“Success requires more innovative problem solving, and more innovative problem solving demands diversity and inclusion,” Shi said. Watch clips from his presentation below. Or you can view the full presentation from Toyota and download the slides at DiversityIncBestPractices.com.

Stephen Howard, Corporate Manager of Debt and Derivatives, Toyota Financial Services, shared how Toyota’s Treasury Department uses the diverse backgrounds and thoughts of its team and its suppliers to generate  significant business results.

“Working together with MWBEs is a sustainable platform. It’s good for business. It improves our ever-changing national demographic for the better,” Howard said. Watch clips from his presentation below. Or you can view the full presentation from Toyota and download the slides at DiversityIncBestPractices.com.

Toyota Motor North America is No. 41 in the 2012 DiversityInc Top 50.

The post Toyota: ‘Innovative Problem-Solving Demands Diversity & Inclusion’ appeared first on DiversityInc.

 MAYOR BLOOMBERG SIGNS LEGISLATION TO HELP STRENGTHEN MINORITY
AND WOMEN-OWNED BUSINESS ENTERPRISE PROGRAM

New Legislation Expands the Scope of Program-Eligible Contracts and Increases Agency Accountability

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg signed into law today Intro 911, which helps strengthen the Minority and Women-owned Business Enterprise (M/WBE) program by building on the achievements of Local Law 129, passed in 2005. Local Law 129 helped increase the number of M/WBE firms certified to participate in the City’s program from 700 to more than 3,500, with certified firms winning more than $3 billion in City contracts. By removing the program’s $1 million cap on contracts, this new legislation increases the overall value of program-eligible contracts from $400 million to $2.2 billion, allowing M/WBEs to compete more effectively for higher-valued contracts. The new legislation also increases accountability for City agencies to meet their contracting participation goals, as outlined in Local Law 129.

“Introductory Number 911-A improves the Minority and Women Owned Business Enterprise Program by eliminating the $1 million cap on contracts that are covered by goals for increasing participation in City contracting by businesses owned by minorities and women and enhancing oversight and reporting requirements to ensure that the City is meeting its M/WBE Program goals,” said Mayor Bloomberg. “Introductory Number 911-A authorizes agencies to set goals for utilization of M/WBEs on contracts above the $1 million threshold established by the old law.  This will more than triple the number of contracts covered by the City’s MWBE Program.  MWBEs have won more than $3 billion in City procurement awards and will now be able to compete more effectively for higher-valued contracts.”

“Our administration is committed to providing the essential tools that small businesses and MWBEs need to compete for and win City work,” said Deputy Mayor Cas Holloway. “By expanding contracting opportunities for MWBE firms and focusing on accountability and results, this legislation will both improve business opportunity for MWBEs and ensure that City taxpayers get high quality work at the best price.”

“For too long, minorities and women have been effectively shut out of City contracts,” said City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn. “With today’s bill, we level the playing field to give these businesses the access that they deserve. This legislation is important not only because it provides fairness and equal opportunity to MWBEs, but because it will help grow businesses that will provide jobs, spur economic growth, and diversify our economy, and because it will increase competition for city contracts, which will translate into lower costs and increased quality. I thank the broad coalition of advocates who helped shape this bill, and Mayor Bloomberg for signing it today.”

“The Mayor passed monumental legislation in 2005 to help increase opportunities for minority and women-owned small businesses. Today’s legislation goes even further to strengthen the program and expand opportunity,” said Rob Walsh, Commissioner of the NYC Department of Small Business Services. “We encourage minority and women-owned firms to certify with the City, and learn more about free City services that can help M/WBEs compete and grow.”

“Local Law 129 was enacted to address the underrepresentation of women and minorities in the City’s procurement market. However, after several years of discussion with industry leaders, community advocates, and local business people my colleagues and I realized that the program was not functioning as efficiently or productively as it could,” said Council Member Diana Reyna. “Intro 911 addresses some of the most serious problems of the M/WBE program: holding agencies accountable to their M/WBE goals, eliminating the cap on program-eligible contracts, and strengthening the directory of certified M/WBEs. With these amendments, the City has vastly improved upon its most significant resource in correcting historical economic injustices.”

“More powerful than all the armies, is the power of an idea whose time has come,” said the Reverend Jacques Andre DeGraff, First Vice President of the One Hundred Black Men. “Today’s action marks the culmination of years of effort. We are pleased that new doors of opportunity have been opened to us. Things will never be the same.”

“For minority business enterprises, especially in the construction and professional services arena, success is directly tied to the ability to have access to opportunities – to survive, to thrive, to gain capacity – to hire from within our communities,” said Elizabeth Velez, president of the Velez Organization and Chairperson of the Latino Builders Council. “For far too many years, NYC procurement was unbalanced and not reflective of the ability and diversity of our companies. Intro 911 takes a major forward milestone step in correcting historic underrepresentation of MWBE firms. The changes are transformative under Intro 911 – significantly- the removal of the $1M procurement cap, the increase of accountability, the enlarging of the universe to which goals will apply, and the support of joint ventures.”

In addition to the new legislation, the Bloomberg administration has also helped strengthen the City’s M/WBEs through capacity building programs, launching Compete to Win in February, 2012. Compete to Win includes five initiatives that help facilitate teaming opportunities, provide technical assistance, and also specifically assists construction firms by helping business owners find mentors, secure loans, and surety bonds.

• Technical Assistance: provides free workshops and one-on-one assistance to prepare firms to compete for and perform on City contracts. Workshops provide an in-depth understanding of specific industry requirements and standards for the submission of City bids and proposals, and one-on-one personalized assistance provides firms with guidance on submitting offers for City contracts.

• NYC Teaming: helps firms create partnerships that allow them to bid on larger contracts or pursue new contracting opportunities. The program includes a Business Matching Event and a series of workshops leading up to that event to educate firms on the teaming process and how to market to buyers and other firms. According to a survey of active small business contractors by American Express OPEN, small business owners who engage in teaming win 50 percent more contracts than active contractors overall.

• Upfront Capital Loan and Bond Readiness: help construction firms access capital and surety bonds through loan application assistance, workshops on accounting and financial management, insurance requirements, safety management, credit repair, and one-on-one financing assistance. Due to the success of the pilot program, the NYC Construction Loan program expanded to become Upfront Capital, and is now available to all M/WBE certified firms and small businesses regardless of industry.

