I, Chris Nicastro, personally commit to the following:

Personal Commitment

• I will listen first and use my leadership position to build a culture where the diverse ideas and views of our teammates and others are not just heard but acted upon. Consistent with this commitment, I will: (i) lead at least three roundtable discussions with Bridgestone teammates on DE&I topics annually, (ii) host annual Leadership Lunch for Fellows, and (iii) meet with Bridgestone’s Pathfinders and Fellows at least twice annually to hear about their experiences, learnings and any recommendations they may have for the department. 
• Continue to sponsor and mentor diverse lawyers in the law department and the broader legal community through regular informal discussions about their work and career development and the establishment of a structured sponsorship and mentorship program for the Bridgestone global law department. 
• Implement DE&I focused department policies including, requiring a racially and/or ethnically diverse candidate slate for all law department openings as well as for all key development opportunities available to law department members.
• Continue to serve as Executive Sponsor to the Law Department’s DE&I Committee and use my position as Board Chair to ensure that Bridgestone’s DE&I Board committee and DE&I Center of Excellence have appropriate resources, support and commitment from our senior leadership team.
• I will step out of my comfort zone to speak publicly about issues of diversity, equity and inclusion and join with other leaders to advocate for DE&I in the legal profession and the community. As part of this commitment, I will meet regularly with our top law firms to discuss their DE&I initiatives, goals and challenges.

Organizational Commitment

• We will seek to increase the representation of diverse law department members at the leadership level by at least 25% and our department as a whole by 20% by December 31, 2023. 100% of all leadership-level succession plans shall include at least one diverse candidate. 100% of all candidate finalist slates shall include at least one diverse candidate.
• We will commit to increasing our spend with minority and women owned law firms from six percent to ten percent over the next two years. We shall strongly encourage 100% of our top 20 firms (by spend) to meaningfully participate in Diversity Lab’s Dividend Collective program. We shall establish a “leg up” program for diverse associates at our top law firms and have at least one diverse attorney seconded to the law department annually. 
• We will financially sponsor and partner with two, nonprofit, diversity pipeline building organizations such as Just the Beginning or DAPP. 
• We will implement department-wide annual implicit bias and anti-racism training and share our department’s DE&I processes, KPIs and initiatives with other business units and functions.