2010 Best-in-Class Board Diversity - Nonprofit/Government
The University Hospitals Health System (UH) Board, the “parent” board for the entire system, is composed of a very diverse group of highly accomplished community leaders. In 2010, the UH Board of 41 individuals included nine, or 22 percent, racially diverse individuals. This compares with an average of 16 percent for the nonprofit / government comparison group. To achieve this level of representation, the UH Board utilizes strategies that include:
- Developing and implementing a “Diversity Scorecard” to ensure that UH strategic plans incorporate key diversity goals. The scorecard’s four parts are: (1) attracting diverse talent; (2) building a diverse culture; (3) partnering with minority suppliers; and (4) meeting the needs of the community.
- Review and approval of all diversity goals, as well as the organization’s strategic plans. Discussions of strategic plans include review and consideration of UH diversity goals.
- Making every effort to locate and recruit minority candidates for Board membership including using recruitment firms, following up on personal contacts and leads, as well as recommendations made by current leadership, medical staff, personnel and other UH constituents.
- Focusing on the development of a system-wide diversity recruitment and retention framework and strategy that includes introducing ethnicity to leadership-review discussions and notifying recruiters of potential candidate pools, as well as UH’s focus on achieving its diversity goals. This ensures that recruitment firms: (1) fully understand UH’s diversity goals and efforts to maintain a culturally and ethnically diverse Board; and (2) have the resources and experience to identify a satisfactory pool of potential candidates.
- Working with the UH Cultural Diversity Committee and UH Board leadership, the Board Governance and Education Committee ensures that the processes for consideration of diversity and inclusion in succession planning for Board officers is consistent with UH diversity goals.
- Communicating the Board’s stand on diversity that includes: (1) discussions/presentations regarding UH’s commitment to diversity as part of the Board orientation for new directors; (2) defining UH’s core values, a key component of which is the organization’s commitment to diversity; (3) setting the tone for the entire organization through UH communications to all personnel and medical staff, emphasizing UH’s diversity efforts; (4) establishing a system-wide Code of Conduct that expressly states diversity as a core value of UH and further confirms that UH promotes diversity and equality in the workplace; and (5) ensuring that UH marketing and communications efforts recognize and include central aspects of the organization’s commitment to diversity.
“Diversity and inclusion are woven into the fabric of University Hospitals, starting with the composition of our Board of Directors. Our commitment to diversity extends to our patients and families, employees, business partners, and the communities we serve.
Diversity throughout our system is essential to our vision: providing the highest quality of care and the best patient experience while innovating and pursuing new medical discoveries.”
Thomas F. Zenty III
Chief Executive Officer
University Hospitals