Company: EY
Diversity Team Name: EY D&I Teams
Diversity Team Leader(s): Karyn Twaronite
Website: www.ey.com

What Makes this Diversity Team Stand Out

At EY, diversity and inclusiveness (D&I) is embedded into everything we say and do, and part of how we conduct business every day. Championing it is a collective effort, and the firm’s global D&I team of more than 80 people leads programming; employee resource groups (or Professional Networks) l research, learning, and training; communications; and other initiatives.

The team consists of two core and critical groups—the D&I Center of Excellence (COE) and the field Diversity and Inclusiveness Leader (DIL) teams. The COE team develops the D&I strategy, which is significantly influenced by the priorities and commitments of senior leadership. Execution of the strategy is the responsibility of the field DIL and their teams. These initiatives and materials are then put into our people’s hands—in every region; the work of the field DIL’s helps spread the importance of inclusion across our global organization and builds on our culture of belonging.

Over the past year, as many of our people experienced feelings of uncertainty and stress, the D&I teams’ work became even more important. Across the global EY organization, they quickly evolved D&I efforts in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and social crises. This included leading the charge in promoting inclusive leadership practices, providing digital tools, offering resources, and helping facilitate connection points specifically for those disproportionately impacted by world events.

The teams led the creation of EY’s Global Social Equity Task Force, which works to develop and prioritize cohesive global actions specifically addressing inequity and discrimination, including racism. The effort is sponsored by EY’s Global Chairman and CEO, and includes EY leaders from a wide range of backgrounds, spanning geographies, service lines, and functions.

In the United States, the team supported the firm’s efforts to address racism, bias, and discrimination. EY US made several antiracism commitments to drive strategic change in our firm, in our communities, and through public policy. In addition, with the increased focus on D&I transparency, and to continue holding ourselves more publicly accountable and consistently measure ourselves against our own ambition, the U.S. team drove the launch of its inaugural EY DEI transparency report: Pathways to Progress, which focuses on our DEI journey in the United States and highlights our commitment, initiatives, statistics, and impact to date, along with the experiences of our people.

The initiatives and programs created by the D&I teams are consistently recognized by third-party organizations and awards, including these:

• EY has been named to DiversityInc’s Top 50 Hall of Fame for the past three years, after being named the #1 Company for Diversity in 2017
• FORTUNE magazine and Great Place to Work Institute have named EY a Best Workplace for 23 consecutive years
• In 2021, EY was named to the Financial Times’ Diversity Leaders list

Company: Greenberg Traurig, LLP
Diversity Team Name: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Team
Diversity Team Leader(s): GT’s Executive Committee and Shareholder and Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer Nikki Lewis Simon
Website: www.gtlaw.com

What Makes this Diversity Team Stand Out

Building on its already strong program, in 2020 Greenberg Traurig (GT) doubled its commitment to a more equal world with its Social, Racial and Economic Justice Plan. Our DE&I team expanded programming by launching several new Social, Racial, and Economic Justice Action Plan initiatives, including the following:

• Committed $5 million over five years to address the causes and effects of systemic racism
• Joined in creating the Law Firm Anti-Racism Alliance
• Observes the Juneteenth holiday in the United States
• Sponsored GTDRIVES for Social Justice “Day of Giving,” raising $100K+ for 30+ social justice-focused nonprofits
• Incentivizes and rewards associates by considering billable hours for diversity and inclusion-related work
• Launched the GT Justice Initiative involving attorneys firm-wide to augment GT’s current justice-oriented pro bono work
• Launched the GT Listening Tour for business staff

As part of GT’s Social, Racial and Economic Justice Plan, the firm launched its Social Justice Action Academy (SJAA), which includes the following:

• Equality Toolkit: Provides education, resources, and information to equip the GT community to be leaders within the firm.
• Courageous Conversations: This series of internal and external programs shares personal experiences with social injustice and racism, as well as new offerings to impact positive change.
• Webinars and Trainings: Our internal SJAA library includes curated webinars and training sessions that focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion topics.
• GTDRIVES: Dynamic Dialogues: This podcast informs business leaders, in-house counsel, and others about developments in diversity, equity, and inclusion.
• Listening Tour: Launched the virtual a listening tour for business staff in offices worldwide. We wanted to hear directly from employees about DE&I topics.
• Law Student Recruitment: Sponsored or participated in several programs to increase diversity in the legal industry or address many of the associated challenges.
• Affinity Groups: GT Affinity Groups proved to be essential support systems for their members as attorneys adapted to working remotely.

