Tennessee Voices, Episode 347: Sherri Neal, chief diversity officer, HCA Healthcare
May 2023 is the three-year anniversary of the murder of George Floyd, which led many companies to commit publicly to take meaningful action on diversifying their staffs and creating long-term equity strategies.
It has not been an easy road for many, but examining and being accountable to those commitments are important to leaders such as Sherri Neal, chief diversity officer at HCA Healthcare, a Fortune 500 company in Nashville, Tennessee.
On this episode of the Tennessee Voices video podcast, Neal spoke about the importance of intentional efforts and partnerships to create a diverse talent pipeline and promote health equity.
She wrote about this topic in a February 2023 guest opinion column, showcasing the company's partnership with Fisk University and Tennessee State University, two of four historically Black colleges and universities in Nashville.
We discussed looking back at 2020, how George Floyd's murder touched our society and how companies such as HCA started the work to diversify its staff.
While she has been with HCA for 17 years, she became chief diversity officer in 2020 just before COVID emerged and before the racial reckoning that followed Floyd's death.
Neal also spoke about the personal challenges she faced during these past few years including losing her husband of 38 years to cancer and how she has coped.
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About Tennessee Voices
The Tennessee Voices videocast is a 20-minute program, which started in March 2020 and invites leaders, thinkers and innovators who have written guest columns for a USA TODAY Network Tennessee publication to share their insights and wisdom with me and our viewers.
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Please email your ideas for future guests to me at dplazas@tennessean.com. Thank you for watching.
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David Plazas is the director of opinion and engagement for the USA TODAY Network - Tennessee. He is of Colombian and Cuban descent, has studied or worked in several Spanish-speaking countries, and was the founding editor of Gaceta Tropical in Southwest Florida. He has lived in Tennessee since 2014. Call him at (615) 259-8063, email him at dplazas@tennessean.com or tweet to him at @davidplazas.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Video podcast: Sherri Neal, chief diversity officer, HCA Healthcare
