PHILADELPHIA - As part of their drive to become industry leaders in diversity, Comcast and NBCUniversal have created an external Joint Diversity Council to advise their senior executive teams. The Joint Diversity Council held its first meeting in Philadelphia, where they were briefed on the Comcast and NBCUniversal diversity initiatives.

The Joint Diversity Council is comprised of four separate nine-member councils representing the interests of Asian Americans, African Americans, Hispanics and women. Additional council members represent the interests of veterans, Native Americans, people with disabilities and the lesbian /gay /bisexual /transgender (LGBT) community. The Joint Diversity Council held the first of its semi-annual meetings in Philadelphia in May.

Before the Comcast/NBCUniversal transaction closed in January, leaders from both companies created a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Asian American community that includes a number of commitments to increase the inclusion and participation of Asian Americans in the companies' corporate governance, workforce, supplier chain, programming and community investment. The Asian American Advisory Council will focus its guidance on executing Comcast's diversity initiatives, including the MOU with the Asian American community.

Karen K. Narasaki, president and executive director of the Asian American Justice Center (AAJC), serves as chair of the Asian American Diversity Advisory Council, and Don H. Liu, senior vice president, general counsel and secretary of Xerox Corporation serves as vice chair.

Joining Narasaki and Liu on the Asian American Advisory Council are: Joseph J. Centeno, partner, Obermayer Rebmann Maxwell & Hippell LLP and former President of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (Philadelphia, Pa.); Jadine Chin Nielsen, president, Asian American Small Business PAC (Honolulu, Hawaii); Daphne Kwok, executive director, Asian and Pacific Islanders with Disabilities of California (Oakland, Calif.); Ken Lee, president, OCA (Duluth, Ga.); Daniel Mayeda, member of the board, East West Players ("EWP" Los Angeles, Calif.); S. Floyd Mori, national executive director/CEO, Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) and Ajay Raju, partner, Reed Smith LLP (Philadelphia, Pa.).

AAJC had negotiated the Asian American community MOU on behalf of itself and EWP, OCA, JACL and the Media Action Network for Asian Americans.

"We applaud Comcast and NBCUniversal's commitment to take extraordinary steps to become a leader in corporate and media diversity," said Narasaki. "Their strong commitment to this effort was clearly evident at our first meeting with Comcast CEO Brian Roberts and the Comcast/NBCU's executive teams. We look forward to working with them in helping to identify appropriate Asian American candidates for the Comcast board; increasing the number of Asian American and Pacific Islanders in senior executive positions, expanding the programming offerings on cable, NBC, NBC News and on-line, that feature AAPI talent and AAPI stories and ensuring robust AAPI participation in contracting and community investment programs."

Comcast Corporation is one of the world's leading media, entertainment and communications companies. Comcast is principally involved in the operation of cable systems through Comcast Cable and in the development, production and distribution of entertainment, news, sports and other content for global audiences through NBCUniversal. Comcast Cable is one of the nation's largest video, high-speed Internet and phone providers to residential and business customers. Comcast is the majority owner and manager of NBCUniversal, which owns and operates entertainment and news cable networks, the NBC and Telemundo broadcast networks, local television station groups, television production operations, a major motion picture company and theme parks.

Asian American Justice Center