Ranking & Accolades

• In 2020, GT attorneys received more than 170 diversity awards, hosted or participated in 150+ events, and received and responded to 100+ surveys. The firm was also recognized in the following ways:
• “Top Chief Diversity Officer,” Chief Diversity Officer Nikki Lewis Simon, The National Diversity Council, 2020
• MANSFIELD 3.0 Certified by The Diversity Lab, Sept. 2020
• Diversity, Women’s & LGBT Scorecards, The American Lawyer/National Law Journal, 2020 placements:
  • ✓ No. 1: Number of African American Partners and Attorneys; Latino Attorneys Overall
  • ✓ No. 2: Latino Partners; LGBT Partners
  • ✓ No. 4: Minority Attorneys
  • ✓ No. 5: Asian American Partners
  • ✓ No. 6, Female Partners Overall
• Score of 100%, Corporate Equality Index, Human Rights Campaign Foundation, 2017-2018, 2020-2021 and Equidad MX LGBTQ+ Survey, 2020

Company: HCA Houston Healthcare
Diversity Team Name: Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Council
Diversity Team Leader(s): Sherri Neal, Chief Diversity Officer
Website: www.hcahoustonhealthcare.com

What Makes this Diversity Team Stand Out

HCA Houston Healthcare is the leading provider of health care in the Greater Houston area, where excellent trained physicians, nurses and allied health professionals treat almost a million patients every year and provide over $2 billion in charity care annually. Our comprehensive network includes 13 hospitals, 10 outpatient surgery centers, 11 freestanding emergency centers and a dozen freestanding diagnostic imaging facilities.

We consider it our privilege to serve a diverse patient population and employ a diverse workforce of 15,000 colleagues. We have intentionally renewed and expanded our focus on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) through a comprehensive approach focused on six key areas: patients, colleagues, suppliers, boards, community partnerships, and sustainability. Each of these six areas is critical and interconnected with the others, reflecting a holistic approach aligned with our organizational goals.

Through this commitment, HCA Houston Healthcare is advancing health equity and ensuring access to services for all patients, providing an inclusive culture where colleagues can thrive, promoting the inclusion of diverse businesses within our supplier base, ensuring our boards of trustees reflect the diversity of the communities we serve, and building healthier communities through strategic partnerships and environmental stewardship.

HCA Houston Healthcare’s DEI achievements have included the following:

• Recognized as an Outstanding Diverse Organization by Houston Business Journal.
• Launched eight employee colleague networks (Women’s, Hispanic/Latinx, Young Professionals, Veteran, The Voice Black Colleague Network, Asian, LGBTQ, and Health and Wellness).These employee- led groups work to strengthen our DEI culture by facilitating connection, collaboration, and celebration among colleagues. The networks allow employees to share ideas, build relationships, and unlock possibilities for career development, mentorship, and community engagement.
• Relaunched our Diversity Council with a focus on goals related to patient care and health equity, colleague inclusion, belonging, representation and advancement, supplier diversity, board representation, and community engagement, with representation from all hospitals and a variety of functional areas, tenure, and leadership levels across diversity dimensions.
• Created goals for reducing turnover among our colleagues of color, increasing employee engagement for colleagues of color, and increasing representation of women and people of color among leadership and board representation.
• Hosted Conscious Inclusion Training for all senior leaders and above, with a goal of providing training for all directors and above during 2021.
• Launching a formal mentorship program in 2021.
• Performed outreach in underserved communities of color, with a focus on school districts and mentorship programs at local historically black colleges and universities—including Prairie View University and Texas Southern University—to boost access to care and career development opportunities.
• Colleague volunteer activity and donations supported more than 220 charitable organizations.
• More than $10 million dollars in Minority and Women Owned Business Enterprise (MWBE) spend during 2020.

