May 2, 2018 -- When Amanda Miranda talks about her career path, she gets emotional. The biomedical engineer put her career on hold to start a family more than six years ago. Sadly, her son, Johnathon, was born with congenital heart failure, and passed away at age four. Finding herself with a newfound passion for helping patients like Johnathon, Amanda’s desire to rejoin the workforce was tempered by her own uncertainty about whether she was equipped to jump back into the field she loved.

A Medtronic program – Careers 2.0 – gave her the boost she needed. The hiring initiative provides returnship opportunities for women in engineering after taking time away from the field. In the summer of 2017, Amanda was hired at Medtronic and today provides cardiovascular product design expertise at one of the company’s most advanced R&D facilities in Tempe, Arizona. Watch Amanda’s story.

Amanda’s story is one of hundreds from around Medtronic that represent the company’s commitment to inclusion and diversity. Announced this week, Medtronic is being recognized for that commitment on DiversityInc’s Top 50 list.

“We believe diversity is critical. It makes a difference in our capabilities, our thinking and ultimately the success of our company,” says Chairman and CEO Omar Ishrak. “We have set aggressive goals to better reflect the global population both in gender and diverse ethnic representation at all levels of the company. We do this because we know greater diversity will benefit our business, our customers and our entire team.” 

In addition to a robust Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) initiative, Medtronic provides hiring and career development support through employee resource groups for various ethnicities, as well as, LGBTQ, military veterans, young professionals, and employees with disabilities.

For its annual list, DiversityInc looks at approximately 1,800 companies based on information in four key areas: Talent Pipeline, Equitable Talent Development, CEO/Leadership Commitment, and Supplier Diversity.

“Our commitment to global inclusion and diversity reflects our fundamental belief that diverse people and perspectives result in better decisions and outcomes,” says Carol Surface, Chief Human Resources Officer at Medtronic. “This focus is very consistent with the fifth tenet of the Medtronic Mission – to recognize the personal worth of all employees. We are honored to be recognized by DiversityInc for such an important part of our company culture.”

Medtronic first made the DiversityInc Top 50 in 2012. For the full 2018 list, click here