I know some of you will find it hard to believe that I will be celebrat-

ing my 13th year at Purdue University as Director of Supplier Diversi-

ty in just a few weeks. I can’t believe it either! It is because of my

reaching that milestone along with the Relationship to Partnership

Sessions marking its 13th year and with my stepping down from this

position in June, I thought it would be appropriate to reflect on the

major accomplishment we have enjoyed over that time period.

Purdue did not have a formal supplier diversity program when I was

chosen to create and grow this initiative that would increase the op-

portunities for diverse Indiana businesses and assist them secure and

perform on contracts awarded by the university. It is difficult to com-

pare the reports on Purdue’s spend during those early years because

we were combining award dollars with actual spend dollars. However beginning in FY 2007-08 we

began to only include actual spend dollars in our reports. Our total Woman and Minority Owned

Business spend for that year was $29.6 million or 5.8%. Our most recent report FY 2016-17 to the

State of Indiana shows our combined Woman, Minority, and Veteran Owned Business spend at

$84.2 million, 15.1%, a 284% increase! WOW!

How did we do it? With the help of a lot of good people at Purdue who are committed to providing

opportunities for all Indiana firms to compete and win contracts here at the university. From Presi-

dent Martin Jischke who made the decision to have a full time supplier diversity professional in

2005 to our current President Mitch Daniels, whose innovation and leadership creates the environ-

ment for staff to practice inclusion on a daily basis.

We have also engaged in a variety of outreach initiatives that introduce diverse Indiana firms to not

only the decision-makers here at Purdue but also decision makers from some of the larger employers

in Greater Lafayette who are also committed to diversity and inclusion. This group of enlighten

companies are the ones who are present today during the 13th Annual Relationship to Partnership

Sessions. R2P, as it is commonly referred to, is the largest activity of its kind in West Central Indi-

ana. Many diverse firms have been awarded contracts from the relationships that began right here

during this event or the monthly presentations delivered by invited diverse to companies that make

up the Supplier Diversity Coalition of Greater Lafayette.

I believe Purdue University is poised to accomplish even greater deeds in supplier diversity in the

future. Michael Babcock was brought on in the spring from the State of Indiana and has the tools

and the support of senior administrators to carry the program higher. Purdue is aligning itself inter-

nally to be more efficient and more effective in all phases of program administration. The Coalition

is expanding and adding new members that have diversity and inclusion as their core values. Di-

verse firms are growing in their capacity and ready to compete even more in the future.

So my 13th year at Purdue, and the 13th Annual Relationship to Partnership only serve as a signpost for the future. If you think we’ve done a good job over the past 13 years, check with the Coalition

and Purdue in the next 13 years! Be well.

R2P Edition

Office of Supplier Diversity Development

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

13 Years of Partnerships .......... pg. 2

Supplier Diversity @ Purdue .. pg. 4

Supplier Diversity

Across America ........................ pg. 5

Business Resources .................. pg. 6

UP COMING EVENTS

Governor’s Commission on MWBEs

4th Quarterly Meeting ............... Dec. 11

NAWBO Visionary Awards .. Dec. 13

OPPORTUNITY @ PURDUE

Procurement Services Open Bid Opportunities:

www.purdue.edu/business/

procurement/audience/

suppliers

Energy & Construction

Bid Information:

PurduePlanroom.com

LUCKY NUMBER 13

Jesse Moore, Director

Office of Supplier Diversity

2

13 YEARS OF PURDUE PARTNERSHIPS Every year the Coalition awards the Corpo-rate Handshake Award and the Diverse Business Handshake Award. The Diverse Business Handshake Award goes to an In-diana certified XBE that exemplifies excel-lence in product and service delivery, and the Corporate Handshake award goes to an organization that demonstrates its commit-ment to Supplier Diversity through outreach and the utilization of XBEs.

