Beefing Up Diversity Efforts, Wyeth Teams with Wesley Brown & Bartle

Wyeth Pharmaceuticals has selected Wesley Brown & Bartle (WB&B), the nation’s leading diversity search firm, for its “Project Access� initiative, company executives report.

“The goal of Project Access is to further enhance Wyeth’s workforce diversity through a strategic initiative focused on the recruitment of highly qualified women and people of color,� said Robert R. Ruffolo, Jr., who is President, Wyeth Research and also serves as Senior Vice President, Wyeth.

“The WBB/Wyeth alliance will help Wyeth build ongoing pipelines of diverse bench strength at the Ph.D. and M.D. levels, in order to support the company’s long-term commitment to multi-cultural inclusion in its workforce,� Dr. Ruffolo, said.

Wyeth Pharmaceuticals and Wyeth Research employ more than 44,000 people Worldwide—with the goal of improving the health of people around the world. Wyeth Research will further strengthen its workforce by hiring a group of talented MDs and Ph.D.s, with an emphasis on top performers representing the full range of diversity.

Wyeth picked WB&B as its strategic diversity sourcing partner in this project in part because WB&B has established the foremost record of diversity management staffing in corporate America, officials said. WB&B has been recognized by a variety of authorities such as FORTUNE, Crain’s, The Wall Street Journal and the top management consulting and search firms in this arena for their significant track record of building balanced diverse workforces.

“It is a privilege for our organization to work in partnership with a company like Wyeth, which has such a distinguished history of enhancing the health and welfare of people all over the globe,� said Kenneth Arroyo Roldan, CEO of Wesley Brown & Bartle. He is the first Hispanic head of a national search organization.

“Wyeth has an impressive track record of hiring talented people, and our firm will do our very best to complement the company’s ongoing commitment to embracing the ‘best and the brightest’ reflective of a full array of ethnic and cultural backgrounds,� he added.

Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, a division of Wyeth (NYSE: WYE), has leading products in the areas of women’s health care, cardiovascular disease, central nervous system, inflammation, transplantation, hemophilia, oncology, vaccines and nutritional products.

The Company’s major divisions include Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, Wyeth Consumer Healthcare, and Fort Dodge Animal Health.