CVS Health, together with the City of Providence, hosted the 2018 Billion Dollar Roundtable Summit and induction ceremony. Billion Dollar Roundtable is an organization that recognizes and celebrates companies that achieve spending of at least $1 billion with certified diverse suppliers that are primarily minority- or woman-owned.
The event, which took place August 21 and 22, brought together leaders from 29 Billion Dollar Roundtable companies, academics, government officials and diverse suppliers to share best practices, opportunities and strategies to continue to grow their supplier diversity program.
CVS Health President and CEO Larry Merlo kicked off the event with opening remarks.
“Developing a diverse workforce and supply chain fosters innovation, creates economic opportunities, provides better access to talent and improves business performance,” Merlo said. “We call it purpose-driven growth. It’s what has led to CVS Health’s success in the past, and it’s what will continue to drive our business in the future.”
Merlo and David Casey, Chief Diversity Officer and Vice President of Workforce Strategies, also hosted a session to discuss how strategic diversity management helps companies drive business growth, deepen relationships with their customers and build a culture of inclusion.
The importance of partnering with diverse suppliers
In 2017, CVS Health was recognized by Billion Dollar Roundtable for reaching its goal of spending over $1 billion with diverse suppliers. These partnerships help us ensure our products and services evolve to meet the needs of our customers, according to Eva Boratto, Executive Vice President, Controller and Chief Accounting Officer for CVS Health.
“Our level of commitment to working with diverse suppliers helps us deliver innovative, high-quality health and pharmacy services. It’s what our clients and customers are looking for us to do and these partnerships are creating jobs and economic opportunities in communities across the country,” Boratto says.
One of those partners is Eosera, maker of Earwax MD.
“Working with CVS Pharmacy as a diverse supplier, Eosera has helped turn the ear care market into a growth engine,” explains CEO and co-founder Elyse Dickerson. “Thanks to CVS Pharmacy, Eosera has been able to bring valuable health care innovations to millions of consumers across the U.S.”
Our work with diverse suppliers plays an important role in business across the enterprise. For example, we’re meeting contractual requirements with our CVS Caremark clients for diverse supplier inclusion. Additionally, prospective pharmacy benefits management (PBM) clients take many of our supplier diversity efforts into consideration when selecting CVS Caremark for PBM services.
With one of the most active and progressive Supplier Diversity Programs among U.S. corporations, CVS Health is committed to working with minority- and women-owned business enterprises (MWBEs) to build supply-chain excellence, add distinctive goods, services and capabilities to our business offerings and create competitive advantage.