Lou Mercado
Name: Lou Mercado
Title: Vice President of Inventory Management
Company: CVS Health
Headquarters: Woonsocket, Rhode Island
Number of Employees: 200,000
What I’m Reading: David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell
My Philosophy: Drive, dedication and desire are the emotions that keep dreams alive.
Away from Work, I: Love to spend time with my family and am involved with several different charities, including the Elisha Project, the Phoenix House, Hope High School’s Life Skills Program and JDRF.
How My Heritage Values Fuel My Success: My parents, who are both of Dominican descent, have taught me that having a strong work ethic and treating people fairly are extremely important. Those values have allowed me to shape who I am in business, as well as in life. I have been able to be successful due to my own hard work and the great people I surround myself with.
How My Company Supports Me…and How I Pay it Forward: CVS Health is a strong supporter of Hispanic professionals. Our company emphasizes the importance of hiring diverse colleagues and offering continuing development opportunities. Our Strategic Diversity Management team provides tremendous support throughout the organization to ensure that we are executing on that strategy. I personally pay it forward through incorporating diversity across my team. We are committed to hiring qualified and successful leaders and, more important, making sure that they have a clear path to succeed in our company.
The Best Career Advice I’ve Received and the Advice I Offer Others: The best advice I received from a mentor is to understand your company’s cultural strategy. Don’t be afraid to make decisions, and make sure that you build a team that can work well with others to achieve success.
The best career advice I can offer is this: Develop a personal and professional plan. Make sure you are flexible and willing to change, since business changes constantly. Mentor and develop future leaders—your success will always depend on the success of your team. Think in terms of global diversity, since we operate in a global economy. And always, always work hard. The rewards will be tremendous.
