Cigna’s longstanding commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) is deeply rooted in the company’s values and reinforced every day by its workforce. In an effort to continuously challenge the organization to raise the bar, Cigna is creating an Enterprise Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Council to strengthen the company’s ongoing efforts to advance DEI and health equity across the company and the communities it serves. 

“The creation of the Enterprise DEI Council is another clear example of how Cigna is committed – unequivocally – to fostering a diverse workplace and an equitable, inclusive culture,” said David Cordani, president and CEO, Cigna Corporation. “As we look forward, we will continue to be a force for change, working with intensity, empathy, and accountability. The Council will help propel our efforts, enabling us to contribute meaningfully to creating the type of diverse, equitable, and inclusive culture that will enrich Cigna – and our world.” 

The guidance and oversight of the Council includes priority setting, tracking progress, and helping to advance Cigna’s Building Equity and Equality Program, the initiative launched in 2020 to expand and accelerate efforts to support diversity, equity, equality, and inclusion for communities of color. The group will initially focus on two topics - promoting health equity, including access to health care, digital literacy, and food insecurity, and leadership accountability, representation, talent advancement and development, and performance. 

There is still much work to be done, but in the past year, Cigna has taken a number of important actions to advance equity and equality internally and externally. Among other steps, Cigna has:

• Launched publicly available resources to help advance the dialogue on racism;
• Partnered with Howard University School of Education to tackle systemic inequality in education by creating a pipeline of superintendents of color, specifically trained to lead in urban school districts;
• Advanced equity and equality among the next generation of doctors, nurses and healthcare workers through a $250K endowed scholarship to Wake Forest School of Medicine; and
• Developed a customized program to support minority and women-owned small businesses, address health disparities, and improve workforce health in Los Angeles. 

The Council, which includes senior leaders from Cigna and Evernorth and reflects the organization’s diverse workforce, will play an important role ensuring accountability and oversight of DEI efforts. It will be chaired by Cordani, and joining him as co-chairs are: Noelle Eder, executive vice president and global chief information officer, John Murabito, executive vice president, human resources and services, and Mike Triplett, president, U.S. Commercial. 

Read more on Cigna’s commitment to DEI in the Cigna Connects Report.