However, special recognition was merited and the Coalition added the New Member Award in recognition of the commitment and participation of the Tippecanoe School Cor-poration (TSC). Showing true commitment to the utilization of diverse firms, TSC’s Chief Financial Of-ficer, Amanda Brackett, along with Accounts Payable Processor, Karmen Redinbo, have attended all the coalition’s monthly meet-ings. Have actively participated in planning committees, and have awarded more than a million dollars in contracts to XBES that pre-sented in front of the Coalition, all in their first year of Coalition membership.

The Supplier Diversity Coalition of Greater Lafayette, of which Purdue University is a proud founding member, held its first annual Relationships to Partnerships event (R2P) at the Commandant’s House at the Indiana Sol-diers Home in 2005.

Since then this event has grown to include corporate partners from all over the greater Lafayette area and diverse businesses from all over the state of Indiana.

Mike Felix, Fifth Third Bank’s representative on the Coalition, had this to say about R2P, “If you are looking to shorten your sales cy-cle and have a conduit to decision makers at some of Lafayette’s largest employers, R2P is the place to do it. You are able to meet directly with folks who impact buying deci-sions every day at their organization. Is there a more effective way to utilize your time or that of your sales staff than that?”

When asked about the R2P, Shawn Fee, representing Caterpillar on the Coalition said, “It's my hope that the Supplier Diversity Coalition continues to grow in num-bers. With this, we can do our best to pro-mote these suppliers and help them gain business, publicity, and friendships .”

From left to right:

Karmen Redinbo, Jesse Moore, Amanda Brackett

"It is an honor to be recognized by the Greater Lafayette Diversity Coalition for the Handshake Award. We recog-nize the many suppliers of women, minority, and veteran owned busi-nesses here in our community. We look forward to working with these suppliers as well as our fellow mem-bers of the coalition to educate our organization of diversity in the pur-chasing field."

- Amanda Brackett CFO, Tippecanoe School Corporation

Continued on page 3...

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13 YEARS OF PURDUE PARTNERSHIPS (CONTINUED)

This year, the thirteenth anniversary of

this event, we are very pleased to wel-

come back an esteemed guest as the

keynote speaker for our event, Dr. Melvin

Gravely. Dr. Gravely, was keynote speak-

er for the Coalition’s first Relationship to

Partnership event. The Coalition is even

more excited to have him speaking this

year than 12 years ago.

Since the last time the Coalition was lucky enough to host Dr. Gravely he has taken on many philanthropic endeavors such as the Board Chair of Spring Grove Funeral Homes, Board of Directors of the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber of Commerce, Society for Marketing Professional Services Foundation (SMPS), African American Chamber of Commerce, United Way of Greater Cin-cinnati and TriVersity Construction Com-pany, the executive committee for Arts-Wave, the advisory board of the Minority Business Accelerator and an Advisor for Glad River Ventures.

Dr. Gravely’s businesses are equally im-

pressive, his most well-known business,

Triversity Construction of which he is the

majority shareholder and CEO, returned

revenues of $86 million in 2016.

The Coalition knows that he will bring these experiences and more to this year’s keynote address!

Melvin J. Gravely II, Ph.D.

4

SUPPLIER DIVERSITY @ PURDUE RELOCATION STRATEGIES — A SUCCESS STORY

One of the most important reasons for this newsletter is to

showcase the success of diverse firms here at Purdue. This

quarter we did a Q&A session with the owner of Relocation

Strategies Inc., Melissa St. John.

Q. How would you describe your business? A. We are a full-service transition management company cre-

atively solving clients’ problems by increasing efficiency, saving substantial money, time, and peace of mind. We currently provide Purdue move management services for, relocations, and renovations.

Q. How did you get started in your business? A. After graduating from Purdue, having studied Interior De-

sign, I spent time in the Commercial Real Estate industry.

Participating in a variety of services, I gained valuable

experience that I now use daily. I was particularly drawn

to move management with all its moving pieces and lo-

gistics. Following that interest, I joined Relocation Strate-

gies in April of 2004, buying the company outright in

2007.