• NYC Construction Mentorship: provides participating City-certified construction firms with greater access to City construction opportunities, a customized growth plan, management classes, and on-the-job training services for contract winners.

Formed in July 2012, the NYC Construction Mentorship Advisory Panel is comprised of private developers, minority and women-owned businesses, advocates, and government officials, and is designed to ensure that Compete to Win’s NYC Construction Mentorship program effectively addresses the needs of M/WBE construction companies who are participating in City procurement, and to help recruit more M/WBEs into the program. City Hall has also designated a chief liaison to serve stakeholders who represent M/WBE firms and programs.

To help raise awareness among prime contractors of M/WBEs looking for contracts, the City is improving and promoting the online directory of M/WBEs available. Liquidated damages have been added to standard contracts, which will be applied when prime contractors don’t make a good faith effort to meet their M/WBE contracting requirements.

The City has also made it simpler to certify as an M/WBE. Firms can submit a single application and financial documents to certify with the City, the State, and the School Construction Authority and Port Authority.  Firms interested in certifying can also get one-on-one assistance with the application process at one of the City’s seven NYC Business Solutions Centers, located in every borough. For more information on certification or capacity building programs, visit www.nyc.gov/nycbusiness or call 311.

- 30 -

Contact: Marc LaVorgna/Julie Wood (212) 788-2958
Merideth Weber (SBS) (212) 513-6318

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The panel featured several successful diversity-led relationships: Javara Perrilliat, Vice President, Global Supply Management for Owens & Minor, with William “Joe” Reubel, President/Chief Executive Officer, Kerma Medical Products, Inc.; and Keith Connolly, Vice President – Consumer Supply Chain, AT&T Services, Inc., with Jessica Firestone, President & CEO, Tempest Telecom Solutions LLC. Sam Johnson, Ernst & Young LLP’s Northeast Sub-Area Accounts & Business Development Managing Partner, also joined the panel to give his viewpoint on the global organization Ernst & Young’s relationship with Mitchell & Titus, LLP.

Twaronite kicked off the discussion saying, “I really have a front-row seat in seeing how critically important diversity is to our business, but also to our customers.” She shared supporting information from a DiversityInc benchmarking study, noting it found a direct link between high spend with underrepresented communities and higher recruitment, retention, engagement and customer loyalty.

Addressing the audience of entrepreneurs and c-suite executives, Twaronite asked for a show of hands to see how many of them had considered entering into a strategic partnership with a diversity-owned business – and many had. So, what was stopping some of them? Twaronite listed some common concerns about quality, capacity and margins. The panel discussion then started by debunking myths about these concerns by sharing the stories and specifics of several mutually beneficial strategic partnerships.

Diversity opens doors

Corporate initiatives to encourage diversity and inclusiveness have opened the door for many women- and minority-owned businesses, the panelists said, but are not the whole picture. “Diversity gets you into the door,” said Reubel, describing Kerma’s business partnership with Owens & Minor, a major supplier of health care products to hospitals. “But then you have to explain your value-added proposition, and get to know your customer,” he said. “Because if you’re not helping your customer gain additional revenue, then the relationship is not sustainable.” From Owens & Minor’s perspective, the relationship with Kerma enabled them to deepen their relationships with community and nonprofit hospitals.

AT&T’s partnership with Tempest was driven by the company’s mandate to source 21.5% of its equipment from diversity-owned suppliers. The partnership with Tempest blossomed when the woman-owned business helped AT&T build out a mobile network through Tempest’s experience as a supplier in Radio Access Networks.

The give and take of successful partnerships

“AT&T also gave us guidance on what they needed, so we went out and bought a company with experience in Distributed Antenna Systems,” Firestone said.

“The telecommunications industry has been a leader in the diversity space,” she said, “but you still have to provide quality services, be financially strong and prove you can support your customer over the long term. We’ve been very careful about how we’ve built our reputation with our customers.”

The membership of Mitchell & Titus LLP, the largest minority-owned accounting firm in the global Ernst & Young organization, has created similar opportunities on both sides, Johnson explained. “We were able to structure a relationship where they remain a minority firm, but they are also a member firm of Ernst & Young,” he said. “It allows us to first and most importantly help our clients achieve their objectives, it allows us to help M&T build capacity so they can take those services to market to other customers, and then finally it allows us to differentiate ourselves from our competitors.”

The overall message of the panel was clear – diversity and inclusiveness initiatives are vital for diverse-owned businesses to gain a toehold in the supply chain, yet delivering sustainable value is the key to continued success for those organizations.

Tips for supplier success

The panel closed with a lightning round of advice for current and future diverse suppliers. Some of their advice included:

• Be patient and persevere – you want to be a partner, not a vendor.
• Fine tune your value proposition. Understand the business and what its needs are so your value proposition will meet them.
• Think big. Keep in mind that most big companies are always looking for opportunities, so use this to differentiate yourself and create further opportunities in the future.
• You have to be willing to accept change and adapt. And learn about your customer – know what they don’t do well. Use that and find your niche.
• People do business with people. Build those relationships – invest in them.

Watch a video of the panel discussion, including all of the panelists’ tips and advice for current and future suppliers, here.

* This article features contributed content and has not been fact-checked or copy-edited by DiversityInc.

The post Supplier Diversity Success Stories Shine at the Ernst & Young Strategic Growth Forum appeared first on DiversityInc.

DiversityInc CEO Luke Visconti recently interviewed Pamela Eason, president and CEO of the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC), and a former Pfizer executive. Here’s her agenda for this important organization, which works with corporations to increase supplier diversity and helps women-owned businesses succeed.

Luke Visconti: WBENC held its National Conference & Business Fair in June. Can you tell us about the event?

Pamela Eason: The event featured a plethora of speakers who were really focused on benefitting the WBEs. It was very engaging, with workshops that addressed WBE skills, WBE needs, as well as corporate and government requirements for doing business. We had about 2,200 women, and total attendance was right about 4,000, so we were very excited.

Visconti: What does your organization help women to do in their business lives?

Eason: Overall as an organization, we have a CORE value that we provide: C is for the certification, O is for the opportunities that we provide, R is around the resources and E is engagement. However, for our event specifically, the opportunity aspect is very rich. If women do their research correctly for the great businesses that are coming to our event, they can spend all their time prospecting at this event and not have to spend a lot of money to go around and prospect all year long. That’s a great value.

