PROFILE: Sarah Jacobs

The daughter and great-granddaughter of immigrants from India and Poland, Sarah grew up immersed in DE&I concepts—even if she didn’t have those words at the time. With professor parents, a mother committed to social justice and systems impact, and a father who was passionate about philosophy, as well as a diverse group of family friends, Sarah learned to see the world through multiple lenses and appreciate the value of inclusion.

While growing a leadership career in public media, Sarah began serving on DE&I professional committees in 2010. She quickly found DE&I work to be a field full of possibility and meaning and began to see it as her life’s purpose. In 2020, she accepted a full-time DE&I role as diversity, equity, and inclusion manager for UnityPoint Health-Meriter, where she directed DE&I strategy and deployed the organization’s first DE&I strategic plan. Sarah went on to be a key contributor to UPH Enterprise-level DEI strategic plan creation, including leading development of UPH Enterprise’s first, mandatory DE&I overview course, required for approximately 28,000 team members across three states...