Increasing access to care among underserved populations can advance health equity. In this episode of People and Strategy, Boston Scientific’s vice president of HR and global chief diversity officer Camille Chang Gilmore discusses the medical technology company’s Close the Gap Health Equity Initiative, tying inclusion goals to measurable outcomes, her tips for successful leadership, and more.
Increasing access to care among underserved populations can advance health equity. In this episode of People and Strategy, Boston Scientific’s vice president of HR and global chief diversity officer Camille Chang Gilmore discusses the medical technology company’s Close the Gap Health Equity Initiative, tying inclusion goals to measurable outcomes, her tips for successful leadership, and more.
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Mo Fathelbab:
Welcome to today's episode of People and Strategy. I'm your host, Mo Fathelbab, President of International Facilitators Organization. People and Strategy is a podcast from the SHRM Executive Network, the premier network of executives and thought leaders in the field of human resources. People and Strategy is the podcast delivering in-depth conversations with HR executives and people leaders to advance the field of human resources by providing engagement and thought leadership to senior executives.
In today's episode, I'm pleased to be joined by Camille Chang Gilmore VP of HR and Global Chief Diversity Officer of the global medical device company, Boston Scientific. She's worked at Boston Scientific for 20 years. Camille has previously held HR roles at IBM, Exxon, and FedEx. One of Camille's leading initiatives at Boston Scientific is the organization's Close the Gap health equity initiative, which supports healthcare systems providing greater healthcare access for the typically underserved, including Black, Hispanic, and women patients living with cardiovascular disease.
In her role as Boston Scientific's Chief Diversity Officer, she oversees the company's global community engagement efforts and has a proven track record of devising diversity-generating employment programs. Finally, she's a member of numerous boards, including the SHRM Foundation, Disability:IN, WittKieffer, and she is the board liaison for the National Action Council for Minority Engineers, NACME. Welcome, Camille. It's a pleasure to have you with us.
Camille Chang Gilmore:
Oh, thank you so much, Mo. It's a pleasure to be here.
Mo Fathelbab:
Camille, you have done so much. It is so impressive. I would love to just hear a little bit more about your professional journey and how you got into HR.
Camille Chang Gilmore:
Well, thanks so much, Mo. First, you should know I'm grounded in my roots, and you probably looked at my name and said, "Well, where does the Chang come from?" I'm Jamaican Chinese. I migrated to the United States when I was younger. I graduated from Penn State University as well as the University of Illinois and got my MBA, and I'm a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. I've been married for about 31 years, and I have two adult sons, but also an amazing young dog, a Boxer. And I have been raised by a single mom who is the foundation of my life, and unfortunately, I recently lost her in 2022.
But I say that because the journey began when I graduated from Penn State, working for a company that you all may know called FedEx. And there, I learned about People-Service-Profit. I then went on to work for the University of Illinois, where I earned my MBA. But also, it gave me that life-changing path in HR where I ran recruitment for the MBA program to which I graduated from. And then I had the opportunity to work for an amazing company, and many may know it, Exxon. And there, I used to negotiate union contracts as the third chair. And it was fascinating because in that internship opportunity that I had, I learned when invited to the room, take your seat in the room, and don't get punked at the table.
I then went on and worked for IBM. At IBM, I learned the meaning and the importance of talent and that it was truly the heart of an organization that could really determine high performance or low performance. And then I got pulled away to work for a med device company then called Guidant. Guidant was subsequently bought by Boston Scientific, and I've had an amazing career of putting patients, employees, and communities at the center of everything we do. And it's now been 20 years and I haven't looked back.
Mo Fathelbab:
Amazing. So, Camille, you serve both as Vice President of Human Resources and Global Chief Diversity Officer at Boston Scientific. How do you balance those dual roles?
Camille Chang Gilmore:
Well, I think they're actually intertwined. One of the things that I enjoy right now leading the global inclusion and engagement team, and I think of it as three teams, one group, we put the patient, the employee, and the community at the center of everything we do. And by doing that, by having a program like Close the Gap that really focuses on eradicating the inequities of care for women and people of color to DE&I focused on building and ensuring that we look to advance our employees, but more so do it in a way that allows for inclusion and equitable practices. And then community. Globally, we're impacting the community around the world where we sit and live at Boston Scientific, engaging our employees to give back and do more.
Mo Fathelbab:
Thank you. Camille, what an amazing journey. One thing that's becoming obvious to me as I hear your story and read your bio is there's a through line of commitment to service. And I'm curious where that was engendered in you and why that matters to you.