For our corporate members, being active in our event and meeting these women-owned businesses frees up the number of times they need to have individual meetings.

Visconti: Why should a supplier-diversity chief or other supplier-diversity executive go to this event next year? What experience and knowledge would they gain?

Eason: The supplier-diversity professionals, in particular, will find a plethora of WBEs that are anxious to do business with them. The good news is we’ve been teaching them to target, so they are going after the corporations that they are probably the best solution for and can meet those needs. Marketing individuals would find that the power of women and the buying power of women are a great business-case tie to what that corporation does. A lot of procurement professionals attend because they can learn a lot about how that benefits their company as well as the actual categories in which they’re looking to buy things.

Stop Making Excuses

Visconti: When talking to companies that have procurement that might not be centralized, they tell me that they have difficulty getting MBE and WBE spend through the different divisions. You ran procurement at Pfizer. Why is that an excuse?

Eason: In many cases, it is an excuse. If you think about it, those same companies and the divisions and the people who are saying that they can’t do it, they also have employees in those same areas. Those payroll systems are just as different as those procurement systems, but they’re getting everybody paid and they’re making sure that everything happens like it should.

Is it costly to make sure everything is integrated? Is it difficult to say this is a priority and make sure that that priority occurs? Absolutely. But if you make it a priority and you follow through on it, it will happen.

Visconti: If you’re giving advice to a supplier-diversity person who is telling you, “I just can’t get this done,” what do they need to ask their CEO for? What do they need to ask their vice president of procurement? What kind of authority or accountability is needed?

Eason: If I’m a supplier-diversity professional and I felt like I just couldn’t get it done, I would think that it probably wasn’t being reinforced at the closest levels. I’m a total believer in top-level support for diversity and inclusion, whether it be on the supplier side or the colleague side, but that needs to exist as a basic premise of what happens at a company.

It’s those managers closest to the work who are really key to the success. If I’m being held accountable for certain things occurring, then I’m going to make sure that those occur.

If you address more of what people are concerned about—whether they believe there’s no supplier out there, or they believe the suppliers are not capable, or they believe funding is not available, whatever that is—as you address it, you’re able to show that that in fact is not the case. Or if it is the case, you go and you develop that capability, then it pulls through and it is successful.

The Importance of MWBE Certification

Visconti: I’ve run into both MBE and WBE owners who are not certified, and they don’t think of it as being important. Why is it important?

Eason: It’s important for two very different reasons. The government is making some real efforts to try to ensure that they do more business with women. They seem to be taking it seriously. They want to verify that this business is in fact woman-owned, -operated and -controlled, and not a shell of any sort.

On the private-sector side, with corporations, if you are doing business as a government contractor, then you have some flow-down requirements, and some of those are for diverse and women-owned businesses. So again, if you’re doing business with a certified business, you know they are owned, operated and controlled by a woman.

Visconti: What advice would you give women who are thinking about starting their own business?

Eason: Do your research first. Know what to expect. I had my own business for eight years, a consulting business that dealt with business processes in the area of procurement and finance. What you have to realize is what the sales cycle is like, how you have to behave in your client’s situation, what you are expected to deliver and how that’s different than just going to work from 8 to 5 or anything else that has to be done in a normal, day-to-day job. As an entrepreneur, you’ve got to jump up and be in charge of everything. Be aware of that and plan your time accordingly.

The post How WBENC Helps Companies & Women-Owned Businesses appeared first on DiversityInc.

Q. Why are companies making an effort to track suppliers owned by LGBT people or people with disabilities? Is supplier diversity really innovative or is it just politically correct?

A. Over the last two years, DiversityInc has seen more than a 10 percent increase in the percentage of spend with LGBT-owned businesses, and more than a 25 percent increase of spend with businesses owned by people with disabilities.

Innovative companies know that in order to be competitive and relevant in the marketplace, they must understand and solicit emerging-market customers such as LGBT people and people with disabilities, as well as allies to these groups. In order to do this, they are seeking more partnerships with these suppliers.

Companies want their customer bases to equal their supply bases. We know that the demographics of our country and global reach are changing and a corporation’s supply base is increasingly diverse. The LGBT population has been estimated by many sources to be about 10 percent of the total population, but its reach, through relatives and friends who are supportive, is considerably greater. In the United States, about 12 percent of the population has an ADA-defined disability. As the population ages, this figure is expected to increase.

Supplier diversity is not a social issue but an emerging-market demographic that will add to the corporate bottom line. Businesses seeking to enhance their supplier-diversity programs through partnerships with LGBT-owned businesses or businesses owned by people with disabilities should consider becoming members of either the US Business Leadership Network (USBLN) or the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC). Both groups certify small businesses and allow larger corporations to interact with these suppliers.

–Amber Aboshihata, Director of Data Analysis, and Adriene Bruce, Vice President of Consulting

The post Should You Track Suppliers Owned by LGBT People or People With Disabilities? appeared first on DiversityInc.

We honoring companies in six areas we have noted in the past three years—Community Development, Talent Pipeline, Working Families, Global Cultural Competence, Resource Groups and Diversity-Management Progress—plus one new area: Supplier Diversity. View previous DiversityInc Special Award winners.

These companies demonstrate through their data and their documented achievements measurable results that positively impact both their business goals and their employee/community populations.

Additionally, Dr. Cornel West spoke at the Special Awards dinner. Dr. West is the author of Race Matters and Democracy Matters and is a professor of Philosophy and Christian Practice at Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York.

2012 DiversityInc Top Company for Global Cultural Competence

Ernst & Young
No. 6 on the DiversityInc Top 50 list
Accepting Award: Steve Howe Jr., Area Managing Partner – Americas

As a truly global company, Ernst & Young understands how crucial the understanding and respect of local cultures is, while staying true to the values of inclusion so core to this company. Cultural-competence and harassment/discrimination training are emphasized throughout the organization, as is talent identification and development for underrepresented groups, particularly women globally.

James Turley, chairman and CEO, told DiversityInc last year that it’s best to tailor a company’s initiatives by geography so diversity strategies remain central to local customs and beliefs. Once established, diversity leaders can then look to incrementally push the boundaries.

Ernst & Young has global resource groups for professional women, LGBT employees and Black professionals in several countries. The groups have executive sponsors and meet during the workday.

