Denver-based DaVita HealthCare Partners grew its board to 11 members and continued on its path to “majority diverse” with the addition of Bain & Company advisory partner Phyllis Yale.
The board of the Fortune 200 company approved Yale on Wednesday. It now has three women, a Latino man and a black man.
During a Women’s Foundation of Colorado event in October, DaVita chairman and CEO Kent Thiry said the company had set a goal to make its board of directors majority minority within 24 months.
“We hope to be a role model for other companies,” Thiry said Wednesday. “If we can do it, other companies can too.”
Only 42 percent of Fortune 1000 companies had boards that were 20 percent or more women, according to 2020 Women on Boards.
Thiry said a diverse board is important for two reasons. First, it better represents the company’s employees. Second, it improves the quality and thoughtfulness of decisionmaking.
Yale has been with the global management consulting firm Bain since 1987. She chairs the board of Kindred Healthcare, a Fortune 500 company, and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, a not-for-profit health plan. She also is director of National Surgical Hospitals, a privately held operator of specialty hospitals.
Thiry said DaVita has been courting Yale for two years, but the two parties were waiting on approval from Bain.
DaVita decided to grow the board instead of replacing a position, something Thiry said could happen again.
“We don’t have any religion about a particular (board) number,” Thiry said.
Later, he added: “We’ve been so thrilled with the quality of women and men of color that have been interested in joining. We’re planning on continuing the process.”