Q. You just finished moving all the departments out of the

old Freehafer building, was this your first project at Purdue?

A. Over the last 10 years, we have worked on a number of

projects with Purdue University and have a dedicated

Project Management team currently supporting Purdue

on a wide range of projects. The Wang hall move, involv-

ing the relocation of three very large dynamometers, was

one of our most challenging and rewarding projects,

opening the door to the industrial side of our business.

We were also grateful to be a part of the Freehafer move,

previous to the building being demolished, as that was a

significant staff relocation.

Q. What would you tell someone who is thinking about

starting a business? A. Do it! There is a great quote from Amelia Earhart;

“Someone once told me that if you don’t do something

every day that scares you… you are not growing, you are

dying.” She illustrates a brilliant approach to beginning

anything. Don’t fly blind, identify contingencies, but fear

is just a natural part of the process.

Q. What's your personal philosophy on how you handle

business? A. I am aware that our clients are the future of Relocation

Strategies. My personal mission is to bring value to any

project we touch and provide outstanding customer ser-

vice always. If our client has saved time, money and re-

ceived a solution that assists their business to be produc-

tive as well as innovative, we have all succeeded!

Q. What projects are you currently working on that you’d like to highlight? Or what projects are on the horizon that you’re excited about?

A. The Hobart and Russell Creighton Hall of Animal Scienc-

es and Land O'Lakes Center for Experiential Learning

and Purina Pavilion (2017): Relocation Strategies is

very excited to continue our relationship with Purdue on

the new ALSF building. This move will include a variety

of labs and departments (including the Butcher Block)

from (5) different buildings on the south side of campus.

Large lab equipment, freezers and chemicals will present

a unique collaboration between faculty, staff and movers.

Q. What excites you about the future of supplier diversi-

ty? A. Many organizations, such as Purdue, have increased the

amount of strategic partnerships they support. The com-

munity has developed around a common goal of service

to each other and that brings an enormous degree of civil-

ity to the world of business. With a foundation in that

common goal, growth can truly be endless. Suppliers help

buyers, and suppliers help other suppliers.

Relocation Strategies is just one of many diverse businesses

that were awarded an opportunity to grow this past quarter.

We believe that highlighting these successes will help shape

perceptions, internally and externally. Externally, we want to

show the diverse business community that there is real sub-

stantial economic opportunity here at Purdue University. In-

ternally, we want these success stories to act as object lessons

on how valuable and capable diverse firms can be.

To learn more about Relocation Strategies visit their website:

http://www.relocationstrategies.com

Melissa St. John, Owner, Relocation Strategies

WASHINGTON, Aug. 17, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Com-merce (NGLCC), the business voice of the LGBT community, and the USBLN (US Business Leader-ship Network), the disability inclusion business re-source, are pleased to share that The Billion Dollar Roundtable voted to expand their criteria of diverse businesses counted toward a corporation's billion dollar supply chain spend on diverse-owned busi-nesses to include: certified LGBT Business Enter-prises (LGBTBEs), Disability-Owned Business En-terprises (DOBEs®), Service-Disabled Veteran Disa-bility-Owned Business Enterprises (SDV-DOBE™) and Veteran-Disability Owned Business Enterprises (V-DOBEs™). "The inclusion of LGBT, disability, and veteran-owned businesses into the Billion Dollar Roundtable reflects the national best practice in supplier diversity of including all communities at the table of oppor-tunity," said NGLCC Co-Founder & Presi-dent Justin Nelson. " In the United States, LGBT-owned businesses are creating tens of thousands of jobs and adding over $1.7 trillion to the economy, much of that due to inclusion in corporate supply chains. We're proud to see our businesses included in the criteria that rewards corporate excellence in creating new opportunities for diverse-owned busi-nesses to thrive." The Billion Dollar Roundtable was created in 2001 to recognize and celebrate corporations that achieved spending of at least $1 billion with diverse suppliers. The BDR promotes and shares best practices in sup-ply chain diversity excellence through the production of white papers, thought leadership, and annual meetings. The group encourages corporate entities to continue growing their supplier diversity programs by increasing commitment and spending levels each year. "In a country where 1 in 5 Americans have a disabil-ity, corporations are realizing the importance of disa-bility inclusion across the enterprise," said Jill Houghton, President and CEO of USBLN. "People with disabilities are nearly twice as likely to be self-employed as people without disa-

