SAN FRANCISCO — Mary Stutts has joined Real Chemistry as the firm's first global chief inclusion and health equity officer, bringing to the agency expertise in healthcare and DE&I gleaned over a 30-year career.

In the new role, Stutts will lead Real Chemistry’s DE&I strategy, which includes internal inclusion initiatives and multiple customer-facing efforts. Stutts also is charged with integrating health equity into the company’s culture, solutions, and operations. She will report directly to CEO Jim Weiss and the company’s board of directors.

Stutts most recently led corporate relations at Sumitovant Biopharma, where she led the integration of corporate branding, digital innovation, communications and advocacy for the parent company and its family of companies. Before that, Stutts was with Stanford Health Care, where she served as chief inclusion, diversity & health equity officer and head of corporate communications. 

“I’ve known Mary for more than 20 years and have witnessed her transformative leadership as a pioneer in DE&I and health equity,” said Weiss. “Mary was one of the first to focus on clinical trial diversity more than 20 years ago – with a vision that has now come of age. Her entrepreneurial approach to DE&I combined with our background in data, technology and healthcare will be unmatched in making the world a healthier place for all and ensuring we can equitably get the right treatment to the right patient at the right time.”

Stutts’ appointment comes roughly six months after Real Chemistry (then W2O Group) created a DE&I department led by Marcia Windross, as well as a new practice focused on helping clients with their DE&I strategies, which is led by Abby Hayes. 

Stutts, Windross and Hayes together will be working on accelerating strategic priorities such as building out an enterprise-wide mandate for inclusive leadership, ensuring a diverse workforce of the future, and providing strategic guidance and data-driven counsel to customers. Stutts will also focus on diversity in clinical trials, health equity advocacy and will incorporate and expand Real Chemistry’s partnership with healthcare advocate Dr. Reed Tuckson and the Black Coalition Against COVID (BCAC) to address broader health equity challenges.

Stutts also has held senior leadership roles at Comcast, Bristol-Myers Squib, Genentech and Bayer Healthcare among other organizations, and is the founder of The Center for Excellence in Life (TCEL), which is focused on developing underrepresented youth and women aspiring to leadership positions.