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People and Business Resource Groups

Inspired by Patients. Focused on Business. Powered by Our People.

Global Diversity & Inclusion (GD&I) is essential to our values and strategy. We strive to create a Company culture that brings out the best in everyone and advances our mission to discover, develop and deliver innovative medicines that help patients prevail over serious diseases.

The People and Business Resource Groups (PBRGs) are a transformative business model within GD&I that gives us a competitive advantage in a complex biopharmaceutical industry – one that has seen many mergers and acquisitions, shifts in global policy and changing patient and talent demographics. PBRGs are the voices of our workforce and the trusted line-of-sight into the patient experience. The PBRGs help drive business performance, innovation and leadership development with more than 11,000 global members while strategically engaging with business, governmental and community partners to build BMS’s reputation and trust with external stakeholders.

Each of the eight PBRGs is managed by an experienced, high potential full-time leader. PBRG Leads have significant industry experience and in-depth business, medical and scientific research backgrounds. They report to a member of the BMS Executive Leadership Team and act as senior advisors to the businesses, with significant responsibilities including development of three-year business plans.

Here are some of the dynamic ways our PBRGs are making a substantive business difference for our patients, our communities and our workforce:

Black Organization for Leadership and Development (BOLD)

  • Engaged middle school, high school and university students in STEM career mentoring and sponsored the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) Post Doctorate Fellowship.
  • Helped foster an understanding between the African American community and the medical community by promoting the story of Henrietta Lacks, an African American woman whose cells were taken without her knowledge and developed into the HeLa cell, the first immortal line of human cells that were commercialized and distributed to researchers worldwide.
  • BOLD & OLA Edge Research Concept partnership with Howard University Hospital targeted African-American RA patients

Bristol Myers Squibb Network of Women (B-NOW)

  • Partnered with/sponsored professional development activities for BMS women in the U.S. and E.U. to help prepare them for leadership roles now and in the future.
  • Established and representing BMS as a founding member of the HBA Gender Parity Collaborative.
  • Partnering with BOLD to help educate more than 250 students in STEM awareness activities.

Cultivating Leadership and Innovation for Millennials and Beyond (CLIMB)

  • Produced a customized information card with targeted resources to help young cancer patients navigate their cancer journeys and answer questions specific to their unique needs.
  • Hosted STEM-focused initiatives including innovation tournaments, STEM speed networking, and shadowing programs.
  • Partnered with Oncology Academic Research (OAR) team to host the first ever Emerging Leaders Forums at ASCO and ASH industry conferences. We gathered and engaged with next-gen healthcare providers to facilitate the inclusion of diverse perspectives to better inform the BMS medical strategy. Additionally, building partnerships with the next-gen investigators will help diversify our thought and our clinical trials.

Differently-Abled Workplace Network (DAWN)

  • Worked with leaders to increase awareness of benefits of hiring neurodiverse talent and as a result had an increase of direct and contract hiring of individuals on the autism spectrum.
  • Worked with Supplier Diversity to increase the number of preferred disability-owned business enterprises (DOBE) vendors as a result was recognized in 2019 as Top Corporation for DOBE
  • Local DAWN chapters worked with local vocational schools and high schools to support mentoring programs for students with disabilities in efforts to cultivate future talent
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In 2019, a PBRG partnership with the Oncology Academic Research group for the Health Equities Forum brought together 23 external leaders in the field of Health Equities from major cancer centers across the U.S. with 15 BMS leaders to discuss barriers to diversity in clinical trials and identify potential solutions.

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Allies (LGBTA)

  • Introduced a set of transgender guidelines in the U.S. and Canada to ensure a respectful and inclusive workplace environment for employees in the process of gender transition.
  • Supported national and international efforts to expand LGBTQ+ rights such as joining the Business Coalition for the Equality Act and the UN LGBTI Standards of Conduct
  • Worked with Supplier Diversity to enhance relationships among LBGTQ+ suppliers.

Organization for Latino Achievement (OLA)

  • Hosted annual innovation challenge, OLAthon, which calls on employees to propose solutions for diseases that are highly prevalent within the Latino / Latinx community. The winning team from this innovative crowdsourcing event worked with R&D leadership on the implementation.
  • Signed the Hispanic Promise at the United Nations’ second National Hispanic Leadership Summit
  • Collaborated with Hispanics Inspiring Students’ Performance and Achievement (HISPA) and the Center for Hispanic Policy, Research and Development in support of the New Jersey Governor’s Hispanic Fellows Program. After four years, more than 100 fellows who are pursuing various college degrees have been positively impacted by OLA’s work.

Pan Asian Network (PAN)

  • Developed a cultural agility development program for sales team members to improve intercultural skills that build trust, gain credibility and better serve Asian-American healthcare professionals.
  • Established a global buddy program to expedite effective onboarding of our R&D colleagues in China contributing to the development and launch of Opdivo® in China.
  • Collaborated to offer the ASPIRE leadership development program which provides unique opportunities for aspiring Asian leaders to develop competencies required to reach the executive level.

Veterans Community Network (VCN)

  • Effective January 1, 2020, a new Military Leave Policy began offering full BMS pay for 24 months, rather than an offset, for full- and part-time U.S. and Puerto Rico employees engaged in uniformed services. Enhanced Employee Assistance Program (EAP) services and a 2-week paid leave for readjustment period between return from deployment and reporting back to work are also available. VCN co-led the enhanced policy development with BMS Total Rewards colleagues in Human Resources.
  • Helped expand outreach opportunities in partnership with our Commercial Federal Accounts teams to strengthen their network of VA and DoD stakeholders.

The patient stories shared in this Annual Report depict individual patient responses to our medicines or investigational compounds and are not representative of all patient responses. In addition, there is no guarantee that potential drugs or indications still in development will receive regulatory approval. This Annual Report contains statements about the company’s future plans and prospects that constitute forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ from those indicated as a result of various important factors, including those discussed in the company’s most recent annual report on Form 10-K and reports on Form 10-Q and Form 8-K. These documents are available from the SEC, the Bristol Myers Squibb website or from Bristol Myers Squibb Investor Relations. In addition, any forward-looking statements represent our estimates only as of the date hereof and should not be relied upon as representing our estimates as of any subsequent date. While we may elect to update forward-looking statements at some point in the future, we specifically disclaim any obligation to do so, even if our estimates change. This Annual Report also contains certain non-GAAP financial measures, adjusted to include certain costs, expenses, gains and losses and other specified items. Reconciliations of these non-GAAP financial measures to the most comparable GAAP measures are available on the company’s website at www.bms.com