2019 Top 25 Women In Power Impacting Diversity

2019 Top 25 Women in Power Impacting Diversity

DIVERSITYPLUS RECOGNIZES NATIONAL WOMEN FOR INNOVATION

SOUTH ORANGE, NEW JERSEY: DiversityPlus Magazine is pleased to announce the selection of the 25 Women in Power Impacting Diversity. Now in its 13^th year, giving annual recognition to successful women diversity leaders in the Supplier Diversity space is a celebration of Diversity & Inclusion that everyone can take part in and appreciate. Each year, the women bring new ideas and strategies to the table, demonstrating remarkable courage, persistence, and innovation. They are true champions, fighting unconscious bias and lack of understanding among colleagues of the measurable value of diversity in the supply chain.

The May/June issue of DiversityPlus Magazine will honor the 25 Women in Power Impacting Diversity for their unrelenting efforts. The magazine will present short bios that summarize their strategies, perspectives, struggles, and successes. This special issue of DiversityPlus Magazine will be distributed at the 2019 Women’s Business Enterprise National Conference (WBENC) that will be held in Baltimore, Maryland in June, 2019.

The Top 25 Women in Power Impacting Diversity are also featured in the DiversityPlus state-of-the-art digital eMagazine, accessible online by more than 137,000 current subscribers in the United States, European Union, and 7 countries. The online publishing ensures the people who are doing the hard work of embedding diversity in supply chains are given the global attention they deserve. The online bios are also accessible for one year at www.diversityplus.com. The online publishing of bios inspires businesses of every size to embrace diversity in their supply chains.

The calls for nominations led to 176 submissions to DiversityPlus Magazine. The nominations were made by the women’s colleagues, managers, executive leaders, and others familiar with their efforts in their company and industry. Each nominee then answered three questions that explored the biggest challenges they had to overcome to build a successful diversity program; diversity success stories that prove what they are doing works; and what they consider their leadership strengths. DiversityPlus Magazine staff reviewed the nominations, researched additional information, and submitted all information gathered to an independent editorial team. The independent editorial team had the difficult job of selecting the 25 finalists from among a set of nominations in which each woman could be named to the top 25.

The nominations that made it to the top 25 list are women who were charged with starting a Supplier Diversity where none existed or with growing an existing program, many of which had hit plateaus. Either way, the diversity leader had to develop unique approaches that convinced internal business leaders that supplier diversity is a three-way value proposition. The organization gets the benefit of the innovation diverse suppliers bring; the diverse suppliers grow their businesses by doing business with corporate clients; and the local communities of the suppliers and their corporate clients reap economic benefits.

Most developed a business case for supplier diversity that contains the ROI and solid documentation because that is what people at the top and division leaders appreciate. Most supplier diversity leaders must use their expertise, knowledge, experience, and influence to convince organizational members that utilizing diverse suppliers is good for general business competitiveness and their success as leaders within the organization. The women selected call themselves “people oriented” and their strategies are founded on bringing people across the organization, and not just procurement professionals, onboard with diversity and inclusion. They develop internal diversity champions, meet face-to-face with business leaders, make use of available resources like webinars and intranets, listen to others without judgement, and strive to overcome unconscious bias that impedes Supplier Diversity Program growth.

Many started the program with no resources except themselves, and just as many had to convince top leaders that Supplier Diversity is a good investment with a solid ROI. This is precisely why DiversityPlus shines a light on the women who are passionate about diversity and work to achieve measurable results. There is still a long way to go, but the increasing variety of industries represented by the Top 25 Women continues to expand. They include the early industries that set the pace for change, like banking and manufacturing, but this year there are new industries represented, like medical technology, technology products, golfing, and auto importing, to name a few. It is a sign that the Top 25 Women, and all the other people nominated for this honor, are making real progress.

DiversityPlus magazine is a leading diversity publication in the U.S. and has gained recognition as a high quality source of information on current practices and innovations in developing Supplier Diversity and D&I in the workforce. The magazine includes articles, news, interviews with business leaders, and other types of information concerning successful diversity initiatives, laws and regulations, and industry trends. For more information about the 2019 Top 25 Women in Power Impacting Diversity or DiversityPlus magazine, visit www.diversityplus.com or call Steven Surujballi at 973-275-1405 ext 702.

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