The Biden-Harris State Department’s top DEI officials pull in nearly $200,000 annually in taxpayer-funded salaries, according to financial disclosures, putting them among the highest-paid American diplomats.
Constance Mayer, who served as the acting chief Diversity and Inclusion officer until April of this year, raked in $194,510 annually, according to financial disclosures published by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM). The State Department’s Special Representative for Racial Justice and Equity, Desiree Cormier Smith, makes $191,900 each year, the disclosures show.
The officials draw far more than the average State Department employee, who makes around $100,000 or less, depending on post and tenure. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the country’s top diplomat, only makes slightly more, pulling in around $221,000 annually, though he is reportedly sitting on a “$10 million fortune” driven by his past work as a corporate consultant.
The financial disclosures provide a window into the Biden-Harris administration’s push to emphasize what critics label “woke” priorities in the federal government. The State Department is leading these efforts internationally, reportedly pumping more than $80 million into a litany of programs meant to advance “racial equity” and prevent “gender and sexuality discrimination” abroad. Blinken formed the department’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion in February 2021, shortly after a White House order instructed the entire federal government to ramp up DEI initiatives.
He also created the racial equity envoy position, which maintains a staff and office. Cormier Smith was appointed to the role in 2022 after working as a senior policy advisor for liberal billionaire George Soros’s Open Society Foundations. Financial disclosures indicate her spouse pulls in more than $230,000 annually at Freddie Mac, the federal mortgage company.
Mayer, meanwhile, served as the State Department’s top DEI official until April and helped establish the new equity office. She was replaced by Zakiya Carr Johnson, who entered the job as “a social inclusion, diversity, and equity expert and strategist with over 20 years of experience.” OPM does not yet list Johnson’s salary information publicly, but a source familiar with the department’s pay structure estimated that she earns “close to $200k” per year.