Camille Chang Gilmore:
Oh, well, as I mentioned, I'm a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. And I was able to join that prestigious sorority in the fall of 1990. And the mission is service to all mankind. And being able to be a part of an organization that, think about it, in 1908, these women that came together could have said, "Service to all Black women." They could have said, "Service to the people in DC."
They could have said, "Service to the people at Howard University." But instead, they had such vision to know that the work that they do required everyone to be full participants. And when you think about the service, it really is about giving back, but making sure that you also uplift others. And I've been taught that not only by my sorority but also by my mother and my family. We take it extremely serious that the future needs to see us in the roles that we play. And pulling people up is just so, so important.
Mo Fathelbab:
I love that twice now you've acknowledged your mother and I would do the same if I was in your place because mine was incredible as well. So let's talk about inclusion for a second. How do you know when people are included? How do you define inclusion?
Camille Chang Gilmore:
Simply put, Mo, I'll use my quote that my team has heard me say, "Diversity is a given, inclusion is actually a choice. Equity should be the goal, and belonging should be the ultimate outcome." So I truly believe that every day we wake up with the choice of whether we are going to include or exclude. And at Boston Scientific, we've taken actually a very deliberate, intentional, and I think, somewhat surgical approach to inclusion.
We have an inclusion champions program that we recently just rolled out where we want leaders to understand their role in ensuring effective meetings and creating an inclusive culture. We also have inclusion councils globally that are led by even one of our presidents who is responsible for Europe, Middle Eastern, and Africa, Eric Thépaut, which is fantastic because it's that clear connection to say, "We need to ensure that the world comes together, collaborates, and understands the role in making sure that everyone feels included and no one is excluded."
Mo Fathelbab:
I love that. And how does Boston Scientific measure the success of its inclusion and diversity initiatives?
Camille Chang Gilmore:
Mo, I thought you'd never ask. I will tell you that our ops person often used to tell me, "What gets measured gets done." And he's exactly right. And I would say in 2016, our CEO and chairman, Mike Mahoney, started to ask, "How will we measure these goals or create goals that are aspirational?" So in 2018, we actually launched what's called 10/20/40 by 2020. And that was putting it out there that our aspirational goal was to be a top 10 inclusive place to work. It was also to have 20% multicultural talent at the manager and supervisor level, but it was also to ensure that we had 40% women at the manager and supervisor level.
And you might say, "Well, why that level?" Well, if you're in talent, you know that the throughput to talent comes through that management ranks. And one of the things, we'd rather grow and build the talent within Boston Scientific. So by having that focus on our middle trough of talent, we're able to identify individual contributors and pull them up, but then also pull them through to those director and vice president roles. Not only did we achieve our goals of hitting the 10%, 20%, and 40% aspirational goals, we leaned in further and said, "You know what? We are going to do three up." So by 2023, we were going to have 23% multicultural talent and 43% multicultural talent. And guess what, Mo? We did it.
Mo Fathelbab:
All right.
Camille Chang Gilmore:
And then we said, "You know what? In 2023, we are going to look at our progress across the enterprise." And we were, at the time, reconstructing our roles so that we could show employees a manager track and a professional track. And in doing so, we actually identified saying, "You know what? We want to take an enterprise approach and ensure that maybe we have 50% women at all levels represented and about 37.3% of multicultural at all levels." And guess what, Mo? We did it again.
Mo Fathelbab:
You did it again. Amazing.
Camille Chang Gilmore:
And now we have aspirational goals to get us to 2030. And we are primed and ready to do that. And what I love about what we're doing as a company is we're weaving it in, we're sustaining it, we're making it part of the fabric of who we are. It's not an additional and.
Mo Fathelbab:
I love it. So, Camille, you also talked about health equity. What role does it play in HR?
Camille Chang Gilmore:
Wow. Well, I will tell you, for two decades, we've been leading the charge at Boston Scientific to eradicate the disparities in care for women and people of color. And I have to emphasize a quote from the chair of Close the Gap and president of our cardiology group sales division in the US where he said, "Close the Gap connects to the purpose of our business around meaningful innovation. We make products that deliver great outcomes for patients. We just need patients to have equitable access to them." Let me tell you, Mo, meaningful innovation for all is what Boston Scientific's Close the Gap initiative is.
It's laser-focused on delivering what matters, which is championing health equity for women and people of color living with heart and vascular disease in the United States. And Close the Gap just really connects that purpose of our business around that meaningful innovation. And for many, they don't know, and I hope I'm reaching many out there to let them know that we make products that deliver great outcomes for patients, we just need patients to have access to these less invasive therapies. And it's just staggering to know many people don't know that peripheral artery disease, that Black patients are two times more likely to receive an amputation.
