Fifth Third Bank Elevates Its Supplier Diversity Program By Sonja Whitemon
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recent study in the Harvard Business Review examined supplier diversity programs among large corporations and concluded that, too few companies have supplier diversity programs, and among those that do, many have allowed them to become nothing more than “token gestures.” But there are companies that do take supplier diversity seriously. Fifth Third Bank, for example, has taken supplier diversity to a whole new level. Long devoted to diversity throughout its organization, Fifth Third Bank now has a renewed focus on equity and inclusion that goes well beyond meeting established diversity metrics. Its Accelerating Racial Equality Equity and Inclusion initiative is a $2.8 billion commitment that will provide $2.2 billion
“There is a big difference between equality and equity. Equality is being even across the board. Equity is based on need” — Curtis Bodison, Senior Vice President and Director of Project and Program Management 30
in lending, $500 million in investments, $60 million in financial accessibility and $40 million in philanthropy. Fifth Third is using standards in its supplier program that help new and small minority businesses prepare themselves to compete for Fifth Third contracts and help them grow their businesses once they are Fifth Third vendors. These programs become competitive equalizers for minority vendors. “There is a big difference between equality and equity,” said Senior Vice President and Director of Project and
“We are happy to experience with Fifth Third the continuity of work, the conversation around growth and development, but in a live series of work where we are actually implementing …” Joel Dancy, Vice President and Regional Community and Economic Development Manager at Fifth Third Bank
— Tino McFarland, CEO and President, McFarland Construction
Program Management Curtis Bodison. “Equality is being even across the board. Equity is based on need,” Bodison said. “For me to expect that a 10-year-old minority vendor would have the same level of business infrastructure as a 100-year-old competitor would not be reasonable. It’s important that we come to the table understanding who we are working with and where we need to lead them over time.” Fifth Third makes efforts to give their vendors the best opportunities to be successful from the point of application to project
completion by teaching them banking industry protocol. “We are not a very forgiving industry,” Bodison said. “So, one of the cultural things I preach is, ‘Let’s lead with empathy.’ We have to remember where every business starts in the overall equation. Many of the diverse businesses we work with are new to the industry — maybe not new to the expertise of the industry but new to ownership and business; so, they are not all starting from the same place as a 100-yearold business.
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