Dixie Adams

Dixie Adams is a Fellow in the University of Chicago’s Leadership and Society Initiative (LSI), where she is focused on expanding economic opportunity in Chicago neighborhoods through education, workforce development, and community-led revitalization. Her work centers on creating pathways to thriving careers in communities where talent is abundant, but opportunity has become scarce. Prior to joining LSI, Dixie spent forty years at IBM, where she held leadership roles spanning software engineering, consulting, acquisition integration and general management. Throughout her career, she built and led organizations with thousands of associates and pioneered workforce models for IBM that brought hundreds of professional jobs to underinvested communities across the United States. In her last role at IBM, Dixie served as the company’s executive representative to the State of Illinois, helping advance initiatives that strengthened the state’s innovation economy, including efforts at the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park on Chicago’s South Side. This work reinforced her belief that education and workforce development can serve as powerful catalysts for economic mobility and neighborhood revitalization. Dixie serves on the boards of Chicago State University and Chicago Youth Centers and is passionate about expanding access to educational opportunity, strengthening STEM pathways, and developing the next generation of leaders. She holds a B.S. in Computer Science from California State University and an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.