Office of Supplier Diversity Development T H E
CATALYST FALL 2013
WARNING SIGNS Learn how to navigate the pitfalls of business ownership at the 9th Annual Relationships to Partnerships Sessions
P L U S:
AWARDING ADVOCACY Jesse Moore receives the Mayor’s Advocate of Diversity Award during the Indiana Black Expo
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MARIE JOHNS SBA’s Former Deputy Administrator is the Keynote Speaker for the Relationships to Partnerships Sessions.
In this issue: ● Supplier Diversity @ Purdue...2 ● Editorial by Dr. Melvin Gravely...6
● Coalition Updates...4 ● Upcoming Events...7
● Recognitions...5 ● Resources...8
Supplier Diversity News@ Jesse Moore Receives Mayors Advocate of the Year Award during Indiana Black Expo
tor for the U.S. Small Business Administration. Johns will provide insight into the theme of the conference, which is the dangers of growing a business.
Purdue University’s own Jesse Moore was honored with Advocate of Diversity in Business Award during the Indiana Black Expo Summer Celebration Black Business Conference. Moore was among other awardees who were honored for excellence in business and advocacy. His service as an advocate for small, diJesse L. Moore verse businesses is well documented, having served as executive director of the Indianapolis Black Chamber of Commerce and as director of economic development and small business at the Indiana Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Moore also served as business advocacy manger of the Greater Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce before joining Purdue as director of Supplier Diversity Development.
As the former deputy administrator of the SBA, Johns’ responsibilities included management and oversight of the agency, including leading the agency’s efforts to reach underserved Marie Johns communities. Before her tenure with SBA Johns served as president and CEO of Verizon Washington, D.C. and as Managing Member of L&L Consulting, LLC. Johns also serves as a trustee of Howard University, and serves as a board member on the Washington, D.C. Chamber of Commerce. She is also a member of the International Women’s Forum.
SBA ’ s Marie Johns Will Deliver Keynote at Relationships to Partnerships Event The Supplier Diversity Development Coalition of Greater Lafayette announced its keynote speaker for its Ninth Annual Relationships to Partnerships Sessions: Marie Johns, former Deputy Administra-
Fall Advocacy Meeting Focuses on Current Supplier Diversity Initiatives
Moore presided over the council meeting and provided updates to current supplier diversity initiatives as well. Representatives from Purdue Procurement Services and Physical Facilities discussed current programs involving outreach goals for diverse businesses. Philip O’Keeffe, director of Procurement Services, provided an update of the new procurement system which launched October 14. The system, called Ariba P2P (Procure-to-Pay), will help procurement representatives improve its sourcing strategy. Purdue’s new Physical Facilities Vice President Michael Cline discussed upcoming capital projects at Purdue, including pre-bid and bid opening dates for these projects. He also opened discussion on strengthening current contract language regarding MWBEs on capital projects in order to increase their utilization. Moore gave an update on the ACCESS program. ACCESS—the Advocating Consistent Contracting to Engage Small businesses for Success—was developed to increase small diverse business utilization at Purdue. The three tier track program is currently in Track 1 which focuses on greater outreach, mentoring, and data collection. Currently, there has been increased activity in each respective area particularly in mentoring, where Purdue has partnered with the Model Contractors Development Program which helps small businesses become bondable.
On October 16 Purdue’s Office of Supplier Diversity Development hosted its Fall Advocacy Council meeting at the Frances A. Cordova Recreational Center. The Advocacy Council—a group comprised of minority and women business enterprises (MWBEs) as well as representatives from larger corporations and Purdue University—met to discuss the state of business diversity at Purdue. Jesse To return to front page click here 2
Relationships to Partnerships Sessions Will Discuss Dangers in Growing Your Business On November 15, the Supplier Diversity Development Coalition of Greater Lafayette will host the Ninth Annual Relationships to Partnerships Sessions at Purdue University’s Memorial Union. The theme of the event is Growing Your Business Can be Dangerous. This critical topic will address the issues facing business development that can stagnate growth. The Sessions will include over a hundred minority and women-owed businesses who will have the opportunity to meet with buyers and representatives from the companies that comprise the Coalition. Caterpillar, Tate and Lyle, Oerlikon Fairfield, Fifth Third, Ivy Tech Community College, IU Health and Purdue University are a few of the companies that are members of the Coalition. The event kicks-off at 8 a.m. with a Plenary Panel comprised of business leaders who will share their wisdom on potential pitfalls of growing a busi-
ness. These leaders include Michelle Taylor, Diversity Procurement Director of Cummins, Inc.; Deborah Oatts, owner of Nubian Construction Group; Darlene Mezzetta, owner of Mezzetta, Inc.; John Thompson, owner of Thompson Distribution Company; and Marie Johns, former deputy administrator for the U.S. Small Business Administration. The Greater Lafayette Commerce President Joe Seaman will facilitate the panel discussion. Following the Plenary discussion will be three concurrent breakout sessions. Each breakout session will focus specifically on a particular industry. Session one will focus on Construction and Architecture/ Engineering; session two centers on Marketing and IT-related services, and session three will involve commodities and other professional services. Coalition members will be stationed in each session ready to speak with all of the businesses in attend-
ance about their current business needs. Immediately after the breakout sessions attendees will move to the PMU Ballroom and can visit the business resource area. These resources include a vast amount of information from groups such as the Indiana Department of Administration and the Indiana Construction Roundtable. The event will wrap-up with the Awards Luncheon followed by the keynote address given by Marie Johns (see pg. 2).