At HCA Houston Healthcare, above all else, we are committed to the care and improvement of human life. Our commitment to cultivating a diverse and inclusive company is not passive; it is active. We are more dedicated than ever to fostering an engaged, equitable, and inclusive culture for our patients, our colleagues, and our communities.

Company: Interpublic Group
Diversity Team Name: Global DEI Group
Diversity Team Leader(s): Heide Gardner
Website: www.interpublic.com

What Makes this Diversity Team Stand Out

Interpublic Group (IPG) is a global network of marketing communications and services agencies. For many years, we have been recognized for specific programs and received credentialing from organizations such as Diversity Best Practices, American Advertising Federation, Diversity Journal, (Global Innovation finalist), LinkedIn, Women in Communications (UK), Bloomberg Gender Equality Index, and Human Rights Campaign.

The Global Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Group (DEI Group) earned IPG its reputation as a leader in the ad industry, and for being ahead of the curve on the complex issues of race and intersectionality—our CEO first engaged directly with employees on racial equity in 2015. Despite its record of accomplishment, the team has never been singled out for recognition and has bypassed awards submissions for the past few years to focus inward.

During 2020, the team guided our global and U.S. CEOs, who were expected to maintain progress with key metrics regardless of business headwinds. Decision-making checklists were created to ensure furloughs and layoffs did not have unintended consequences for Black talent. Mentored by our chief diversity and inclusion officer (CDIO), CEOs had confidential safe spaces to process events with their peers and one-on-one private coaching sessions with her.

People of color, nontraditional families, LGBTQ+ employees, people with disabilities, and others had unmet needs from the many generic resources that circulated to address COVID-19 issues of engagement, virtual work, and well-being. IPG’s DEI group worked to fill those critical gaps. Our DEI Group curated resource hubs and designed bespoke tool kits and learning experiences on topics such as inclusive meetings, subtle acts of exclusion, micro-aggressions, the increase in intimate partner violence, mental health, and other issues that focused on marginalized, underrepresented, or at-risk groups. A new internal website, www.inclusiveatwork.com, was opened to the public, expanding their impact beyond IPG. The team also recognized the need and made available culturally competent clinicians and support for more diverse range of families as they tried to manage flexibility, child and elder care.

In addition to its COVID-19-related DEI strategy, the team maintained a normal cadence of newsletters, communications, corporate events, and business resource group (BRG) coordination and support. The team programmed or coordinated more than 50 individual webinars, live streams, and initiatives on top of its day-to-day role in overseeing data, analytics, compliance, and IPG’s annual Climate for Inclusion survey. The team also took on the preparation, moderation, and policy follow up for 17 listening sessions for thousands of employees in the United States, the UK, and Canada.

IPG adopted the team’s recommendations for a Juneteenth holiday, making bail payments for employees unfairly arrested while protesting, and a formal election day off. Throughout 2020, IPG’s CEO and COO ensured DEI themes were included in all weekly communications and town halls tied to navigating COVID-19. Another transformative measure proposed by the department and adopted by leadership was full disclosure of our EEO-1 report data by race/ethnicity, gender, and level. IPG became the first industry holding company to do so, causing a ripple effect throughout the ad industry.

Company: Kasowitz Benson Torres LLP
Diversity Team Name: Kasowitz Diversity & Inclusion Committee and Women’s Initiatives Committee
Diversity Team Leader(s): Cochairs Hector Torres & Cindy Caranella Kelly (Kasowitz Diversity & Inclusion Committee)
Website: www.kasowitz.com

What Makes this Diversity Team Stand Out

Kasowitz has long been a leader in promoting diverse attorneys to partnership and leadership positions. From 2020 to 2021, 44.4 percent of partner promotions were minorities and 33.3 percent were women.

Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) Committee Co-chaired by cofounding partner Hector Torres and partner Cindy Caranella Kelly, our Diversity & Inclusion Committee has been instrumental in cultivating an environment in which diverse attorneys are supported in their pursuit of their professional goals; in establishing mentorship and pipeline programs; and in increasing the recruitment of diverse attorneys.

