MasterCard has made a determined effort to improve its diversity-management efforts in the past few years, and the results are impressive. Under Chief Diversity Officer Donna Johnson, the company has developed effective and strongly utilized resource groups, which meet every month with the CEO.

These groups are used for recruitment, talent development and market outreach. The company has 23 of them, which it calls business-resource groups. They are also used to help with diversity training. For example, the PRIDE group, representing the LGBT community, produced a video for the “It Gets Better” campaign that is featured on MasterCard’s external website. Resource-group members are part of panels during events and have the opportunity to speak to the global organization about the benefits of being in these groups and how diversity has made an impact on their lives and on the business.

MasterCard also has a well-developed mentoring program, with more than 50 percent of its managers in the United States participating.

The 11-member board of directors has two female members, three Asian members and two Latino members. The company has 12 percent of its senior executives serving on multicultural-nonprofit boards and more than half of its philanthropic donations going toward multicultural charities, including the UNCF and the Hispanic College Fund.

MasterCard is balanced in all four areas measured, including supplier diversity, where it requires Tier II (subcontractor) diversity, audits its numbers and has financial assistance and education for suppliers.

U.S. Headquarters: Purchase, N.Y.

Global Employees: 6,700

U.S. Employees: 3,600

Last Year’s DiversityInc Top 50 Ranking: No. 31