Rita Yau is the vice president of People and the DEI officer at Toyota Research Institute (TRI) and is proud to lead our people across all organizations within the company to build an inclusive environment and meaningful working relationships, solving problems and helping employees be successful in their careers. Rita joined TRI in May 2018 as a people business partner and talent development leader to help the organization grow and develop leaders within the organization. She has grown in her role and now she leads the People Operations, People Business Partners, Recruiting, Talent Development, and Diversity, Equity & Inclusion teams.

Rita has 16 years of experience in human resources and started her career in recruiting, and while she has experience in other areas of human resources, she has spent the majority of her career as a business partner supporting all levels within the companies but focusing primarily on senior leadership. She is passionate about paying it forward by coaching, developing, encouraging and mentoring others and is featured as a role model on Careergirls.org. 

Rita holds a bachelor of science degree in business administration from the University of California, Riverside and has a Professional In Human Resources certification.