Deborah Ashton

Novant Health, the parent company of Presbyterian Healthcare, has hired its first chief diversity officer.

Deborah Ashton, a Harvard-trained, clinical psychologist who most recently worked as a diversity consultant in Chicago, will help Novant develop a diversity strategy that includes patients, employees, suppliers, communities and services, the company announced Friday.

"…What I find exciting about this new position is that we can expand diversity well beyond the traditional human resource function,” Sallye Liner, Novant’s chief clinical officer, said in a statement. “Deborah will work with our leaders to better understand the healthcare disparities that exist in our patient populations and develop strategies to help Novant address these disparities in the communities we serve."

Ashton’s career also includes a stint as diversity director for Harley Davidson Inc. in Milwaukee. She also served as president of an executive-coaching and diversity-training firm; senior director of workforce diversity for Darden's Restaurants in Orlando, Fla.; and diversity director for Medtronic Inc. in Minneapolis.

As chief diversity officer at Novant, Ashton will focus on five key strategies -- addressing the diverse needs of patients, hiring and retaining employees who mirror patient demographics, leadership development, developing diversity success measures and supplier diversity.

In 2010, Novant received the Carolinas Minority Supplier Development Council's Public-Private Sector Organization of the Year award, which recognized the company’s commitment to minority business purchasing, technical and managerial assistance to enterprises and volume of business opportunities dedicated to minority companies.

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