COMPANIES FOR
DIVERSITY
“We build relationships with key stakeholders and look for opportunities to leverage
those relationships from a marketing standpoint,” says Angelus. Employees participate
actively in community-building activities, and
P&G has longstanding alliances with the
United Negro College Fund and the Hispanic
Scholarship Fund, among other organizations.
Angelus is president of the Network for
Executive Women, the industry’s 2,200-mem-
ber diversity association.
“A key criteria for evaluation no matter
who you are in the company is the ability to
build collaborative and diverse relationships,”
says Angelus.
SUPPLIER DIVERSITY:
A ‘Win-Win’ for Everyone
In today’s global-sourcing world, time, quality and competitive price win contracts.
Businesses owned by women and people of
color are growing at more than triple the rate
of those owned by whites. The Top 50
aggressively build relationships with diverse
suppliers, including people of color, women,
veterans, people with disabilities and GLBT
people, among others, and experience benefits in terms of increased market access,
brand reputation in their communities, and
innovation driven by the entrepreneurial
mentality that drives these business owners
on a daily basis.
To truly leverage the benefits of supplier
diversity, the Top 50 provide mentoring and
training opportunities for diverse suppliers as
they do their employees. This increases their
chances of cultivating long-term partnerships
that lead to mutual growth. These companies
recognize that some suppliers have a tough
time starting out.
When Clarence Carpenter decided to start his
own environmental-consulting business out of
his basement in Detroit, Mich.,
seven years ago, he knew it wouldn’t
be easy. “I wanted to leave a legacy,”
says Carpenter, who had worked in
the industry for 15 years prior to
founding EKS Services—named for
his daughters Elijah, Kelsey and
Sydney. “I thought, all the hours I
was putting in for somebody else,
why don’t I put those hours in for
me and for my children?”
Carpenter’s college room-
mate—then a Comerica branch manager—
suggested he open an account with the bank,
which he did in 2000. Three years later—and
certified by the Michigan Minority and
Supplier Development Council, which
Comerica requires—he met with Don Alessi,
vice president and national minority business
development coordinator for Comerica, No.
37 in the Top 50.
“To me there’s a real deal,” says Carpenter.
“A best practice of doing business is doing business with people that do business with you.”
“I’m convinced that some of the executive leaders I’ve brought into the company are the kind of talented men and
women and people of color who would
not have come to an organization that
didn’t have a commitment to diversity.”
Henry Meyer III, KeyCorp
SUPPLIER DIVERSITY
Percentage of Procurement Spent With WMBEs
22. 7%
Top 10
Supplier
Diversity
Top 50
9.9%
Bottom
Quarter
8.1%
National
Average 2%
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25%