• Professional Development Our D&I Committee hosts a Diversity Speaker Series that brings distinguished speakers to provide guidance to our diverse attorneys. The Committee hosted Jean Lee, CEO of MCCA, to discuss diversity in the law and initiatives to create an inclusive environment. The Committee also hosted an powerful discussion on Ta-Nehisi Coates’s Between the World and Me, engaging all firm employees in meaningful discussions about race and allyship.
• Mentorship/Pipeline Initiatives One of our most impactful pipeline initiatives is participating in the LCLD 1L Scholars Program, which strengthens the legal pipeline by expanding the opportunities for diverse first-year law students. Kasowitz hired a diverse 1L as a summer associate for 2020-2021. Through our pro bono work, partnering with the Justice Resource Center’s MENTOR program, we work with and coach students from John Dewey High School (one of the 100 most diverse schools in NYS) in moot court and mock trial competitions, and expose them to legal careers. We accompany students on court visits and bring them to the firm to hear from our founding partner, Hector Torres, about how he excelled and became one of the country’s top Hispanic litigators. We also partnered with La Unidad Latina Foundation and its “Y Tu También” College Readiness program, and held a college application workshop to prepare minority high school students for college.
• Recruiting Led by the D&I Committee, Kasowitz has significantly increased its financial commitment to and attendance at law school events hosted by the Black Law Students Association. The firm has also been expanding its relationship with Howard University School of Law and hired a Howard law student as a 2019 summer associate.
• Women’s Initiatives Committee Kasowitz’s Women’s Initiatives Committee focuses on efforts to assist the firm’s women lawyers with career building, business development, and mentoring. The committee hosts roundtables for women attorneys to provide insight on how women attorneys can achieve success. Recent roundtables discussed legal careers beyond law firms, excelling in leadership roles, and business development during the pandemic. The committee also hosted an inspiring discussion on Stories from Trailblazing Women Lawyers: Lives in the Law by Jill Norgren.

Diversity Awards

• Ranked by The American Lawyer as a top 20 diverse law firm in the U.S.
• Ranked fifth place on The American Lawyer’s list of firms with highest percentage of African-American lawyers
• Shortlisted for Chambers USA Diversity and Inclusion Award: Corporate Social Responsibility Program of the Year
• California Minority Counsel Program’s Drucilla Stender Ramey Majority-Owned Law Firm Award
• Ranked 11th in Law360’s Best Law Firms for Minority Attorneys at midsized firms

Company: Kelley Kronenberg Attorneys at Law
Diversity Team Name: Kelley Kronenberg’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee
Diversity Team Leader(s): Michelle Martinez Reyes
Website: www.kelleykronenberg.com

What Makes this Diversity Team Stand Out

Kelley Kronenberg has made hiring diverse candidates at all levels a priority in its recruiting efforts. At the firm, diversity and inclusion is supported and embraced not only by the human resources department, but also by all the principal shareholders. CEO and Principal Partner Michael Fichtel has joined the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD), which is leading the nationwide effort to increase diversity among lawyers throughout Fortune 500 companies and top-tier law firm members. Michael has committed to participate in the LCLD’s leadership summit to propel diversity, and the firm will be sharing its diversity pledge with LCLD members.

The Diversity and Inclusion Committee is involved in promoting internal and external campaigns through social media and events to propel recruiting and attracting diverse candidates with the assistance of the human resources department.

Kelley Kronenberg’s Human Resources department is led by gender and racially diverse executives who support the Diversity and Inclusion Committee’s efforts to propel firm-wide and community-based diversity initiatives. Half of the C-suite consists of minorities and women. The firm also monitors and keeps current records of gender and ethnic diversity, which is proudly disclosed on the firm’s website.

We support diversity-based events and celebrate holidays from various cultural and religious backgrounds to educate and spread a message of inclusion in workplace. Our summer internship program recruits diverse law students to work in various practice areas in different departments. The firm has established internal leadership and self-improvement training programs for all its employees, including programs relating to unconscious bias.

At Kelley Kronenberg, diversity and inclusion is not just an initiative or a program; it is an investment from the very senior principal shareholders to the newest person in the door. We believe that committing to the cause of inclusiveness internally will ultimately effect change externally for the benefit of the legal community at large.

Businesses that take the initiative to increase the diversity of their management teams, across all dimensions of diversity and with the right enabling factors in place, perform better. Diverse leadership propels business success by finding unconventional solutions to problems and generates better ideas, some of which are likely to become winning products and services in the marketplace. As a result, these organizations outperform their peers financially.

