Also:

• No. 7 in The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for Recruitment & Retention

The U.S.-based Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation is an extraordinary company, with deep connections to multicultural communities. The company’s strong diversity-management efforts start with Wyss, who holds executives accountable for diversity results through their evaluations and compensation, is a very visible proponent of diversity to drive the business, and meets quarterly with the company’s resource groups.

Those 17 groups are very focused on business results. Steven Millerman, director of cross cultural marketing, recently demonstrated at our Innovation Fest! how the seven ethnic resource groups are used specifically to test market reactions and gain cultural insights. Watch a video of his presentation here.

Novartis has remarkable community outreach, from its work with people with disabilities, including students, and other young people from traditionally disadvantaged groups to its remarkable philanthropy. Novartis donates more than 40 percent of its philanthropic endeavors to charities aimed at ethnic, LGBT or disability-focused constituents. The resource groups give back to nonprofits aligned with their respective missions. Novartis, through its Dollars for Doers program, provides donations to nonprofits in recognition of employees who volunteer—and more than 5,000 volunteer hours were logged by Novartis staff members in 2011. The company also has an annual Volunteer Impact Day, and in 2011, almost 2,000 employees volunteered to benefit 80 nonprofits in 10 countries.

This company accepted the award at our event Oct. 11, 2012, in New York City.

U.S. Headquarters: East Hanover, N.J.

Global Employees: 123,686

U.S. Employees: 9,612

Last Year’s DiversityInc Top 50 Ranking: No. 21