Supplier Diversity Summit Educates Women and Minority Business Owners on How to Advance Their Businesses
November 13 2018 - 12:13PM
Business Wire
Fifth Third Bank recently hosted its fourth annual Supplier
Diversity Summit. With the theme of “Leveling Up Your Business,”
the summit focused on educating women and minorities on how to
advance their companies.
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Stephanie Smith, Director of Supplier
Diversity and Inclusion; Greg Carmichael, Chairman, President and
CEO and Kimberly Blackwell, CEO of PMM, attended the 2018 Fifth
Third Bank Supplier Diversity Summit. (Photo: Business Wire)
The Supplier Diversity Summit is hosted each year as a way to
help women-, minority- and veteran-owned companies do more business
with Fifth Third. It is also a way for those owners to gain
perspectives from each other and to network. Over 180 people
attended the event, and more than 60 diverse companies from 15
states were represented.
Greg Carmichael, Fifth Third’s chairman, president and CEO, said
supplier diversity is key to the Bank’s bottom line. “Supplier
diversity is a strategic imperative for the health and vitality of
our business and communities,” he said. “We work hard to build
strong relationships with minority-, women- and veteran-owned
businesses because we recognize that suppliers are essential
partners in providing high-quality products and services to our
customers. Since 2015, we have continued to significantly increase
our spending with diverse suppliers.”
Fifth Third spends hundreds of millions of dollars annually in
goods and services, ranging from facility-management services to
information technology and office supplies. Awarding more of these
contracts to diverse businesses has been a major focus of the
Bank’s Strategic Sourcing department, led by Chief Sourcing Officer
Juan Munoz, Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative
Officer Teresa Tanner, Chief Diversity and Corporate Social
Responsibility Officer Jule Kucera and Director of Supplier
Diversity and Inclusion Stephanie Smith.
Munoz said the Bank’s executive team has made building the
Supplier Diversity Program a priority. “We continue to take an
integrated and thoughtful approach to identifying, supporting and
partnering with the many qualified diverse suppliers all over the
country. The Supplier Diversity Summit affords us the opportunity
to collaborate with these individuals and to make them aware of the
opportunities that exist at the Bank.”
Kimberly Blackwell, CEO of PMM, a full-service marketing and
communications firm, served as the keynote speaker at the summit.
She told attendees about the importance of learning through
experiences and evaluating partnerships. She explained that as a
business owner, it is important to be committed, passionate and
driven. And as the visionary of their business, an owner has the
opportunity and responsibility every day to share their brand with
the world.
Part of Fifth Third’s Community Commitment focuses on increasing
diversity and inclusion efforts and the number of companies with
which it does business. This year, a highlight of the summit
included recognizing some of the graduates of the Ohio Minority
Supplier Diversity Council/Ohio State University Fisher School of
Business Supplier Diversity Executive Education program. The SDEE
program, which was sponsored in part by Fifth Third, exists to
create and deliver development opportunities for the enhancement of
minority businesses and to help them be better suppliers to
corporate partners. The program also helps facilitate the
employment and economic development of minority communities.
Jennifer O’Neal Harris, director of channel sales/partnerships
at ConnXus, is a summit attendee and SDEE graduate who said her
experience was valuable. “Working with the colleagues and
participants and learning from them and the professors was
beneficial for me,” she said. “The information I learned has made a
huge impact on my business.”
Through the years, Fifth Third has developed many partnerships
with organizations that focus on enhancing supplier diversity
efforts at businesses including the National Minority Supplier
Development Council (nmsdc.org), the U.S. Small Business
Administration (sba.gov), the U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs
(va.gov) and the Women's Business Enterprise National Council
(wbenc.org). In 2018, the Supplier Diversity Program was recognized
by Minority Business News as one of the Best of the Decade; by
Diversity Plus Magazine for Stephanie Smith’s accomplishments in
directing the supplier diversity initiatives; and by WBENC as one
of America’s Top Corporations.
For more information about Fifth Third’s Supplier Diversity
Program, visit
https://www.53.com/content/fifth-third/en/personal-banking/about/diversity-at-fifth-third/supplier-diversity.html.
About Fifth Third
Fifth Third Bancorp is a diversified financial services company
headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio and the indirect parent company
of Fifth Third Bank, an Ohio-chartered bank. As of Sept.30, 2018,
Fifth Third had $142 billion in assets and operated 1,152
full-service Banking Centers and 2,443 ATMs with Fifth Third
branding in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Florida,
Tennessee, West Virginia, Georgia and North Carolina. In total,
Fifth Third provides its customers with access to approximately
53,000 fee-free ATMs across the United States. Fifth Third operates
four main businesses: Commercial Banking, Branch Banking, Consumer
Lending and Wealth & Asset Management. Fifth Third is among the
largest money managers in the Midwest and, as of Sept. 30, 2018,
had $376 billion in assets under care, of which it managed $38
billion for individuals, corporations and not-for-profit
organizations through its Trust and Registered Investment Advisory
businesses. Investor information and press releases can be viewed
at www.53.com. Fifth Third’s common stock is traded on the Nasdaq®
Global Select Market under the symbol “FITB.” Fifth Third Bank was
established in 1858. Deposit and credit products are offered by
Fifth Third Bank. Member FDIC.
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Fifth Third BankDanielle Jones,
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