Changing the makeup of the leadership team in terms of national origins, industry backgrounds, gender balance, career paths, ages, and educational focus can bring a fresh perspective. Increasing the diversity of leadership teams leads to more innovation and improved financial performance. People with different backgrounds and experiences often see the same problem in different ways and come up with different solutions, increasing the odds that one of those solutions will be a success.

Company: Mediavine
Diversity Team Name: People Ops Department
Diversity Team Leader(s): Matt Richenthal
Website: www.mediavine.com

What Makes this Diversity Team Stand Out

Diversity, equity, and inclusion have always been a focal point for Mediavine. However, the tragic events in spring 2020 ignited new commitments from our leadership team. Mediavine Cofounder Steve Marsi wrote a blog post that unequivocally stated the company stance: We Stand With You. This rallying cry evolved into a movement for Mediavine. Since then, we have developed We Stand With You PSAs, cultivated safe spaces for team members to connect, led important conversations, and launched new company initiatives related to DEI.

Town hall meetings were initiated to explore how we could sensitively serve and support the POC and LGTBQIA+ communities. Each town hall was exclusively dedicated to Mediavine employees who self-identify as members of those communities. Through these conversations, we crystallized new company standards, including the following:

• New regulations for the Mediavine publisher terms of service to prohibit LGBTQIA+ hate speech on their platforms
• Adding optional pronoun offerings to Mediavine employee email signatures and to our People Operations system to ensure we’re addressing our employees in their preferred ways
• Updating our People Operations policies and procedures to protect trans employees’ privacy regarding protected information
• Redesigning our website to shine light on our devotion to DEI in a more overt way
• Implementing a four-segment—required for all employees—Traliant training course that addresses Diversity, Inclusion & Sensitivity; Microaggressions in the Workplace; Preventing Discrimination & Harassment; and Unconscious Bias
• Creating Slack community channels as safe spaces for diverse groups
• Launching The Belonging Project video, an internal reflection of Mediavine values created by Mediavine employees for Mediavine employees
• Launching our Diversity & Inclusion at Mediavine video, an external reflection of Mediavine values visible to the general public

Additionally, we administered two employee surveys—The Trust Index^™ Survey and Best Places to Work survey by Quantum Workplace—at the beginning of 2021 to gauge employee satisfaction and better understand our employees’ wants and needs. The surveys yielded the following results:

• 99% of employees say Mediavine is a great place to work compared to 59% of a typical U.S.- based company
• 100% of employees say people here are treated fairly regardless of race
• 100% of employees say people care about each other at Mediavine
• 100% of employees say when someone joins Mediavine, they are made to feel welcome
• 100% of employees say when people change jobs or work units, they are made to feel right at home
• 100% of employees say they are given the resources and equipment necessary to do their jobs

Our survey feedback earned Mediavine Great Place to Work certification and recognition on Inc. magazine’s 2021 Best Workplaces overall list, as well as a earning our organization a winning spot in Inc.’s Medium: Employee size 50-99 category.

Diversifying our team remains a priority. At the end of 2020, our company workforce was 60 percent female and 38 percent self-identifying POC. In 2021, we’re amplifying that statistic by committing to hiring at least 50 percent POC. We’re proud to say in the first two quarters of 2021 we’ve held true to that commitment.

Company: New American Funding
Diversity Team Name: Latino Focus
Diversity Team Leader(s): Patty Arvielo & Frank Fuentes
Website: www.newamericanfunding.com

What Makes this Diversity Team Stand Out

Throughout its history, New American Funding has led by example, with equality, diversity, and inclusion as its core pillars in hiring and mortgage lending. The company represents one of the most successful Latina-owned businesses in America. Cofounder and President Patty Arvielo, a first-generation Hispanic, knows the unique challenges her community faces when buying a home, including language barriers and financial literacy.

In 2013, Arvielo formed the company’s Latino Focus Committee to support this underserved community in realizing their dreams of homeownership. The Committee, which is spearheaded by Frank Fuentes (VP of Multicultural Community Lending) and includes Tania Murray (Chair), Miguel Mouriz (Co-Chair), and Jose Plascencia (Co-Chair), uses education and awareness to enhance the quality of the lending experience for Hispanic consumers, aiming to lift up the community and build generational wealth through homeownership.

