logistics and operations management, helping to create
an endless supply of labor in this sector. In addition,
the city’s central location provides companies with a
competitive advantage by getting products to market
faster. More than half of all U.S. businesses are within
650 miles of the region, making it an ideal location for
trucking, air freight and rail companies. More interstate
highways bisect the city than any other in the country,
and the Indianapolis International Airport, which is currently undergoing a $1 billion expansion, ranks as the
eighth busiest cargo hub in the nation.
STRATEGIC SUPPLIER DIVERSITY
Indianapolis’ growth is providing opportunity for minority- and women-owned businesses (M/WBEs). As
part of the airport expansion, for instance, the Airport
Authority has awarded contracts totaling $150 million
to M/WBEs. The Building Authority, as part of its $275
million Convention Center expansion, has a goal of 15
percent participation by MBEs and 5 percent by WBEs.
Even the Indianapolis Public School District has created
a division to help increase the participation of M/WBEs.
All told, one-quarter of Indianapolis’ registered
M/WBEs have been used in city contracts. Plus, plans
are in the works to establish a certification program
for local companies owned by people with disabilities, and Mayor Ballard has pledged a 3 percent city
goal for veteran-owned business contracts. This way,
“veterans will have their fair shot at city-contracting
dollars,” he recently stated. With efforts such as these,
it’s no surprise that the number of certified Indianapolis
M/WBEs has nearly tripled since 2000 to 730, according
to the city. The result: Local corporate spending with
diverse suppliers has climbed to more than $1.2 billion.
“Companies are investing in supplier-diversity programs and looking at supplier diversity as part of their
business model,” explains Reggie Henderson, CEO
of the Indiana Business Diversity Council, a statewide
minority business development council.
COLLABORATION,
THE INDIANAPOLIS WAY
Public-private partnerships have also been essential
to the city’s economic success. Work-force development groups such as the Indianapolis Private Industry
Council and Partnership WIN have joined forces with
the Manufacturing Technology Center, for example, to
place and train potential candidates from all back-
SHINING THE DIVERS ITY LIGHT AT WELLPOINT
If you ask Linda Jimenez, chief diversity
officer for WellPoint, she’ll tell you her job
is about, “reaching out and learning. It’s
about turning on the lights;
about the need to be tolerant
and flexible. Intolerance and
inflexibility are the enemies of
inclusion.”
WellPoint has an established record of illuminating the workplace, the work
force and the marketplace. As
marketplaces have become
more diverse, WellPoint has
introduced new products and
ways of recruiting talent.
The company has trained
customer-service representatives in effective communication styles,
and it has trained all employees in cre-
ating an inclusive workplace. In 2007
alone, the Fortune 50 healthcare insurer
was recognized for its disability diversity,
named one of DiversityInc’s “Top 25
Noteworthy Companies” and 11 WellPoint
employees were named to Who’s Who in
Black Indianapolis.
“No company should ever rest on its
laurels, no matter how many accolades sit
at your doorstep,” says Jimenez.
Already this year, WellPoint scored
high in the “Best Places to Work” survey
conducted by the Human Rights Campaign
Foundation. Associate resource groups for
blacks, women, LGBTs and people with
disabilities are currently developing plans to
provide networking, to influence company
marketing and product development and
to assist the company in recruitment.
Instrumental in launching these affinity
groups is diversity champion and Executive Vice President and Chief Compliance
Officer Randall Lewis. “I feel a personal
accountability to assist WellPoint in its diversity efforts. Affinity groups provide an
informal venue for associates to share in
the responsibility by first coming together,
and then by intentionally reaching out to
others in the organization and in the community,” Lewis says.
“When people enjoy coming to work
every day, they can be very effective as a
team not just by looking like the marketplace but in thinking like the marketplace,”
says Jimenez.
For more information about the company’s diversity efforts, please go to www.
WellPoint.com/diversity; for job openings,
visit www.wellpoint.com/careers
