William Holmes

William B. Holmes, Jr. is currently Director, US Supplier Diversity for Novartis. As a member of the US D&I leadership team, William is partnering with Procurement to develop and execute the Supplier Diversity strategy.

Prior to joining Novartis in November 2021, William held leadership roles for award-winning supplier diversity programs at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Merck. He led the establishment of GSK’s global supplier diversity program, expanding from the US into the UK. While at Merck, William helped build a global supplier diversity program that became the first pure-play pharmaceutical company to join the Billion Dollar Roundtable (BDR). William’s earlier experience at Merck also includes procurement category roles as a Sourcing Manager for Global R&D Lab Supplies and Global IT Services.

William is a graduate of Virginia Union University in Richmond, VA. He serves on the Board of Directors for both the Diversity Alliance for Science (DA4S) and Eastern Minority Supplier Development Council (EMSDC), which both advocate for and help connect small and/or diverse-owned businesses to opportunities to work with large corporations. He currently resides in Pennsylvania with his wife and four children.