Through this initiative, the company has been able to connect with Hispanics by means of several core outreach efforts. These include Spanish-language YouTube ads, virtual events from local branches, and a full range of customized educational materials to aid Hispanics in their homebuying experience.

This outreach begins from within—23 percent of the company’s workforce is Hispanic. With a focus on hiring bilingual employees, the company also has multiple branches in four of the five main Hispanic markets within the United States, and is committed to lending $25 billion in new mortgages to Hispanic borrowers by 2024.

Through Latino Focus, New American Funding has been able to increase sustainable Hispanic homeownership across America. Today, the lender is one of the largest privately held retail lenders to Hispanic borrowers. In fact, 18 percent of New American Funding’s 2020 home-purchase loan volume was to Hispanic borrowers, compared to 11.9 percent for the industry. Also, its percentage of purchase lending to Hispanics was 51 percent more than the industry’s overall percentage (based on 2020 HDMA data from ComplianceTech’s Lending Patterns HDMA software).

Along with Patty Arvielo, Frank Fuentes, the company’s vice president of multicultural community lending, spearheads the Latino Focus effort. Fuentes, the first Hispanic/bilingual loan officer hired at New American Funding, has devoted more than 20 years to improving lending efforts to minority home buyers. In April, he became an Advisory Council member for the American Mortgage Diversity Council.

Frank has hosted virtual chats with branch representatives and senior leadership to address issues pertaining to Hispanic home buyers and has cohosted virtual webinars with organizations, such as the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals, the National Association of Real Estate Brokers, Freddie Mac, and the American Mortgage Diversity Council. Frank recently took part in Honest Conversations, a Housing- Wire podcast, discussing the Latino Focus initiative and increasing homeownership across all sectors.

Latino Focus has been the driving force behind numerous diversity and inclusion awards and honors, including:

• Profiles in Diversity Journal Latino Leaders Worth Watching–Patty Arvielo (2021)
• ALPFA Most Powerful Latina Award–Patty Arvielo (2020)
• Latino Leaders Magazine Top 100 Most Influential Latinas–Patty Arvielo (2020)
• Profiles in Diversity Journal Diversity Leader (2021)
• Most honorees (45) among the 2020 NAHREP Top 250 Latino Mortgage Originators

Company: New American Funding
Diversity Team Name: New American Dream
Diversity Team Leader(s): Charles Lowery, Director of Legislative Policy & External Affairs
Website: www.newamericanfunding.com

What Makes this Diversity Team Stand Out

Throughout its history, New American Funding has led by example, with equality, diversity, and inclusion as its core pillars in hiring and in mortgage lending. Co-Founder and President Patty Arvielo, a first-generation Hispanic, knows the challenges minorities can face and has made it her mission to uplift communities that are underserved.

In 2016, the company created the New American Dream initiative, with a goal of raising awareness and increasing Black homeownership across the country. The initiative’s purpose is to provide racial equity and build consumer confidence through home buying education, accessibility to credit, and mortgage industry career opportunities for Black communities.

In the wake of the cultural issues our country is now facing, New American Funding has pushed to expand the New American Dream initiative, aiming to increase the company’s lending to communities of color. Through New American Dream, the Black community is provided educational resources and engagement that can put its members on the road to purchasing a home, building wealth, and changing lives.

In 2020, New American Funding’s percentage of purchase lending to minorities was 41percent higher than the industry average, and its percentage of purchase lending to Black borrowers was 85 percent higher than the industry average. In fact, 12.4 percent of New American Funding’s 2020 home purchase loan volume went to Black borrowers compared to 6.7 percent for the overall industry (based on 2020 HDMA data from ComplianceTech’s Lending Patterns HDMA software).

The company’s commitment to diversity starts with its hiring process. The workforce includes 45 percent minority groups, including 9 percent Blacks. In addition, minorities hold key leadership positions, bringing a variety of perspectives to the company’s decision-making process.