5

SUPPLIER DIVERSITY ACROSS AMERICA BILLION DOLLAR ROUNDTABLE NOW INCLUDES LGBT, DISABILITY,

AND VETERAN-OWNED BUSINESSES IN CORPORATE SUPPLY CHAINS

bilities, and nearly one in 10 small businesses nationwide are veteran-owned. The inclusion of disability and LGBT-owned businesses presents more opportunities for diversity in The Billion Dollar Roundtable and will lead to more economic opportunity for people with disabilities" To date, the Billion Dollar Roundtable reports at least $72 billion in spend with diverse-owned businesses. That num-ber is expected to continue climbing as corporations are encouraged and incentivized to work with LGBT, disabil-ity, and veteran-owned firms. ABOUT NGLCC The National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce is the business voice of the LGBT community and is the largest global not-for-profit advocacy organization specifically dedicated to expanding economic opportunities and ad-vancements for LGBT people. NGLCC is the exclusive certification body for LGBT-owned business-es. www.nglcc.org @nglcc ABOUT USBLN USBLN (U.S. Business Leadership Network) is a national non-profit that unites business around disability inclusion in the workplace, supply chain and marketplace. USBLN has more than 130 corporate partners spanning the technol-ogy, healthcare, financial, transportation, entertainment, and retail industries. USBLN serves as a collective voice of nearly 50 Business Leadership Network Affiliates across the United States, representing over 5,000 business-es. Additionally, USBLN has various nationally recog-nized tools and programs, such as the Disability Equality Index and the leading disability-owned business enterprise (DOBE) certification program, to bridge inclusive compa-nies with people and organizations within the disability community. http://www.usbln.org @usbln

Indiana Department of

Administration—Division of Supplier

Diversity

402 W. Washington St. Rm W479

Indianapolis, IN 46204

Phone: 317-232-3061

E-mail: mwbe@idoa.in.gov

Indianapolis Department of

Minority & Women

Business Development

200 E. Washington St.

Indianapolis, IN 46204

Phone: 317-327-5262

E-mail: DMWBD@indy.gov

Indiana Department of

Transportation— Division of

Economic Opportunity

100 N. Senate Av., IGCN 750

Indianapolis, IN 46204

Phone: 317-232-5180

E-mail: indot@indot.in.gov

Indiana Small Business

Development Center:

Hoosier Heartland

Morgan Ctr. For Entrepreneurship

1201 West State Street

West Lafayette, IN 47907

Phone: 765-496-6491

E-mail: hoosierheartland@isbdc.org

Mid-States Minority Supplier

Development Council

2126 North Meridian Street

Indianapolis, IN 46202

Phone: 317-923-2110

E-mail: info@midstatesmsdc.org

National Association of

Women Business Owners:

Indianapolis

310 N. Alabama St. Suite 330

Indianapolis, IN 46204

Phone: 317-608-0250

E-mail: info@nawboindy.org

U.S. Small Business

Administration:

Indiana District Office

8500 Keystone Crossing Suite 400

Indianapolis, IN 46240

Phone: 317-226-7272

Website: www.sba.gov/in

Business Resources

Office of Supplier Diversity Development 1801 Newman Road, Ste. 208

West Lafayette IN, 47906-4510

(765)494-3739

http://www.purdue.edu/supplierdiversity

Jesse L. Moore, Director/Catalyst Editor-in-Chief Linda J. Kelly, Administrative Assistant

Michael Babcock, Supplier Diversity Specialist