Ernst & Young is a founding member of WEConnect International, a corporate-led nonprofit that helps to empower women business owners to succeed in global markets. The firm is working with WEConnect on development of a national certification process for women-owned businesses in India, while its employees in Canada and the United Kingdom are actively involved with WEConnect.

2012 DiversityInc Top Company for Community Development

Wells Fargo
No. 33 on the DiversityInc Top 50 list 
Accepted Award: Michelle Lee, Executive Vice President, Northeast Regional President

“Wells Fargo is only as strong as the communities we serve,” the financial-services company states. The company’s commitment to the Black, Latino, Asian, American Indian and LGBT communities is remarkable for the depth of its efforts to reach suppliers, youth and low-income people. Sixty-five percent of the executives in the top two levels of the company sit on the board of a multicultural nonprofit. Some examples of its philanthropy:

• In 2008, Wells Fargo achieved its goal to lend $1 billion to Black-owned small businesses and extended the goal to $2 billion by 2018.
• In 2010, Wells Fargo provided $61.1 million in grants to nonprofits focused on community development in distressed communities, including affordable housing, homeownership counseling, financial education, workforce development and job creation.
• The company has an online financial-literacy program in English and Spanish and teams with local Latino organizations to host free, bilingual programs on money management.
• Wells Fargo is a founding sponsor of the Asian & Pacific Islander American Scholarship Fund. Since 2004, the bank has given $500,000 for scholarships for college-bound students from underrepresented Asian and Pacific Islander communities interested in pursuing careers in banking and financial services.
• In 2010, Wells Fargo invested $219 million in 19,000 nonprofits nationwide.

2012 DiversityInc Top Company for Working Families

Eli Lilly and Company
No. 29 on the DiversityInc Top 50 list
Accepted Award: John Lechleiter, Chairman, President & CEO

This company has become a model of workplace flexibility for its employees. As Lechleiter stated: “Lilly recognizes the critical importance of work-life integration tools to address the diverse needs, expectations, lifestyles and work styles of employees allowing them to be the most effective.” Globally, Lilly offers a number of programs, varying by location, to assist employees in maintaining work/life flexibility. These include flexible work arrangements, personal leaves, onsite health services/fitness centers, onsite childcare, campus credit unions and dry cleaners, and family-support programs.

Flexibility is a productivity tool that allows for adaptation of how, when and where work is completed. Supervisors discuss with their employees the needs of the individual and the work group, as well as the types of flexible work arrangements that are appropriate for a particular position. For employees, flexible work schedules are about lower stress levels, better health, a stronger focus on work while working and greater trust—all leading to loyalty, inspiration and innovation. For Lilly, flexibility is about being able to recruit and retain the best talent in a competitive marketplace, preparing for the changing environment and reducing the cost structure related to absenteeism, and healthcare—all leading to improved levels of engagement, which drives productivity.

2012 DiversityInc Top Company for Diversity-Management Progress

Kellogg Company
No. 49 on the DiversityInc Top 50 list
Accepted Award: John Bryant, President & CEO

Kellogg’s progress in all four areas we measure in diversity management has been considerable in the past year and shows every indication of sustainable forward motion. This progress put Kellogg on the DiversityInc Top 50 list this year, in the highly competitive consumer-packaged-goods industry.

The effort starts at the top. President and CEO John Bryant chairs the Executive Diversity & Inclusion Council and has instituted the first linking of diversity-management goals, both quantitative and qualitative, to executive compensation. The council reviews on a quarterly basis the company’s hiring, promotion and turnover activity reports and addresses trends with recommendations and actions.

Bryant and four of his direct reports serve as the executive sponsors of Kellogg’s six resource groups. The company’s resource groups are available to all U.S. employees and are utilized for recruitment, mentoring, talent development, retention, diversity training, marketing and community outreach.

The company’s supplier-diversity program, in existence for more than two decades, has experienced an almost six-fold increase in spending in the last 10 years and now supports more than 200 vendors owned by Blacks, Latinos, Asians, American Indians, women and veterans with disabilities. The company recently added businesses owned by LGBT people to its supplier database and will begin tracking them this year.

2012 DiversityInc Top Company for Talent Pipeline

Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation
No. 13 on the DiversityInc Top 50 list
Accepted Award: Andre Wyss, President 

Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation understands the need for a diverse workforce and pipeline to senior management, both for cultural competency in its product development and marketing and for the most innovative workplace solutions. The company has been actively donating and volunteering to help youth from underrepresented groups reach their full potential, including direct involvement from its most senior leaders. A few examples:

• Each fall, areas of the business and members of the Diversity & Inclusion Councils and resource groups participate in its Disability Mentoring Day. In 2011, more than 100 employees volunteered to participate in the event focused on disability awareness and career opportunities for more than 50 high-school students and 10 college students/veterans who attended. The keynote address was by Rohan Murphy, a double amputee who became a Division 1 wrestler at Penn State University.
• In April 2011, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation brought nearly 150 students from 32 junior and senior New Jersey high schools to its East Hanover campus for its Annual Multicultural Teen Corporate Mentoring Program. Structured activities included a welcome from André Wyss; panel discussions with eight senior leaders; and a mock product-marketing challenge.

2012 DiversityInc Top Company for Supplier Diversity

Marriott International
No. 21 on the DiversityInc Top 50 list
Accepted Award: Arne Sorenson, President & CEO

Marriott has a long and rich history of creating community wealth by using local minority- and women-owned business enterprises (MBEs and WBEs) to build and service its hotels, especially in urban areas.

Marriott’s Tier I (direct contractor) third-party certified spend is 7.8 percent with MBEs and 9.5 percent with WBEs, more than 25 percent higher than the DiversityInc Top 50 average for MBEs and more than double the DiversityInc Top 50 average for WBEs. Marriott also spends 1 percent of its Tier I procurement with vendors owned by LGBT people, one of the highest percentages we’ve seen.

Supplier diversity is included in RFPs (requests for proposals), procurement-management compensation is tied to supplier-diversity results, and Marriott provides mentoring, financial education and financial assistance in the form of more favorable payment terms to its suppliers from underrepresented groups.

As an example, Marriott partnered with a U.S.-based woman-owned business to help grow her capacity and distribution channels to provide the design, production and fulfillment of training materials for its managed hotels around the world. Marriott also helped her share her expertise with other women-owned businesses.

Marriott has been honored by the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council, the Women Presidents Educational Organization and the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce for its supplier-diversity efforts.

