Shari M. Slate

Shari Slate is senior vice president and chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer at CVS Health. Before joining the company, she served as chief inclusion and collaboration officer and senior vice president of inclusive future and strategy at Cisco.

A thought leader, trail blazer and catalyst for transformation, she had a significant impact on Cisco’s expanding commitment and approach to diversity, equity and inclusion. Shari and her team took a digital-first approach to diversity and inclusion, designing digital solutions to solve some of the company’s most critical DEI challenges. Industry-leading innovations under her direction resulted in Cisco achieving its highest diversity levels in its history for seven years running.

Shari has been widely recognized for her visionary leadership. Recent honors include winning the WeQual Award, The Americas 2022 in the People category, being named to CIO Views Magazine’s list of the Top 5 Global Business Leaders to Follow in 2022 and its list of the 10 Most Influential Black Women in Business to Follow in 2021, Diversity Woman’s 2021 list of Elite 100 Black Women Leaders, the 2019 Catalyst Award from the Information Technology Senior Management Forum, The Network Journal’s 25 Influential Black Women in Business Award for 2019, Savoy Magazine’s Most Influential Women in Corporate America list for 2019, and Black Enterprise’s Top Executives in Corporate Diversity list for 2018.

Shari serves on the California State University Foundation Board of Governors and the Textio Board of Advisors and is a member of the Executive Leadership Council and Chief, an organization focused on connecting and supporting women executive leaders. She was a member of the World Economic Forum's Global Future Council on Systemic Inequalities and Social Cohesion, the Business Roundtable Diversity and Inclusion Working Group and the World 50 HR50x and Inclusion and Diversity Impact Communities.

Shari earned a bachelor’s degree in political, legal and economic analysis from Mills College.