It ’ s not too late to register! Click here to attend the Relationships to Partnerships Sessions!
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News from the
Updates: The Coalition Welcomes Nanshan America and Oerlikon Fairfield to its Ranks— The Coalition is pleased to welcome two new member companies to its ranks: Nanshan America and Oerlikon Fairfield. Nanshan America, a subsidiary of Shandong Nanshan Aluminum in China, came to the Greater Lafayette area in 2012 and has opened a 600,000 square foot aluminum extrusion plant along U.S. 52. Oerlikon Fairfield has provided drives and gear designs built by one of their international plants since 1919. Brad Lewis and Dave Martin serve as the representatives from Nanshan America and Oerlikon Fairfield, respectively.
Marty Cotterman Receives Ambassador of the Year Award— Electronic Systems Group’s Marty Cotterman was honored with the prestigious award by Greater Lafayette Commerce.
Mr. Cotterman was among five Greater Lafayette businesses that were
recognized for best practices in Workforce Diversity, Diversity Leadership, Green Sustainability, corporate citizenship and outstanding leadership in the community. Electronic Systems Group provides fire alarm, temperature and security system services and is a member of the Coalition.
SDDC Mission and Vision Statements The Greater Lafayette Suppler Diversity Development Coalition encourages diversity and supports creative solutions that result in long-term partnerships between small diverse businesses and the larger members of the Greater Lafayette business community. The Greater Lafayette Supplier Diversity Development Coalition will enhance opportunities for minority- and women-owned firms to conduct business with the Greater Lafayette business community.
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Recognitions Terrie Daniel Selected as Deputy Commissioner of IDOA’s MWBE Division The Indiana Department of Administra-
Minority and Women Business Enter-
“My vision for the [MWBE] Division is to
tion (IDOA) has appointed Terrie Daniel
prise Division. She also served as sec-
assist minority-and women-owned busi-
as the Deputy Com-
retary for the Indiana Governor’s Com-
ness enterprises by creating a fair, com-
missioner of the Mi-
mission on Minority and Women Busi-
petitive, and equitable business environ-
nority and Women
ness Enterprises, and was Governor
ment for our Indiana based businesses”
Business Enterprise
Mitch Daniels’ liaison for IDOA.
she explains.
Terrie Daniel
Division.
Daniel
previously
served
over three years as Deputy Director of
Minority and Women Business Development in Mayor Gregory Ballard’s administration.
“We welcome Terrie back to the
Daniel’s also explains that the com-
MWBE Division after a few years with
munity benefits through these partner-
the Indianapolis Minority and Women’s
ships with diverse businesses.
Business
served as Outreach Director for IDOA’s
Program”
explained Acting Commissioner Brian Renner in IDOA’s The Link to Supplier
Diversity newsletter.
This is not Daniel’s first position with IDOA. From 2007 until 2010, Daniel
Development
“…[It] is our responsibility as diversity champions to challenge others to embrace the fact that we are better because of our differences not despite
Indeed, Daniel’s experience and
them.” Daniel stated that she is excited
passion for business diversity has
to partner with other diversity profession-
helped shape her vision for her new role.
als in order to achieve these goals.
MWBE SPOTLIGHT. . . Founded in 1989, The Garcia Construction Group has provided services to various organizations engaged in f ields such as healthcare, industrial, public, retail and education . The company specializes in a range of service needs including, but not limited to, designbuild, construction management, self -performance, and facilities maintenance. Garcia Construction maintains offices in Indianapolis, IN and in San Antonio, TX. Garcia Construction Group’s commitment to Supplier Diversity is welldocumented, having not only certifications as a MBE with the State of Indiana and the city of Indianapolis, and the Southwest Minority Supplier Development Council, it is a
Corporate Plus Member of the National Minority Supplier Development Council. The company’s Supplier Diversity program includes not only minority and women-owned businesses, but it also works with disa- Charles Garcia bled and veteran business enterprises (DBE and VBE respectively). Under the leadership of President and CEO Charles J. Garcia the company has been honored for its work as an entrepreneur. It has received
the Small Business Administration Regional Construction Company of the Year Award as well as the Indiana Grow Award, among many others. Mr. Garcia himself was honored with the Whitney Young Award and the Madame Walker Spirit Award for his excellence in entrepreneurship. Among Garcia Construction Group’s many projects around Indiana and beyond, the company also partnered with Turner Construction Co. to build the new Frances A. Cordova Student Fitness Center. It also partnered with Turner Construction to host outreach events to help subcontractors get involved in the various stages of the Fitness Center’s design-build process.