Is that not crazy? People don't know that in coronary artery disease that Hispanic patients are 15% less likely to receive percutaneous intervention. What people don't know is that Black and Hispanic patients are less likely to receive a pacemaker or a defibrillator as an option to therapy. And we are trying to break down those barriers. We want people to know that we want to be the leader when it comes to heart and vascular treatment, as well as the disparities for women and people of color.
Mo Fathelbab:
Amazing. Thank you. I was going to ask why cardiovascular, I think you've answered it very well. Thank you. Yes. So, Camille, you've been an HR leader for over 25 years. What's the biggest lesson you've learned about successful leadership?
Camille Chang Gilmore:
Oh, Mo, I would tell you what I've learned about successful leadership is that you must recognize your tone, your tenor, and your timing in all things. Your tone when you speak to people, when you write an email, when you send a text. The tenor in which you do all three of those things. But also the timing, and I'll just use a simple example. My team knows that if there's anything important that I want people to look at, you can bet your bottom dollar that I will make sure that it goes out either on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or maybe Thursday.
But if I don't want people to see it, I'll just send it on a Friday. And it's important as a leader to recognize that you have to be cognizant of how and when you communicate because what I've learned over time, especially in this volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous time that we are in that many refer to as the VUCA, is that feelings aren't facts. And oftentimes, you do have to make sure people understand what the facts are that drive decisions so that they may not agree, but they can respect the decision and then help the organization move forward.
Mo Fathelbab:
I want to move on to your work with boards. Can you share a little bit more about the experience of working with boards of directors and how other HR leaders can get involved on boards?
Camille Chang Gilmore:
Oh, thank you, Mo. It's been amazing to serve on boards, and notice, I use the word serve because that's what you do when you are on a board, you serve. And I will tell you, I got wise advice from one of the board members, even at Boston Scientific, as I was beginning my board journey. And she said to me, "Remember, Camille, nose in, fingers out." Your role is to be inquisitive, to ask the right questions, to guide, but you should not be doing the work. That is the work of managers and the management team and the CEO and their team. But as you think about being on a board, you should think about ensuring you do probably these three things.
Make sure you provide strategic leadership. Contribute in a way that helps the long-term vision and the strategy of the organization, making sure that you inquire about what their goals are and ensure that they are setting clear goals. But more importantly, under that strategic leadership, you own understanding industry trends, as well as what they need to be thinking of as it relates to working towards sustainable growth. The second thing, and a lot of HR people are not going to like what I'm about to say on this one, is get your financial acumen up to speed to where you can read statements, understand budgets, and understand financial planning. It is so critical.
And if you are an HR professional that can speak to those financial statements, let me tell you, it will not only help you with informing decisions, but it can help you help the organization with their financial health. And then lastly, be a member of a board that is collaborative but emphasizes teamwork. Board culture is so important and boards need to work together. They need to work effectively together with other board members and executives that really foster a collaborative and productive boardroom environment. And I have been so lucky, knock on wood, to be part of amazing boards like WittKieffer, like the SHRM Foundation Board, like Disability:IN. I can tell you, all of the boards I've just mentioned do just that. They are collaborative, productive, and make sure that they leverage the mindshare of the board members and the executives that participate in meetings and discussions.
Mo Fathelbab:
We like to end the People and Strategy podcast by asking, what is the one piece of advice that shaped your work or life the most?
Camille Chang Gilmore:
The one piece of advice that shaped my work and life the most are, I would say, in three buckets. I would say when I was told, "Do something for yourself every day before you do something for others." And you know what? I actually do that now. I make it a practice to pray every day, meditate, and exercise all before 7:00 AM every day. And let me just tell you, it's a game changer.
Number two, in the line of work that we are in as people leaders and strategists, it's important that we show and demonstrate empathy, kindness, and passion for the work, but also forgive people. Sometimes they don't understand the facts. And as you've heard me say during this podcast, often they act on feelings. And as HR professionals, we have to remind them of the facts that drive our decisions, not the emotions, not the feelings in order just to be able to move the organization forward.
And then lastly, Mo, I would say, and my mother taught me this, moments matter. Every day is a decision or a choice to do better, be better, and to make the world better. So lean into those moments and make the moment matter.
Mo Fathelbab:
I love the motherly wisdom. Thank you. And that's where we'll end it for this episode of People and Strategy. A big thanks to Camille Chang Gilmore for her insights and thought leadership. You can follow the People and Strategy podcast wherever you get your podcasts. Also, podcast reviews have a real impact on podcast visibility. So if you enjoyed today's podcast, leave a review to help others find the show. Finally, you can find all our episodes on our website at shrm.org/podcasts. Thank you for listening, and have a great day.