Paul S. Williams
General Counsel
One of the most cherished corporate principles at Cardinal Health Inc. (Cardinal) is that fostering diversity — whether it is among employees, customers, or suppliers — is critical to maintaining and strengthening the pipeline of innovative thinking, which is the foundation of Cardinal’s culture, a principle that has been wholly embraced by Cardinal’s legal department.
Based on the Fortune 500 rankings, Cardinal Health is the second largest company in the nation having a minority as general counsel. Almost half of Cardinal Health’s 44 attorneys are women, including 3 members of the department’s senior leadership team. Seven of the department’s attorneys are minorities, including Cardinal Health’s Chief Legal Officer, Paul S. Williams, and two other members of the leadership team.
Beyond these statistics, however, is a deep-seated passion for diversity that distinguishes Cardinal’s legal department.
Led by Williams, its lawyers have actively pursued the goal of promoting diversity within the profession, through efforts such as working with outside counsel and speaking frequently on diversity-related issues.
Cardinal maintains a Corporate Diversity Council, co-chaired by Williams, that is dedicated to promoting diversity and holding the company accountable to measuring its progress and results. It boasts a corporate mentoring program focused on women and minorities, has national and local recruiting efforts that focus on diversity hiring, and has undergraduate and graduate-level intern programs.
The company’s Supplier Diversity Program is designed to develop and foster strategic supplier relationships with minority- and women-owned companies and small business enterprises. Realizing that diversity is a strength, the Supplier Diversity Program proactively seeks suppliers that will add value and who align themselves with the same standards as Cardinal. The company encourages its prime contractors to use diverse suppliers to further reinforce its commitment.
Cardinal also hosts a number of diversity awareness efforts aimed at helping its employees recognize and appreciate the business relevance of diversity.
Cardinal’s contribution to diversity is even more significant in light of its size and influence.
Headquartered in Dublin, Ohio, Cardinal employs approximately 50,000 people on five continents and produces annual revenues of more than $50 billion.
Cardinal develops, manufactures, packages and markets products for patient care, and is a leading provider of products and services supporting the healthcare industry.
Named one of “The World’s Best” companies by Forbes magazine, Cardinal fosters the belief that diversity not only is essential to good business, but that it is the right thing to do.
From the November/December 2003 issue of Diversity & The Bar®