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OUR FOCUS IS OUT OF BALANCE: AND THE RESULT IS WEIGHING US DOWN BY Melvin J. Gravely, Ph.D. On the scale of what we have and
of real issues and additional challeng-
Minority firms are developing rela-
what we don't have, what we don’t
es. There is work to be done and ad-
tionships and building businesses big-
have seems to weigh more heavily.
ditional strides to be made. I get it.
ger and better than at any other time
Whether it’s money or time to go to
But I also get the most driving mes-
in our history despite our out of bal-
college or number of bedrooms in the
sages in the discussion about minority
ance focus. More and more commu-
house or opportunities to do business
business development are “they aren’t
nities and buying organizations are
or financing to get a business going,
serious about doing business with us”
seeing the long-term economic bene-
the list of those things lacking just
and “they aren’t ready to do busi-
fits derived from thriving minority busi-
seems longer. OK, I realize it’s human
ness.”
These statements are both
nesses. It is quietly happening while
nature but it is so unproductive and I’
true and equally false depending on
others are more loudly fixated on
m hearing it even more as it relates to
which side of the scale you’re on.
what’s missing.
minority
development.
Does it mean no minority firms are
everyone to play and without every-
There are not enough educational op-
ready to do business? Does it mean
one playing their role we likely would
portunities, access to decision mak-
no buying organizations are really
not have made the progress we have.
ers, nor enough “qualified” minority
committed to doing business with mi-
So I understand (and support) the
firms. My new favorite questions are
norities? Of course not. These com-
need to continue to push for more. .
how many should there be and how
mon themes really mean we put too
.more access, more support systems,
many do you need? No one can an-
much weight on the wrong side of the
even more capable minority firms. I
swer the questions with anything oth-
scale. While I’m lamenting about what
am just asking for a bit more balance
er than, more! These two questions
I don’t have it’s difficult for me to work
on the scale.
expose the reality, there is likely
with what I do have. While some or-
enough for you to succeed. There are
ganizations and diverse business
enough qualified minority firms for you
owners are working with what they
to increase your spending. There are
have, others are waiting for what they
enough entrepreneurial training pro-
think they need. Working or waiting,
grams for you to develop your skills.
that’s the choice. So what am I sug-
There is enough access to decision
gesting? Three simple steps: 1. Fo-
makers for you to grow your business.
cus on the specific situation.
Shouldn’t we lean more toward how
“they” but “that one.” 2. Identify the
we can and less on whey we can’t?
specific gap and work on it. 3. Meas-
To
business
acknowledge
the
possible
doesn’t demand you agree things are perfect. The point is not the absence
Not
ure your progress in lasting terms.
There is a role for
Melvin J. Gravely, Ph.D. is the head of the Institute of Entrepreneurial Thinking, an organization committed to the development of minority-owned businesses. He is the author of six books including When Black and White Make Green and What is the Color of Opportunity.
Not just securing a contract but a new, mutually beneficial business relationship.
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Upcoming Business Development Events Month/Day
Event
Location
November 8, 2013
IMSDC Annual Dinner
Indiana Ballroom, Indianapolis, IN
November 15, 2013
The Ninth Annual Relationships to Partnerships Sessions
Purdue University West Lafayette, IN
November 20, 2013
Indiana University-Purdue University Ft. Wayne Resource Workshop
IPFW Ft. Wayne, IN
December 17, 2013
NAWBO Awards Luncheon
TBD Indianapolis, IN
January 14, 2014
13th Annual Mayor’ s Celebration of Diversity Awards Luncheon
JW Marriott Hotel Indianapolis, IN
Open Bids at Purdue University Please select the links below for current open bids in construction and procurement: Current Construction Bids Current Procurement Bids and Proposals
Click below for further information regarding:
ACCESS The JOC Program
The ACCESS Program
Doing Business with Purdue
2010 Indiana Disparity Study
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Business Resources Do you need help with your company? Take a look at our listing of organizations listed below. These organizations are available to offer guidance and assistance to diverse business owners no matter the life cycle of your company.
For more information click on one of the organizations listed below.
Department of Minority and Women Business Development 200 E. Washington St. Indianapolis, IN 46204 317.327.5262
Burton D. Morgan Center 1201 W. State Street West Lafayette, IN 47907
Minority and Women’s Business Enterprises Division 402 W. Washington St., Rm. W469 Indianapolis, IN 46204 Phone: 317.233.6607
2126 N. Meridian Street Indianapolis, IN 46202 Phone: 317.921.2678
Phone: 877.882.7273
2126 N. Meridian St., Suite 200 Indianapolis, IN 46202 Phone: 317.608.0250
Indiana District Office 8500 Keystone Crossing, Suite 400 Indianapolis, IN 46240 Phone: 317.226.7272
Office of Supplier Diversity Development 401 S. Grant Street West Lafayette, IN 47907 (765) 494-3739 http://www.purdue.edu/supplierdiversity Jesse L. Moore, Director/Catalyst Editor-in-Chief Marta Foth, Administrative Assistant Terry Turner, Supplier Diversity Specialist
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