2012 DiversityInc Top Company for Resource Groups

Dell
No. 26 on the DiversityInc Top 50 list
Accepted Award: Steven Price, Senior Vice President, Human Resources

In the past two years, Dell has placed a major emphasis on increasing employee participation in its resource groups, creating and expanding global groups, and using these groups to further its business.

Dell has seven global resource groups. Three have chapters outside of the United States: WISE (Women in Search of Excellence) in the Asian Pacific Japan region and Europe, the Middle East and Africa; PRIDE (for the LGBT population) in Brazil, and True Ability (Employees or Family Members of Employees with Special Needs/Disabilities) in Brazil.

The groups are available to all U.S. employees. Each group provides a charter of its strategy and mission annually, with a strong value proposition for its members, communities and Dell’s business goals. Programs include a Cross ERG Leadership Series and brown-bag sessions to help members learn software and social-media applications.

Business-relevant uses include:

• GenNext generational group providing feedback into product development and packaging. GenNext offered expertise on the launch of internal social-media vehicles.
• Adelante Latino group developed a process in which Spanish-speaking individuals deliver product briefings to prospective Latin American customers.
• The Asians in Motion group translated materials into languages for customers across Asia.
• The True Ability ERG has been engaged in product development for customers with disabilities.

Top Company for Executive Development
Kraft Foods
No. 7 in the 2012 DiversityInc Top 50
Accepted Award: Mark Clouse, President of the U.S. Snacks Business Unit

Talent development and the use of diversity training, resource groups and mentoring to maximize potential have been priorities for Kraft Foods in recent years—and the results are impressive.

Kraft’s Vice President of Diversity Jim Norman and retired executive Wayne Canty presented the company’s JumpStart program at our winter Innovation Fest! The initiative helps new managers, especially those from underrepresented groups, understand the corporate culture and the subtle signals of bias that can derail a career. For the video and presentation of this innovation, go to www.DiversityInc.com/innovationfest.

As the company undergoes a split this year into two separate entities, the resource groups and talent-development initiatives will be even more critical to its ability to connect with its increasingly multicultural consumer base.

Essential to that connection are its 10 resource groups, which are available to all U.S. employees, including hourly workers. The groups are used for recruitment, engagement, talent development, leadership training, marketplace research/connections, and diversity training. Resource-group members serve as facilitators for Kraft’s “The Power of Differences” internal training.

The groups’ success is measured through increased referral/rate of hires of people from traditionally underrepresented groups, retention of talent from those demographics, and increased promotion rates.

Almost three-quarters of its managers are involved in its formal mentoring program, which includes group mentoring, mentoring for new hires and traditional one-on-one mentoring. Seventy percent of the mentoring pairs are cross-cultural.

–Barbara Frankel

The post Diversity Management: 2012 DiversityInc Special Awards appeared first on DiversityInc.

The nine diversity innovations presented by leading companies at our Innovation Fest! demonstrate how they’ve transformed effective diversity management into a true source of innovation, capable of generating the business solutions they need to differentiate their company, get a leg up on competitors and capture new market share.

Diversity Management: A Source of Innovation

Held in New York City, DiversityInc’s second Innovation Fest! featured a series of quick-fire, 30-minute presentations from corporate leaders quantifying the benefits diversity management has on business results. [View presentations from our February Innovation Fest!]

These include positive results in sales, productivity and pipeline development from innovations in resource groups, recruitment and talent development, supplier diversity, employee engagement/productivity, and corporate communications.

Watch videos of the presentations from PricewaterhouseCoopers, Brown-Forman, Wells Fargo, Rockwell Collins, BASF, AT&T, Travelers, Marriott International and Monsanto in the player below, plus watch University Hospital’s Dr. Drew Hertz, the lunchtime speaker. (For closed captions, press the CC button in the YouTube player.)

The full Innovation Fest! presentations with PowerPoint slides are available on DiversityIncBestPractices.com by clicking the links below.

DiversityInc Innovation Fest!: How 9 Companies Capitalize on Innovation

Increasing Engagement, Retention & Talent Development of New Black Hires
Elena Richards, Talent Management Leader, Office of Diversity, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC)

How a Liquor Company Benefits From Resource Group for Non-Drinkers
Matt Hamel, General Counsel and Executive Sponsor of the Non-Drinker Resource group, and Judy Spalding, the resource group’s founder and co-leader, Brown-Forman

Accredited Domestic Partnership Advisor Program
Kyle Young, Certified Financial Planner and Vice President, Investment Officer, Wells Fargo

Improving Healthcare for 68,000 Black & Latino Children
Dr. Drew Hertz, Medical Director for UH Rainbow Care Network and an Assistant Clinical Professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine

Innovative Ways to Develop & Support Supplier Diversity
Amber Janey, senior project manager for supplier diversity, and Evette Creighton, Diversity Program Manager, Rockwell Collins

How Diversity Dashboards Improve Leadership Accountability
Tina Kao, vice president, Talent Development, and Patricia Rossman, Chief Diversity Officer, BASF

The Innovation Pipeline: Promoting Cross-Function Collaboration
Sam Zellner, Executive Director of Innovation Applications and Services Infrastructure, AT&T

Diversity Training Equals $2M Savings for Insurance Company
Nicole Hughey, Director, Enterprise Diversity & Inclusion at Travelers

Social Gaming: A Diversity Strategy for Cross-Cultural Engagement
Francisca Martinez, Vice President, Global Talent Acquisition, Marriott International

Talent Acquisition Integration
Melissa Harper, Vice President of Global Talent Acquisition, Monsanto

The post How 9 Companies Capitalize on Innovation: Resource Groups, Engagement & Talent Development appeared first on DiversityInc.

Although the rest of the country may be slow to recognize it, the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul are no cultural backwater. Changing demographics and economic prosperity are putting the region in the same league as the nation’s top cultural centers. Two area companies—lender Wells Fargo and law firm Faegre Baker Daniels—are among those leading the charge to ensure the area’s long-term prosperity by making diversity a priority in everything they do. The results are encouraging.

Minnesota is already home to 20 Fortune 500 companies—more per capita than any other state—and Minneapolis/St. Paul is the fastest-growing metro area in the Midwest. Boasting a healthy job market, lower-than-average unemployment and high wage growth, the Twin Cities’ growth is unlikely to slow down. The Metropolitan Council forecasts that by 2040, employment will grow 37 percent and the region’s gross metro product will reach a staggering $400 billion. “That would represent 1.5 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product,” according to Twin Cities Business magazine. “A significant portion considering the Twin Cities is home to less than 1 percent of the national population.”

