries and involved intercultural teaching, training, coaching, and research within an academic community comprised of more than 50 nationalities. Prior to this, Riikka was the associate director of Assessment and Research at the Intercultural Communication Institute.