AbbVie prepares for a healthier tomorrow, today. We operate a sustainable, agile business model and governance structure that anticipates and evolves with a dynamic industry environment, while consistently assuring supply of innovative medicines to patients. We pride ourselves in our long tradition of strong financial controls and corporate governance. We take our commitment to the future seriously.
A key aspect of scientific stewardship is ethical management. We take corporate governance seriously. We have an ethos of respect for our patients, customers, employees, and those with whom we do business.
Our board of directors is committed to strong corporate governance tailored to meet the needs of AbbVie and its shareholders to enhance long-term stockholder value. Eleven of our twelve directors are independent, including the chairs and all members of the board's Audit Committee, Compensation Committee, Public Policy Committee and Nominations and Governance Committee.
Since our inception, we have had a lead independent director with robust and well-defined responsibilities to ensure the appropriate level of oversight and independence is applied to all board decisions. The lead independent director is chosen by and from the independent members of the board of directors. Each committee follows a charter that details its purpose, authority and responsibilities.
In 2020, in addition to their usual areas of focus including risk management, human capital management, long-term company strategy and succession planning, the board spent a significant amount of time overseeing the company’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as overseeing AbbVie’s response to the U.S. racial justice movement.
For more information our board of directors—including more details on the responsibilities of our Lead Independent Director, on individual Board members, as well as each committee’s characteristics and responsibilities—please see our 2021 Proxy Statement.
Diverse perspectives strengthen the oversight of AbbVie’s business. A diverse workforce and a diverse board are critical to bringing innovative new medicines to patients and to meeting their unique needs. Currently, 42% of our board is composed of women or members of underrepresented ethnic groups. Our directors have backgrounds that, when combined, provide an unparalleled portfolio of experience and knowledge.
Director nominees are considered based on a range of criteria, including diversity of race, ethnicity, gender, age and geography together with other voluntarily identified diversity criteria. The nominations and governance committee considers the existing board’s diversity and assesses the effectiveness of the recruitment process in achieving a diverse board.
A key objective of our supply chain management strategy is to maintain assurance of supply, which requires all suppliers of key inputs to be able to deliver quality inputs on time. Our goal is to always have product available for patients. Over 99% of the time, our product is available for our patients.
Our suppliers are an extension of our business. We expect our suppliers to uphold the same high standards of ethical conduct, human rights and health and safety as we do, as stated in our Supplier Code of Conduct. Adherence to the code is part of new supplier contracts. We participate in the Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Initiative (PSCI) to promote responsible practices in labor, health, safety and environmental sustainability in supply chains, and evaluate all suppliers to ensure they provide safe working conditions, treat workers with dignity and respect, maintain environmentally responsible manufacturing processes and implement sufficient management systems and ethical practices.
We have a supply chain management system that includes criticality assessment and stratification; criticality-based controls; relationship management; and continuous monitoring and assessment. Central to our approach to supply chain management is conducting quality assessments and audits of our critical suppliers to ensure they are upholding our quality standards, based on a detailed risk evaluation that considers the potential impact on product efficacy, safety, availability or patient experience among other factors. We also take strong proactive measures to maintain the security of our supply chain and remain committed to integrating small and diverse businesses into our supply chain.
