UPMC Senior VP and CFO Rob DeMichiei told the audience at the African American Chamber Of Commerce Sept. 19 PowerBreakfast that one of the best things the corporate community could do to increase their businesses’ workforce and supply chains would be to fire their chief diversity officers.
His tongue was only partially planted in his cheek as he called, again, for the rest of Pittsburgh’s corporate community to follow UPMC’s lead on publically posting diversity efforts and results.
“Companies can say, look we have a diversity officer,” he said. “But corporations—including us—get measured on lots of stuff. But until and unless they are measured on diversity, they won’t do better. If there is no transparency, there is no incentive to improve.”
UPMC remains the only local corporation to institute a hybrid “Rooney Rule” for insuring a diverse pool of candidates for executive hiring. And, DeMichiei said, thanks to internal practices created by Candi Castleberry Singleton and the purchasing department, UPMC actively searches for minority suppliers and now has a $100-million annual minority “buy.”
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