One of the key hires has been Charles Lowery, the company’s director of legislative policy and external affairs. In spearheading the company’s New American Dream initiative, Charles brings more than 20 years of mortgage, housing, and advocacy experience to the position. Based in Washington, DC, he represents the company in aligning with national organizations to advance the company’s mission of increasing Black homeownership.

In 2020, New American Dream established a unique partnership with Freddie Mac to produce and present a series of online programs about the challenges to Black homeownership. Recent programs have included The Past, Present, and Future of Black Homeownership, Bridging the Gap in Black Homeownership, and Dispelling the Myths of Black Homeownership. New American Dream will also host the upcoming Overcoming the Credit & Debt Obstacles to Black Homeownership.

New American Dream has been the driving force behind such diversity and inclusion awards and honors as Profiles in Diversity Journal Diversity Leader (2021) and Profiles in Diversity Journal Black Leaders Worth Watching – Anthony Holt & Dwayne Graham (2020).

Company: Novartis
Diversity Team Name: U.S. Diversity & Inclusion Team
Diversity Team Leader(s): Marion Brooks, Vice President and US Country Head, Diversity & Inclusion
Website: www.novartis.com

What Makes this Diversity Team Stand Out

Novartis has assembled a global team to design and implement a D&I strategy that will strengthen our talent base and shape a more inclusive and equitable society. The U.S. team, led by Marion Brooks, Vice President and US Country Head, Diversity & Inclusion, is delivering on strategies to support all genders, races, ethnicities, abilities, and sexual orientations, and building divisional D&I Councils to embed these strategies and address local needs and concerns.

2020/2021 ACHIEVEMENTS

Talent Recruitment & Retention

• Built the first Novartis D&I Talent Acquisition team to enhance our recruiting efforts in diverse communities.
• Implemented new hiring guidelines designed to increase gender and racial/ethnic diversity in leadership through more diverse interview panels and candidate slates. In 2020, 90% of candidate slates are gender diverse; 80% reflect diverse races/ethnicities.
• Launched a Multicultural Engagement Program pilot to identify, invest in, and support diverse talent, and prepare them for senior roles. Over 60% of the cohort advanced their careers in 12 months. The program has been expanded to all U.S. Divisions in 2021.
• Expanded our Leading Up program to foster advancement for female leadership.

Fostering Inclusion/Belonging

• Increased participation in 28 Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) by 160%. More than 6,200 members plan mentoring and networking events, special recognition months, and outreach to underserved communities.
• More than 15,000 associates participated in the company’s Inclusion in Action training series, which addresses unconscious bias and inclusion.
• More than 4,800 associates joined a global webcast: Juneteenth: Generational Trauma and Mental Health in the African-American Community.
• Held a U.S.-wide panel discussion, “Standing in Solidarity with the Asian American/Pacific Islander Community.”
• More than 7,000 associates attended our Day of Reflection following the murder of George Floyd to engage in creating a more inclusive and positive work environment. The Day of Reflection will be an annual event commemorating the Juneteenth holiday.
• Developed a tip sheet to help leaders initiate Courageous Conversations, fostering belonging and psychological safety within teams.

Societal Impact

• Launched an initiative to increase diversity in clinical trials enterprise-wide.
• Reduced disparities of care by building partnerships with patient and community organizations, and supporting education/awareness programs for underserved populations.
• Launched an expanded Supplier Diversity program to identify and partner with more women-, minority-, veteran- and LGBTQI+-owned businesses.
• Launched Capitol Hill Day, giving ERG members the opportunity to meet with members of Congress to share how ERGs are impacting our culture and society.
• Continued our multicultural teen and disability mentoring day programs to inspire bold educational and career goals in diverse youth.
• Expanded university relations outreach to build partnerships with and provide scholarships, mentoring and internships to students attending Historically Black Colleges/Universities HBCUs and Hispanic- serving institutions.

Recognition

• One of seven 2020 DiversityInc Hall of Fame companies.
• Number one in our industry in the Refinitiv Diversity & Inclusion Index (second consecutive year).
• Scored 100% on the Human Rights Campaign’s LGBTQ Corporate Equality Index; also named a Best Place to Work for LGBTQ Equality by HRC.
• Featured in the April edition of Pharmaceutical Executive, as a company that has embraced D&I as a “must have.”