Such growth is shifting the demographics of a predominantly white state. Between 2000 and 2010, Minnesota’s Latino, Black and Asian population grew by 55 percent and is projected to more than double over the next 30 years. And the vast majority of this non-white population will be concentrated in the Twin Cities. If the area is to succeed, it will need to transform this economic and cultural wealth into an inclusive community that continues to thrive, says Lisa Tabor, executive director of the St. Paul–based CultureBrokers Foundation. “In an intercultural city, residents and organizations creatively harness their diversity and use it as a tool to build a more prosperous future for all,” Tabor writes in a recent editorial. Corporations are banking on the idea that the key to success lies in maintaining a diverse workforce, championing the causes of underrepresented groups and reaching out to traditionally underserved communities.

A Diverse Workforce

As one of the 100 largest law firms in the United States and the largest in Minnesota, Minneapolis-based Faegre Baker Daniels sees diversity as a partnership with the wider community. According to their diversity policy, “Diversity and inclusion is not something that any one individual—or firm—achieves on their own.” With collaboration in mind, Faegre was a founding member of Diversity in Practice, an association of 28 law firms and 12 corporate legal departments that work to “attract, recruit, advance and retain attorneys of color in the Twin Cities legal community.” The association offers professional development, networking opportunities and summer clerkships for Black, Latino and Asian first-year law students. The firm has hired 28 summer associates as a result of these clerkships; after the summer, more than 90 percent of students receive offers to return to the firm for a second year.

These initiatives are helping to recruit bright law students from diverse backgrounds to the city. “We’re not New York; we’re not D.C. We don’t have the critical mass in population,” says Kristine McKinney, director of Diversity & Inclusion at Faegre Baker Daniels. “But we’ve created that through Diversity in Practice.” And the effort is working: 36 percent of the firm’s partners, attorneys and associates are women, and nearly 11 percent are Latino, Black, Native Hawaiian, Asian, American Indian, openly LGBT or a person with a disability.

Wells Fargo also prides itself on maintaining a diverse workforce. Nationally, 59 percent of the bank’s employees are women and 36 percent are Asian, Black, Latino, American Indian or Native Hawaiian. Employees will often recruit from within their communities, says David Kvamme, Minnesota Great Lakes regional president at Wells Fargo. The bank also makes promotion and advancement a priority for employees from different cultural backgrounds and has invested in programs to ensure their success. Since 2009, Wells Fargo has contracted with English Proficiency Systems, a woman-owned business.

Efforts are also being made to promote and recognize the achievements of women. In 2012, Faegre was one of 50 U.S. law firms to receive Gold Standard Certification by the Women in Law Empowerment Forum in recognition of the firm’s number of women in top leadership roles. “Women participate in every level of leadership at the firm—as members of the firm’s executive committee, management board, practice group leaders, office managers and chief executives,” says McKinney. Faegre ensures retention through groups like the Women’s Forum for Achievement, which promotes networking, leadership development and ties to professional associations.

Advocacy & Outreach

Faegre’s volunteer and pro bono efforts demonstrate a commitment to advocacy on behalf of traditionally underrepresented groups. In 2010, the Southern Poverty Law Center asked a team of Faegre lawyers to partner in an investigation into anti-gay policies and harassment in Minnesota’s largest school district. A settlement was reached in 2012 that granted new protections for LGBT students and provided a national blueprint for future advocacy. “The decision to go forward was consistent with the firm’s longstanding pro bono priorities, which include public-policy advocacy to effect systemic change, and protection of individual civil rights,” says McKinney.

In the same spirit, Wells Fargo believes that a successful company recognizes the needs of all members of the population. “We are working to bring a sharper focus to finding solutions to the social, economic and environmental issues faced in the communities we serve, and our diversity and inclusion efforts are an important component of this work,” says Jon Campbell, executive vice president of Wells Fargo’s Social Responsibility Group. Banking services like bilingual phone operators, a multi-language Internet site and the first-ever Hmong-language ATMs provide special outreach to the Twin Cities’ diverse demographic. “In some of our stores here in the Twin Cities metro area, there are five or more languages spoken,” says Kvamme, “which helps us ensure that customers feel welcome.”

Community Giving

Employees also play an important role in corporate giving. The bank has contributed at least $10 million annually to Minnesota nonprofit organizations, local schools and community events for the past six years. Fifty Twin Cities–based employees volunteer to sit on the bank’s Community Funding Council for three-year terms. They evaluate grant applications from nonprofit organizations centered on local issues including English-language learning programs for job seekers, violence-prevention programs for at-risk teens and kindergarten-readiness programs for children of low-income working families.

Faegre promotes a robust community-service ethic including a volunteer mentorship program with Lincoln International High School and the International Education Center, which serve the cities’ large immigrant and refugee populations. But these efforts are not handouts, says McKinney. “We believe that diversity makes us a better place to work. As a result of the firm’s community-service programs, firm employees often have a heightened awareness of community needs, an increased opportunity to interact with diverse groups and individuals and a greater understanding of how they can be more involved in our community.”

Wells Fargo has been involved in community programs as a partner in the Midtown Greenway project, which revitalizes low-income and traditionally underserved parts of the city. “The success of diverse neighborhoods and business owners contributes to the vitality and vibrancy of the entire community,” says Kvamme. It’s also creating a marketplace for minority- and women-owned enterprises. Located in the Midtown Exchange Building, the Midtown Global Market currently hosts 64 MWBEs.

As the regional economy continues to grow and demographics begin to shift, the Twin Cities have the opportunity to become a model in multiculturalism and urban renewal. It’s clear that area companies like Wells Fargo and Faegre Baker Daniels are committed to making sure that no group is left behind. They believe that inclusion makes not only their companies but the whole community stronger. “Make no mistake, interculturalism takes hard work and clear vision,” writes Tabor. “But the return on that investment of time and labor is profound.”

The post In the Twin Cities, Diversity & Economic Growth Go Hand in Hand appeared first on DiversityInc.

Toyota Motor North America is No. 41 on The 2012 DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity list.

The post Maintaining and Growing Diverse Suppliers (VIDEO) appeared first on DiversityInc.

