Joy Fitzgerald

Joy Fitzgerald currently serves as the Senior Vice President and Chief Diversity, Equity and  Inclusion Officer at UnitedHealth Group where she leads business strategies and initiatives  that create a culture of innovation and performance to deliver on the company’s mission,  enable growth and drive financial returns. She partners with business leaders across the  enterprise to attract and develop talent, improve health equity outcomes and make a societal  impact.  

Prior to this role, she served as Chief Diversity Officer at Eli Lilly & Company and Rockwell  Collins. As a global business leader, Joy has over 25 years of experience working with highly  matrix business sectors in both the private and public sectors including three Fortune 500  companies. She is a highly sought-after executive coach helping leaders go from where they  are to where they aspire to be. As a dynamic speaker and strategic thought partner, Joy has  presented keynote speeches and workshops in more than 25 countries and 5 continents. 

Recognized as a disruptive leader in corporate America, she has dedicated her career to  improving the lives of individuals – especially underserved populations including the Black  community. Some of the highlights in her career include: 

Department of Health and Human Services Research. This initiative aimed at reducing  healthcare disparities for underserved populations by identifying barriers that providers  and beneficiaries face in the health system and intervention strategies to address them. 

Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services Partnership. Implemented projects over  five years to identify barriers to health care and methods of interventions for Black  American, American Indian, American Samoan, Hispanic and individuals below the poverty  line. As a result, 78% of states improved their quality rate for the identified population and  over 30% of states improved disparity rates by 10% over a 3-year period. 

Reducing Maternal Mortality Rates for Black Women. Partnered with teams across Eli  Lilly & Company to conduct consumer insights research to understand the patient journey  of Black women to create a product that reduced maternal mortality rates for women with  stage 4 breast cancer. While the profit margins exceeded expectations, the real impact  was building trust with the Black community and improving their health outcomes. 

DEI as an Economic Enabler for Black Communities. Helped stand up the One Ten  Initiative where Eli Lilly & Company was a founding member. This initiative hired, promoted  and advanced one million Black individuals without four-year degrees into family sustaining careers over a 10-year period.

As a global business executive and thought leader, she is one of the most respected national  voices on diversity as an organizational strategy to not only help underrepresented people but  also achieve business goals. She has been featured in numerous publications including  Harvard Business Review, Fortune Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times,  The Insider, Black Enterprise, Gallup and Profiles in Diversity Journal.  

She was named by Diversity Journal as a “Woman Worth Watching,” Healthcare  Businesswomen’s Association as a “Rising Star,” and Black Enterprise as a ”Top Executive in  Corporate Diversity” and “Most Powerful Woman in Corporate Diversity.” 

She is an accomplished leader who works tirelessly to champion inclusion by creating safe  spaces for brave conversations on topics of injustice and inequities. She has led major  transformative business strategies, built marketing immersive strategies, and developed global  training curriculums. Her work has been cited in several publications as best practices in top  publications. 

Please reference the links below for examples of Joy’s thought leadership and innovative  strategies in diversity and inclusion: 

• Fortune Magazine, 3 Black Diversity Officers on How to Address Health Inequality • The New York Times, “Working From Home Poses Hurdles for Employees of Color” • The Wall Street Journal, “Inside Eli Lilly’s Successful Strategy to Promote More Women” • Harvard Business Review article on “How Lilly is Getting More Women into Leadership  Positions”  

• Gallup, Understanding Diversity Journeys: Eli Lilly’s World-Class D&I Research • Joy’s closing words at Lilly’s Day of Solidarity for racial justice 

• World Health Congress, “Women of the Chief Medical Officers of Their Families” • The Alumni Society, How Lilly Makes Diversity and Inclusion a Business Imperative • Indiana Business Review Article, “Lilly Wins National Award for Advancing Women in the  Workplace”  

• Podcast interview on “The Will to Change” with Jennifer Brown 

• Joy speaking about Lilly’s partnership with Gender Fair at TEDX Global • How Two Women at Lilly Turned “Culture Eats Strategy for Breakfast on Its Head” with  Gloria Feldt 

• Interview with The Alumni Society about Lilly’s Employee Journeys 

• Recognition in Diversity Global Magazine 

To learn more about the work Joy has led, please read about Lilly’s 2019 Catalyst Award,  recognition by Gender Fair; their #3 spot on Diversity Inc’s Top 50 companies list; 2019  Healthcare Business Women Ace Award Winner and their 2020 Working Mothers award. 

Recently, she authored two books “The Journey to Joy: 5 Generations Share Stories Every  Woman Needs to Hear” and “The Journal to Joy.”