Funds were specifically directed toward
enhancing cultural competency and improving the oral health of
children and adults. Grady Foundation, which
will establish a cultural competency training program for physicians. Aetna provides easy
access to cost-effective health care through a nationwide network of
more than 655,000 health care professionals, including over 390,000
primary care and specialist doctors and 3,937 hospitals. While the business
of diversity may sometimes be difficult , it is important to laud those who are
aggressively pursuing initiatives toward changing corporate America's status
quo.

hispanics complexities

----Aetna (NYSE: AET)
today announced the final total of its national Regional Grants
Program for 2004. "The
Regional Grants Program, in its fourth year, funds programs that
improve understanding of racial and cultural diversity and provide
access to quality health care. The BLACK ENTERPRISE 30 Best
Companies for Diversity sets the standard for the rest of corporate America.

BLACK ENTERPRISE, your ultimate guide to financial empowerment, is the
premier business and investment resource for African Americans. The publication
provides 3. Graves
Publishing Co.

valuing cohesion

Designed to recognize strategic marketing that delivers
bottom-line business results through innovation and flawless execution, the
awards are open to all companies worldwide that market and sell
technology-related services and solutions. Founded in 1972, the Foundation seeks
to help build healthy communities by funding initiatives that improve
the quality of life where our employees and customers work and live.7 million medical members, 11.9 million dental members, 8.

BLACK ENTERPRISE Announces the 30 Best Companies for Diversity

" With its July 2005 list of the 30 Best
Companies for Diversity, BE continues to evaluate corporate America's halting
progress toward the full and equal participation of African Americans and
other ethnic minorities in all facets of industry.
"A major corporation that has successfully included white women, the
disabled, and older workers in all aspects of its business has not succeeded
as a practitioner of diversity if African Americans and other people of color
remain excluded or relegated to the lowest rungs of its operation," said BLACK
ENTERPRISE Founder + Publisher Earl G.

equality individualism

ITSMA will announce the winners
during its 2005 Annual Conference: Marketing Matters, November 7-9 in
Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Aetna Distributes $2.2 Million Through Regional Grants Program; Almost $95 000 Donated in Georgia; 92 Percent of Grants Focus on Racial and Ethnic Disparities

In selecting the 30 companies, BE's editors evaluated diversity
programs, consulted with diversity experts and corporate diversity officers,
and conducted an extensive survey of 1,000 of America's largest publicly
traded companies and 50 leading global companies with significant U.com or (212) 886-9598.

individualism complexities

Nominations may be submitted in the following six categories:

-- Launching New Solutions: Designing, developing, and launching new
solutions into the marketplace that solve customers' core business problems
-- Generating New Demand: Designing, launching , and managing campaigns
that generate substantial demand for new or existing services or solutions
-- Increasing Sales Effectiveness: Improving the entire sales process for
services and/or solutions, including opportunity analysis, sales
enablement, and account management
-- Improving the Customer Experience: Working across the organization to
improve the total customer experience , from initial contacts through
relationship development, sales, delivery, service and support ,
satisfaction, loyalty, and trust
-- Strengthening Brand Differentiation: Launching, building ,
repositioning, and/or managing the corporate or services brand to
strengthen competitive differentiation
-- Enhancing Marketing Leadership: Strengthening Marketing's strategic
role in the business through programmatic, organizational, and leadership
success

Applications are due by June 15, 2005, to be judged by an international
jury of marketing executives and experts .
Since 2001, Aetna has awarded more than $7.
Henry W. The
Foundation's giving is focused on reducing racial and ethnic
disparities in health care.
Long before diversity became part of the lexicon of corporate America, BE
published the first of several lists of top diversity companies in 1986 titled
"The 25 Best Places to Work.

equality complexities

"We are committed to building healthy communities , with particular
emphasis on addressing racial and ethnic disparities in health care,"
said Marilda L.
In addition, $35,000 was donated to Emory University to develop
strategies to help health care professionals communicate with people
living in poverty.

sensitivity equality

"

The Aetna Foundation 2004 regional grant recipients in Georgia:

Emory University
Georgia Partnership for Caring Foundation, Inc . Additional information about the Aetna
Foundation is available at www."
Despite the established and growing recognition of diversity as a business
imperative, discussions around diversity remain sensitive, implementation of
diversity practices is often met with ambivalence and managing an effective
diversity program continues to be fraught with challenges of commitment and
resources. Yum! Brands

The full methodology for selecting the 30 Best Companies for Diversity is
available in the July issue of BLACK ENTERPRISE, available on newsstands June
28.8 million readers with monthly information on entrepreneurship,
careers, and financial management.

cohesion diversityinc

com.
Xerox Corporation and FedEx Express are among the very best at bringing
talented people of color into the senior management ranks.
IBM Corporation Xerox Corporation
Marriott International, Inc .

workforces cohesion

Grady Foundation, Inc.
Partnership Against Domestic Violence
Raksha, Inc. Definitive List Highlights America's Most Inclusive Companies for African
Americans and Other Ethnic Minorities

NEW YORK, BLACK ENTERPRISE (BE) today announced
its list of the 30 Best Companies for Diversity as featured in the July 2005
cover story.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050614/NYTU063 )
"A racially and ethnically diverse workforce impacts both the top and
bottom lines of corporations as they target black, Latino and Asian consumers
to grow revenues, profits and market share," says BLACK ENTERPRISE
Careers/Lifestyle Editor Sonia Alleyne.
General Motors Corporation Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. The magazine is published by Earl G.

consultancies attain

Past winners have included
Accenture, BearingPoint , BMC Software, British Telecom, Capgemini, Cisco
Systems, EMC, Hewlett-Packard, IBM Global Services , NCR Teradata, Novell,
Oracle, PeopleSoft, and Siebel Systems, among others.
Since 1980, the Aetna Foundation has contributed more than $270
million in grants, scholarships and social investments .
Their commitment to diversity and inclusion are essential to maintaining
African Americans' gains in employment, corporate leadership, earning power
and business ownership.

diversityinc progroup

itsma.com/News/mea or call Rob Leavitt at +1-781-862-8500,
ext.