Despite the lingering economic slump, Berchet “Dottie” O’Daniel Mays was able to buck the trend and hire six new employees for her telecommunications firm earlier this year. The president and owner of Call One, Mays attributes the recent hires to a supplier contract that Wells Fargo awarded the company in April. Her Cape Canaveral, Fla.–based business will supply and repair headsets throughout the banking giant’s call centers, on trading floors and throughout Wells Fargo. Wells Fargo is No. 33 on The 2012 DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity list.

Call One received the job by offering free shipping and increased efficiency. But that’s not the whole story. It’s one of a growing number of ways that corporate America is supporting minority- and women-owned business enterprises (MBEs and WBEs), and it’s having a ripple effect. When large companies obtain goods and services from traditionally underrepresented groups, both parties thrive and the local economy gets a boost. Everyone wins.

As these groups gain traction and visibility, more corporations are embracing the use of Black-, Latino-, Asian- and women-owned suppliers as a business strategy. Some companies have expanded their supply base to include companies owned by veterans, LGBT people and people with disabilities. Last year, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that business ownership by Blacks, Latinos and Asians is increasing at more than twice the national rate, and women-owned businesses have increased by more than 20 percent from 2002 to 2007.

‘Just Good Business’

“Supplier diversity is just good business,” says Ramona Blake, diversity and inclusion manager at Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG), an energy company based in Newark, N.J. These suppliers bring unique insights and an entrepreneurial energy that helps companies retain a competitive advantage. Plus, contracting with MBEs and WBEs has a “multiplier effect” that increases spending and consumption and promotes job creation on a local level, says Blake.

At Cargill—an agricultural producer with more than 2,500 suppliers including multinational corporations and farms in developing countries—a diverse supply chain is a chance to engage local markets and participate in community activities. “We’re a global company,” says John Taylor, Cargill’s director of supplier diversity. “We would like our supplier base to reflect that.” These vendors offer an added benefit to Cargill’s customers, adds Taylor. “At the end of the day, we’re talking about being able to enhance and create additional jobs within the communities that we live and work.”

Health Care Service Corporation (HCSC, No. 19 in the DiversityInc Top 50) sees direct benefits from its relationship with diverse-owned businesses as they in turn become local ambassadors of the company’s values. “We’re committed to our diverse community,” says Malinda Burden, HCSC’s director of corporate vendor management and system management. “We are committed to partnering with minority-owned, women-owned and other diverse businesses because it adds value to what we do, as well as promotes prosperity in the communities we serve.”

Wells Fargo has a similar appreciation for its supplier-diversity program, which expanded in 2009 to include veteran-, disabled veteran– and LGBT-owned businesses. It has made employees more engaged, increased profits and reduced bid response time, says Sonya Dukes, Wells Fargo’s senior vice president and director of corporate supplier diversity.

“When our suppliers have different experiences, perspectives, cultures and backgrounds, we receive the most innovative, creative and cost-effective products and services available.”

At Minnesota-based SUPERVALU, a grocery chain with more than 2,500 retail stores nationwide, executives see supporting diverse businesses as a natural extension of the corporate mission. “From a macro perspective, working with diverse businesses provides increased accessibility and familiarity to the local community and stronger products and services, along with increased innovation and flexibility,” says Michael A. Byron, corporate vice president of supplier diversity. Byron is a board member of the Midwest Minority Supplier Development Council.

Emerging Markets

Any time demographics shift, executives hope that suppliers from traditionally underrepresented groups will offer new ways to reach populations whose buying power is on the rise. According to the Selig Center for Economic Growth, the combined purchasing power of Blacks, Asians and American Indians was $1.6 trillion last year. By 2015, these groups will represent a combined spend of $2.1 trillion, accounting for 15 percent of the nation’s total buying power. And last year, the U.S. Latino market had grown to $1 trillion, larger than the entire economies of all but 14 countries in the world.

With the rapid growth of a diverse population—roughly one of every six people living in the United States is of Latino origin—these companies are recognizing the value of relationships with MWBEs that may have their fingers on the pulse of a multicultural consumer base.

For example, SUPERVALU’s partnership with Catallia Mexican Foods, a Latino-owned supplier, allows it to sell private-label tortillas to its customers at a competitive price. Highlighted in the company’s 2011 Corporate Social Responsibility Report, SUPERVALU notes that Catallia’s knowledge of Latino food trends is helping it provide “locally relevant” products.

“Additionally, this partnership led to cost savings for SUPERVALU in this product category, while also significantly growing Catallia’s business,” the report states. “It’s a true win-win for both companies.”

Cargill also benefits from partnering with a multicultural supply base. “MWBEs have very good insight with regard to the products and services that they are offering and can bring that market intelligence to Cargill,” says Taylor. Looking to capitalize on this market intelligence, this year the company has committed to increasing its supplier-diversity spend by 9 percent each year through 2015. Wells Fargo has a goal of spending $1 billion annually with diverse-owned business enterprises, starting in 2013.

Last year, PSEG spent 5.3 percent of its annual direct-contractor procurement budget with MBEs and 6.7 percent with WBEs. HCSC, which operates Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans in Illinois, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas, is spending 5.2 percent of this year’s direct-contractor procurement budget with MBEs and 7.4 percent with WBEs. That’s compared with an average of 8.5 percent spent with MWBEs by The 2011 DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for Supplier Diversity.

Economic Downturn Makes Diversity Imperative

In uncertain economic times, sometimes support is about keeping diversity in mind when making tough financial decisions. When Cargill recently reduced its number of select suppliers from 17 to 12 to improve efficiency, no Black-, Latino- or women-owned businesses were cut. All things being equal, says Taylor, Cargill would rather not lose a supplier from a traditionally underrepresented group.

Pat Hemingway Hall, president and CEO of HCSC, echoed these sentiments. ”Having diverse and inclusive perspectives and practices in our organization will be even more crucial in the face of unprecedented economic challenges,” says Hall. “To be as innovative as possible, we must capitalize on the talents and skills of all of our employees. At the same time, we need to continue to anticipate and respond effectively to the needs of our increasingly diverse customer base who will be facing their own unique challenges during this difficult time.”

With the multicultural population experiencing such growth, it’s no wonder more and more businesses are embracing supplier diversity to stay competitive. DiversityInc reported a 50 percent increase in companies including supplier diversity in their RFPs between 2004 and 2009.

