MBN USA

October 29, 2024

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Medtronic’s membership boosts the BDR roster of member companies in the health care sector to seven

As a global health care technology company employing more than 95,000 people in over 150 countries, Medtronic’s ascension to BDR membership seemed bound to happen. Before joining BDR, the company had begun integrating BDR best practices into its supplier-diversity efforts. 

With operational headquarters in Minneapolis and the principal executive suite in Galway,

Ireland, the company reported 2023 purchases of $3.5 billion from small and diverse-owned businesses in the United States and Puerto Rico that resulted in $6.4 billion in economic production activity and $2.6 billion in wages and benefits through supported jobs. 

Medtronic’s membership boosts the BDR roster of member-companies in the health care sector, joining Abbott Laboratories, Bristol-Myers Squibb, CVS Health, Johnson & Johnson, Kaiser-Permanente and Merck.

John Klein, Medtronic, senior vice president and chief procurement officer, said at the induction ceremony that his company’s desire to join BDR has been an intentional strategy. 

“Supplier diversity is more than just a strategy. It is how we define ourselves as a company,” he said. “We need a really strong community of diverse suppliers with capabilities that allow us to touch all those patients around the world. Without having great diverse suppliers, we cannot possibly do that.”

Klein said supplier diversity is integral to how Medtronic operates, noting that the company’s technologies affect some 75 million people each year globally, innovating solutions that treat 70-plus health conditions. Founded in 1949, Medtronic innovated the first battery-operated pacemaker for heart patients in 1957. 

He credited Medtronic supplier diversity advocates for the company’s successful journey to BDR, including John Taylor, senior director of supplier outreach, who is now retired, and Aron Khoury, director of supplier diversity, who will represent the company on BDR. 

To learn more about Medtronic’s supplier diversity program, visit medtronic.com/en-us/our-company/governance/suppliers/supplier-diversity.html.