Business Editors

HARTFORD, Conn."
"Our main goal is to develop a standard cultural competency
curriculum for physicians and other health care professionals serving
Grady Health System," said Suzanne Rogers, interim executive director
for the Henry W. To be included in the BE 30 Best Companies for Diversity list, a
business had to demonstrate significant representation of African Americans
and other ethnic minorities in four key areas: corporate procurement,
corporate boards, senior management, and the total workforce.

valuing complexities

For more information on ITSMA's 2005 Marketing Excellence Awards, please
visit http://www.5 million through the
Regional Grants Program, including $5 million for initiatives that
address racial and ethnic disparities in health care. (Figures as of December 31,
2004)

Fannie Mae The Coca-Cola Company
FedEx Express Verizon Communications Inc. For the complete list contact Andrew Wadium at
wadiuma@blackenterprise. As the definitive source of information for
and about African American business markets and leaders, be is the authority
for business news and trends.

sensitivity consilium

aetna. Since 1970, be
has provided essential business information and advice to professionals ,
corporate executives, entrepreneurs, and decision makers.

valuing workplace

PRESS RELEASE ITSMA Launches 2005 Marketing Excellence Awards

ITSMA, a membership-based organization that
specializes in helping companies market and sell services and solutions,
today announced the call for nominations for its eighth annual Marketing
Excellence Awards. "We are pleased to continue our tradition of recognizing
the organizations and individuals who are responsible for advancing the art
and science of marketing, and are looking forward to honoring many new and
innovative programs in 2005.com/News/mea.
BellSouth Corporation Pepsi Bottling Group
Citigroup PepsiCo
Coors Brewing Company PG+E Corporation
DaimlerChrysler Corporation Pitney Bowes
Darden Restaurants Procter + Gamble
Eastman Kodak Company Starwood Hotels + Resorts Worldwide , Inc., New York.

diversityinc consultancies

"
Racial and ethnic disparities in health care have become a
critical issue as minorities are projected to make up 41.

sensitivity equality

itsma. 45. "Aetna's generosity allows us to
educate physicians about the obstacles many minorities face in the
health care system. Diversity leaders such as General Motors Corporation and Starwood
Hotels have excelled at seeking out and doing business with black suppliers. In fact, one of the ironies of
corporate diversity is that the fewer minority employees a company has, the
less likely it is to face a workplace discrimination suit.

valuing complexities

"Since we introduced ITSMA's Marketing Excellence Awards program eight
years ago, the market for technology-related services and solutions has
grown substantially, and the marketing accompanying those services and
solutions has grown in sophistication as well," said Dave Munn, President
and CEO of ITSMA. The company made $2.
"We are pleased to support local organizations that share Aetna's
commitment to ending disparities in health care," said Bill Hauser,
MD, Aetna's Regional Medical Director. Grady Foundation and other program recipients to
accomplish this goal. Grady Foundation. For more
information, please visit www.S.newscom. "The companies that appear
on our diversity list have made significant progress toward inclusion at all
levels, from the mailroom to the boardroom.

prm enriching

2 million in grants nationally
to 109 organizations. "We look forward to working
with the Henry W. set the
bar in terms of workforce diversity."
In facing the challenging task of implementing and managing a diverse
workforce , various companies represented on the BE Top 30 list have faced
discrimination lawsuits in the past two years.

hirediversity diversityinc

About the Aetna Foundation

The Aetna Foundation is the independent charitable and
philanthropic arm of Aetna Inc.
(Photo: http://www.

prm consultancies

Georgia organizations received $95,000 in 2004, $313,000 since
2001

The grants include $25,000 to the Henry W.
operations . The fact that most companies remain largely indifferent to
changing corporate America's predominately white status quo makes it all the
more important to laud those who are aggressively pursuing diversity
initiatives. Graves Sr.

equality diversityinc

The BLACK ENTERPRISE 30 Best Companies for Diversity includes the
following:

Aflac McDonald's Corporation
American Express Company MGM MIRAGE
ARAMARK Nordstrom
Bank of America Pepco Holdings, Inc.

labi mdb

4 million
pharmacy members and 13.

affirmative attain

"

Starting today, application forms for ITSMA's 2005 Marketing Excellence
Awards are available on the Web at: http://www.aetna .com/foundation

About Aetna

As one of the nation's leading providers of health care, dental ,
pharmacy, group life, disability and long-term care benefits, Aetna
puts information and helpful resources to work for its approximately
13. "In order to keep American industry
globally competitive , it is essential that corporate America make full use of
all the human resources and intellectual capital -- regardless of race and
ethnicity -- at its disposal.

workforce consilium

Over the past two years, Aetna has
focused on reducing disparities in health care among racial and ethnic
populations through an integrated business and philanthropic approach.5 million group insurance members to help them
make better informed decisions about their health care and protect
their finances against health-related risks. PG+E and Marriott
International have solid African American representation on their corporate
boards, while McDonald's Corporation and Verizon Communications Inc.

complexities attain

Gandara, president of the Aetna Foundation.5 percent of
the American workforce by 2008.

liabilities equality

---

- - kjjkjk

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