Schar School alumna Rose Polar’s “2020 Luminary Award” from her employer, the private consultancy LMI, comes as no surprise to associate professor Bonnie Stabile. The award, after all, is for “Leadership: Diversity & Culture,” stemming from her work as a founding member of LMI’s Women’s Forum and Minority Ethnicities affinity groups.
“I could tell even in 2014 in my PUBP 503 Culture, Organization, and Technology class she had a particular interest in policy issues related to diversity and inclusion,” Stabile said. “Her work at LMI has borne this out.”
Polar is a project manager who works “to improve the management of all types of government stakeholders, including federal civilian agencies and military commands by applying a holistic approach that combines best practices, lessons learned, and innovation driving cost-efficient workforce management and technology transformations, across advanced analytics, digital services, management advisory services, and logistics,” she said.
She graduated with a Master’s in Public Policy degree from the Schar School in 2018 when she was already a longtime LMI employee—she’s been with the firm 21 years—and the degree, she added, “helped me gain additional knowledge, skills, and experience to help me in both my career and life in general.”
In describing the award, LMI stated that “Rose has built a reputation for excellence, generosity, and mentorship in her two decades with LMI…Her commitment to the professional development of colleagues and the enrichment of the broader workforce is evident in her support of diversity and inclusion.”
LMI was founded as the Logistics Management Institute in 1961 by Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara and chartered by President John F. Kennedy.