Paula J. Shives
General Counsel
Darden Restaurants, Inc. believes that embracing and valuing diversity helps to fulfill its core purpose of providing excellent service, leadership, and a quality product to the diverse communities it serves. This philosophy is why diversity is a key component within Darden’s strategic plan, enabling the company to create an environment that understands diversity’s implications to its business success, and translating that understanding into appropriate practices across the company.
When guests sit down to eat at any of Darden’s more than 1,400 Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Bahama Breeze or Smokey Bones restaurants, they are “dining with diversity.”
Its commitment to diversity starts at the top. Darden has one of the most diverse boards of directors in the Fortune 500, comprised of over 36 percent minorities. Its executive team also reflects its focus on diversity, with approximately one-eighth of its officers consisting of minorities, and one-fifth women.
Darden’s law department, which is led by Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary Paula J. Shives, has a three-point diversity strategy: increase the percentage of dollars paid to diverse law firms and minority and women attorneys; increase diversity within the applicant pool for open positions and in its workforces; and support the company’s diverse communities and share those experiences with each other.
Shives not only leads the law department, she also heads up the company’s diversity initiatives and is responsible for diversity in the workforce and community affairs. The company actively supports the diverse communities it serves with volunteers, funding, and in-kind donations.
Shives is also responsible for supplier diversity, which, through a Supplier Diversity Council, helped the company more than quadruple its minority spending since 1998, while minimizing costs and increasing quality and service.
Darden’s commitment to diversity and community is also reflected by Shives’ service as a member of the board of directors of the Women’s Foodservice Forum and the Central Florida Economic Development Commission, and by the many volunteer activities of the attorneys and legal department staff, who the company encourages to become involved in diversity projects.
The company’s diversity practices were recognized as one of 300 “Promising Practices” on the “One America” web site, a former White House initiative.
Darden has been selected by Fortune magazine as one of the “Top 50 companies for Minorities” since 1999, and by DiversityInc.com as one of the “Top 50 Companies for Diversity” since 2000. Darden has also received the “Company of the Year” award from the National Minority Supplier Development Council of Florida, and the Greater Los Angeles African-American Chamber of Commerce.
From the November/December 2003 issue of Diversity & The Bar®