DE&I Member Pledge

Biocom California and our members recognize there are persistent social and economic inequities for Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) in California and across the country. As leaders in life science, we acknowledge our responsibility to provide and promote a more diverse, equitable and inclusive environment for our current and future workforce. Moreover, Biocom California and our Board of Directors will have zero tolerance for racism and will actively encourage an anti-racist environment for our vast employee base and for our future talent pipeline. This requires active listening, continuous learning, strong action, and an environment of allyship in which speaking up is encouraged and supported. It means committing to set aggressive and meaningful goals that will catalyze important changes, prompt necessary conversations, and reveal new pathways for collaboration and awareness.

In 2020, Biocom California launched a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I) task force to listen, learn and develop our strategic imperatives. We made a commitment to truly make measurable change and chose our key commitment areas because we believe they will have meaningful impact. Already, we see a strong commitment by our leaders to do all we can to correct the inequities in our industry. We know that diverse workforces benefit life science companies – making for more innovative and idea-rich companies; enhancing employee engagement; improving corporate performance; resulting in better products and driving growth of our industry. More importantly, focusing on diversity, equity and inclusion is not only the smart thing to do for business, but ensuring dignity, removing barriers to inclusion, and helping to create lasting change is the right thing to do. With this mindset on action, we have the best potential to benefit the diverse population of patients, and all of humanity, that we serve. We must act now to create change.

Biocom California and its Board of Directors hereby commit to addressing the following areas through measurable, ongoing action.

Biocom California’s Organizational Commitments

We will provide staff resources, financial support, and Board engagement for DE&I, including:

1. Build diversity of representation on our Board of Directors and create a Board level DE&I Officer and Committee to continue to listen, strategize and advance these efforts


2. Partner with and support our member companies to embrace accountability through ongoing surveys and reporting; publicly recognize companies that are role models with successful DE&I efforts; and utilize Biocom Institute’s biennial survey results to uncover the current state of DE&I across the industry in California and to measure and promote advancements that have been made


3. Deliver resources, information and introductions that are relevant across the broad scope of our membership to help them develop, scale, and/or strengthen their DE&I efforts


4. Partner with professional associations, student groups, and minority serving institutions (e.g., Historically Black Colleges & Universities, Hispanic-Serving Institutions, Tribal Colleges and Universities, and Asian American and Pacific Islander Serving Institutions) to identify and promote BIPOC talent


5. Continue to identify, develop, and promote career exploration, hands-on experiences, internships, fellowships, training and scholarships for underrepresented groups and schools to diversify and strengthen the talent pool; provide opportunities through the Biocom Institute for these individuals to feel a sense of belonging and to thrive in the life sciences workforce


6. Conduct at least one career/recruitment event per year specifically targeting BIPOC and other underrepresented populations


7. Work with our Biocom Purchasing Group to create a supplier diversity program to increase the percentage of company goods and services procured from Minority Business Enterprises


8. Convene a DE&I summit to assess initial progress, to learn from others that are already implementing DE&I programs, and to build a community that provides ongoing guidance and resources for learning and driving lasting change