Steve Benz

Corporate Vice President - Legal & General Counsel

Novo Nordisk Inc.

I, Steve Benz, personally commit to the following:

Use my voice and platform, as General Counsel of Novo Nordisk, Inc., to elevate diverse perspectives and to champion equitable opportunities across the industry and at Novo Nordisk
To hold myself and my fellow leaders – both across the industry and my peers on the Novo Nordisk Executive Team – accountable for meaningful and sustained investment and engagement in DE&I, including through active participation and leadership in LCLD and in the Novo Nordisk Employee Resource Groups: Veterans at Novo Nordisk and NovoEqual (LGBTQ Employees and their Allies)
To seek out and continually listen and learn from others’ experiences and perspectives, and to challenge my own DE&I perceptions
To help drive the DE&I conversation from “tell me” to “show me” by ensuring we drive measurable progress in these areas

Foster an inclusive and collaborative department culture where every team member feels a sense of belonging, is valued and empowered, and has the support needed to reach their full potential
Embed D&I into our organizational culture and operating model
Ensure a strong pipeline of diverse talent in our organization through our:
- Recruiting and hiring practices by ensuring diverse slates of qualified candidates
- Development opportunities for legal professionals both within the Legal department and across the company
- Diverse talent mentoring program
- Succession planning process and ensuring diverse talents are being developed for leadership roles
Continually enrich and challenge our DE&I understanding and efforts by (1) creating forums to learn from one another; (2) standing up a department diversity council to serve in an advisory capacity; and (3) leveraging involvement in organizations such as LCLD to gain external insights and best practice sharing
Hold our external law firm and vendor partners accountable for meaningful DE&I commitments and advances, not just metrics

Create department DE&I scorecard and assess progress against goals on a bi-annual basis; require each department leader to include DE&I commitments as part of their annual team goals
On yearly basis, conduct an organizational survey to better understand employee perspectives and concerns on DE&I and create action plans to address any gaps or needs
Active participation in LCLD by nominating (2) fellows annually and (2) attending a leadership meeting/summit every year
Recruiting: hire one diverse summer intern per year, leveraging programs such as the LCLD 1L Scholars Program; ensure diverse slate of candidates for all recruiting efforts
Continuous development of diverse talent: highlight diverse team members in leadership team talent discussions on bi-annual basis, and align effective mentors with diverse team members
Outside counsel/vendor selection: develop concrete DE&I expectations for external legal service partners; ensure diversity embedded into 100% of outside firm selection and staffing discussions; bi-annual diversity assessment of outside firms