81. Paul Richardson

SVP/Chief Diversity Officer, ESPN

Richardson’s work has had deep and wide effects. As a direct result of his visionary leadership, ESPN and Disney have achieved diversity objectives in recruitment, development, compensation and training. Among his recent programs is Heroes Work Here, an unprecedented initiative across The Walt Disney Co. to recruit and train U.S. veterans and to encourage other major corporations to do the same. Extending the good will, Disney in November will host the first Veterans Institute at Walt Disney World, a day-long free workshop designed to help small- and mid-sized companies build effective veteran-hiring programs of their own. Richardson also oversees the diversity scorecard tool, which measures compensation trends and the company’s pay equity policy.