Long-Term Investment/Growth

But the commitment to a diverse supply chain goes deeper than financial support. These companies are leading the charge with a host of innovative programs and resources to ensure the long-term growth of their supply base including mentorship, education and networking programs.

Wells Fargo’s Leaders of Change program takes a holistic approach to supplier engagement and development. It includes sponsorship of MWBE suppliers to attend leadership training at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business and Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management; partnership with industry advocacy organizations to provide classroom training to suppliers; one-on-one coaching and mentoring opportunities for MWBEs with expert consultants in business-strategy planning and operational improvement; and development of young and emerging entrepreneurs through university and organizational collaborations. The anticipation is that investing in these suppliers will have a ripple effect.

“To succeed in financial services, we must be committed to serving our diverse customers, team members and suppliers,” says Wells Fargo’s Dukes. “We believe that together with our diverse suppliers, we can contribute to the long-term economic sustainability of our communities.”

With an eye toward the community, many companies support the growth of these suppliers by investing locally. For example, PSEG fosters minority- and women-owned enterprises in its home state of New Jersey. Annually, the company pairs up with a member of the New Jersey Association of Women Business Owners to offer one-on-one mentorship, employee training, marketing contacts, shared tickets to industry events, and more. Similarly, Cargill provides tuition assistance to select suppliers through the Wisconsin Iowa and Central Illinois Minority Supplier Development Council’s business program.

In an effort to strengthen the regional economy, health insurer HCSC has joined Chicago United’s Five Forward initiative to mentor five area vendors from underrepresented groups over five years. To date, the company has reached platinum status in its efforts to build businesses of scale that reflect Chicago’s diverse demographics. HCSC requests that its prime vendors have a minority program and report Tier II spend on a quarterly basis. Today, at least 35 of the company’s top vendors report Tier II spend, says Burden.

SUPERVALU’s company mission hinges on what the company calls being “hyper local.” Through supplier diversity, the company is seeing firsthand how supporting businesses owned by traditionally underrepresented groups has a tangible effect on the local community. Of the company’s 2,800 registered MBE and WBE suppliers, 60 percent have a formal community-outreach program and nearly 20 percent have their own supplier-diversity programs.

Cargill aims to add Tier II requirements to new sourcing contracts in North America. If a supplier from a traditionally underrepresented group isn’t ready to contract with them directly, the company will try to partner them with a select supplier, says Taylor. The goal is that with mentoring and support, today’s Tier II vendors will become tomorrow’s Tier I suppliers.

This kind of long-term, goal-oriented support makes a huge impact on small-businesses growth. A Wells Fargo–sponsored training session on capacity building was a great opportunity for Alpa Patel, CEO of We Print, a minority- and woman-owned printing company in Orange County, Calif. “It taught me to work on my business, create strategic partnerships to build capacity to scale and grow,” says Patel. “The overall experience has been tremendous for me personally and for my business. It was the lifeline I needed to take my business to the next level.”

Yet financial and educational support won’t expand the reach of these suppliers unless they have access to company decision makers. Keeping this in mind, PSEG hosts annual supplier-diversity fairs at no charge, giving minority- and women-owned enterprises the access they need to begin a relationship with the company. As a direct result of these procurement events, PSEG has awarded more than 37 contracts to new MBEs and WBEs, says Blake.

In the fall, Cargill hosted the Twin Cities’ largest-ever supplier-diversity symposium. Nearly 250 MWBEs attended, free of charge. “It’s their opportunity to talk directly with our sourcing departments,” says Taylor. In addition to face time with Cargill staff, attendees were offered a number of business resources, which included a seminar on how to bid on government contracts and guidance about securing financing.

Ensuring Accountability

With so much invested in diverse businesses and so much at stake in the local community, corporations are taking pains to ensure the long-term success of their MWBE partners. Many of these companies use quarterly reporting, annual procurement goals and internal training to make diversity a priority. But one of the most important factors in nourishing supplier diversity is the involvement of company leadership.

At Wells Fargo, diversity starts with the board of directors, CEO and senior management and permeates the entire organization. Dukes says, “Increasing spend with minority- and women-owned businesses has been a corporate goal since 2006.”

At PSEG, internal goals are developed on the executive level and are tied directly to performance reviews and increases.

HCSC’s commitment to MWBEs extends from the board of directors, CEO and senior management to the entire organization. Regular reporting to the leadership team, establishing a corporate diversity goal and reporting yearly to the corporate board keeps HCSC’s supplier-diversity program on track, says Burden.

This kind of top-down commitment is crucial to creating a company-wide understanding of the value in diversity. “Our commitment to supplier diversity comes from the CEO on down,” says Cargill’s Taylor. “We report monthly, quarterly and annually all the way up to the C-suite.”

In order to better monitor goals and continue to tap diverse vendors, PSEG contracted with SciQuest to streamline its records and build an online supplier-management database. Thanks to the new system, they’re able to report that more than half of their 8,700 registered suppliers are diverse.

Cargill also brought in outside expertise, inviting leaders from the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council and the National Minority Supplier Development Council to meet with company executives and sourcing teams. As a result of these meetings, “there’s a heightened awareness of supplier diversity,” says Taylor.

In addition to bringing in external support and advice, most of the companies have in-house teams that ensure diversity throughout the supply chain. “Our best overall asset is our people,” says Blake, referring to PSEG’s teams that follow procurement contracts from start to finish to assure that MWBEs are sourced and included. Not only did the presence of these interdepartmental review teams increase spend with these suppliers, it “opened the lines of communication,” says Blake, resulting in a better understanding of diversity throughout the company.

Similarly, SUPERVALU has found that its communication has flourished because of its diversity program. Byron says, “Relationships are cultivated as a result of information sharing and awareness.” SUPERVALU has received awards from the Women’s Business Development Council, the Midwest Minority Supplier Development Council and the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

When diversity and inclusion permeate corporate culture, the results are tangible. While strategic procurement typically starts with an eye toward reducing costs and increasing value, companies are finding that a diverse supply chain leads to a healthy business. Women- and minority-owned business enterprises have the capacity to be real allies in a diverse and constantly evolving market. In addition, they act as regional ambassadors and proof that companies are making the sustainable growth of the populations in which they live and work a major priority. It’s imperative that contracting with diverse businesses remains a focus, says Blake: “It will ensure long-term success for our local economy, customers, stakeholders, employees and communities.”

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