Nielsen announced that Sandra Sims-Williams has been appointed Chief Diversity Officer for Nielsen. She will take over from CEO David Kenny, who has held the CDO title in addition to CEO, since February 2019.
Sims-Williams joined Nielsen in January 2020. She will continue to lead Nielsen’s diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) team, working to develop a more inclusive culture for the company and increase diverse representation. As CDO, Sandra continues to report to Kenny and remains part of Nielsen’s executive leadership team.
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“I am thrilled to lead the next step in Nielsen’s DE&I journey. To our people we are an employer of choice, to our clients and community we are a trusted and valued partner purposefully focused on DE&I,” said Sims-Williams. “I look forward to continue building on our progress and delivering on our commitment to be a truly diverse and inclusive company.”
“Diversity, equity and inclusion is the heart and soul of Nielsen’s business. As we continue to evolve our company, Sandra’s leadership, wisdom and experience as our new CDO will accelerate our progress,” said Kenny. “Nielsen’s entire executive team, Board and I remain highly focused on improving DE&I across Nielsen.”
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In the past year, Nielsen has hit some major diversity, equity and inclusion milestones:
- Diverse executive committee: four out of nine members are female, three out of eight leaders are ethnically diverse
- Implemented a global non-discrimination policy that ensures equal opportunity for LGBTQ+ associates in all Nielsen markets. We have begun offering health benefits for same sex partners in several countries
- Along with 140+ U.S. trade organizations and employers, signed and submitted a friend of the court brief to the U.S. Supreme Court to help preserve DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals)
- Launched Gracenote Inclusion Analytics, a new solution providing unprecedented visibility into the gender, race, ethnicity and sexual orientation of talent appearing in TV programming and the audiences watching it. We also released a companion report Being Seen On Screen, our first-ever report on inclusion and representation on U.S. television content
- Launched our new Business Resource Groups structure with 11 employee-led groups
- Publicly called for the exclusion of a citizenship question on the 2020 census, which would have discouraged minority participation
- Launched a Black-owned small business resource site to support those facing difficulties in the face of the pandemic and discrimination
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