Also read: supplier diversity, Marriott International, global diversity management

Stéphane Masson is always on the lookout for new opportunities and partnerships—a quality that will aid Marriott International in its recently revamped global supplier-diversity program.

A French native with a food-and-beverage operations background, Masson joined the Marriott team 13 years ago as part of the Renaissance hotels acquisition and was appointed vice president of global procurement in June when his predecessor retired. His new responsibilities include introducing environmentally responsible procurement initiatives and leveraging the Bethesda, Md.–based company’s purchasing power both domestically and globally. (Marriott is No. 7 on The DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity® list and No. 9 on The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for Supplier Diversity list.)

“When you have two contracts with the same vendor, one for North America and one for the rest of the world, it only makes sense to combine them to get more procurement power,” he says.

Prior to his new role at Marriott, Masson helped establish purchasing departments in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa and, since 2002, managed all non–North American procurement responsibilities, which span about 60 countries. Working with the company’s offices in the United Kingdom, Germany, Dubai, China and Australia and team members of various backgrounds and nationalities “is what makes this job so exciting,” he says. “When you are in the procurement world, you are a touch point of so many different departments … people … and aspects of the business, it’s just great.”

Beyond expanding Marriott’s supply-chain footprint, Masson says he looks forward to “facilitating and educating” diverse suppliers to better compete in a global economy. Marriott has set a worldwide supplier-diversity spending goal this year of 15 percent, which includes businesses owned by veterans, LGBTs, women, people with disabilities, and other traditionally underrepresented groups (MWBEs). Last year, Marriott spent 14.8 percent of its total procurement dollars, or $374 million, with MWBEs in the United States alone.