REPORT AUGUST 2016 EUGENE CAMPBELL THE INAUGURAL HES4SHES AWARD RECIPIENT CALENDAR OF EVENTS THIS CALENDAR INCLUDES EVENTS HOSTED BY WBENC’S REGIONAL PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS AND STRATEGIC PARTNERS. VISIT WBENC’S ONLINE CALENDAR FOR MORE EVENTS. AUGUST 2016 WIPP ChallengeHER Huntsville Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small 26 Huntsville, Ala. 30 Businesses Learn and Apply Click here for details. Chicago, Ill. Click here for details. SEPTEMBER 2016 WIPP ChallengeHER Chicago WBDConnect: Networking, WBEC-PA-DE-sNJ Annual NAWBO Chicago THRIVE 1 Chicago, Ill. 13 Procurement and 16 Awards Luncheon 26 Conference Click here for details. Matchmaking Event Philadelphia, Pa. Chicago, Ill. Rosemont, Ill. Click here for details. Click here for details. WBDC-FL Corporate Close-Up Click here for details. 6 Panel NAWBO National Women’s WBC Great Lakes Women’s Jacksonville, Mich. WPEO-DC WBE to WBE 18-20 Business Conference 2016 27-28 Business Conference Click here for details. 13 Luncheon at City Club of Columbus, Ohio Novi, Mich. Washington Click here for details. Click here for details. Ahold USA Resale Vendor Day Washington, District of Event USBLN 19th Annual National WBEC-West Insider Tips to 7 Columbia Carlisle, Pa. Conference & Biz2Biz Expo Doing Business with Neil Click here for details. 19 28 Click here for details. Orlando, Fla. Jones Foods Company SDDC Annual Procurement and Click here for details. Webinar 13th Annual WBEC-West Matchmaking Conference Click here for details. Strategic Procurement 13 WPEO-NY – Doing Business 7-9 Piscataway, N.J. Opportunity Conference With Enterprise WBCS Austin Insights Click here for details. 20 Henderson, Nev. Wayne, N.J. 29 Austin, Texas Click here for details. WIPP ChallengeHER Click here for details. Click here for details. Philadelphia WBC-Southwest Harvesting 14 WBEC-South Supplier Diversity CWE Women Business Philadelphia, Pa. Partnerships Educational Summit Leaders Conference 8 Click here for details. 22 29 Symposium New Orleans, La. Framingham, Mass. DFW Airport, Texas NAMWOLF 2016 Annual Click here for details. Click here for details. Click here for details. Meeting & Law Firm Expo 14-17 Go for the Greens Business Houston, Texas Conference Click here for details. 22-24 Buena Vista, Fla. Click here for details. OCTOBER 2016 WBEA 20th Annual Golf Classic WPEO NY Breakthrough WPEO DC Brown Bag Lunch NMSDC Conference and 3 & Silent Auction 7 Breakfast and Procurement Fair 11 with Sodexo 23-26 Business Opportunity Exchange Humble, Texas New York, N.Y. Washington, District Chicago, Ill. Click here for details. Click here for details. of Columbia Click here for details. Click here for details. WeConnect International in WBDC Procurement Meeting USHCC National Convention 5 Mexico Forum 9-11 Astra Alaska Economic 25 with Nicor Miami Beach, Fla. Mexico City, Mexico Click here for details. 11 Development Summit Chicago, Ill. Click here for details. Anchorage, Alaska. Click here for details. Joint WBDC-MN & NCMSDC Click here for details. WBDC-FL Corporate 10 Procurement Meeting Hosting PINK’s Signature 12th Annual Close-Up Panel The Latin Business Fall Empowerment Event 5 by Xcel Energy 31 Central Florida 12-14 Global Summit Atlanta, Ga. Minneapolis, Minn. Click here for details. Click here for details. Los Angeles, Calif. Click here for details. Click here for details. GWBC POP, Too! 6 WBEC PA-DE-SNJ Lehigh Valley Rock Hill, S.C. Click here for details. 20 Get to Know Us - PA Bethlehem, PA Click here for details. 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS JUNE 2016 EDITION OF THE PRESIDENT’S REPORT 4 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE RESOURCES Grow Her Business: The Digital Resource 26 FEATURES Platform for Women Entrepreneurs 5 National Conference & Business Fair Highlights Your Advice: How does your company 36 16 What It Means to “Inspire on Every Level”: WBENC Student practice diversity and inclusion? Entrepreneurs Share Insights and Connections From NCBF CERTIFICATION 20 History In The Making: WBENCLink 2.0 22 Clearing the Hurdle With Help from Premier Provider B2Gnow 24 Measuring Change in Efficiency, Innovation, and Security 28 WBE Success Story: Compusave Strategic Alliance Wins Third Performance Excellence Award from Boeing ADVERTISERS’ INDEX ENGAGEMENT 2017 S&S and NCBF Save the Date 15 Thank You to Our 2016 NCBF Sponsors! 31 Women Owned 19 ACTIntentionally 30 OPPORTUNITIES Legacy Bracelet 33 29 Call for WBE Success Stories WBENC Shop 34 18 Go For The Greens EDITORIAL TEAM EDITOR-IN-CHIEF EDITORIAL ASSISTANT WRITERS Pat Birmingham Allison Gibson Laura Buckley Candace Waterman Director of Marketing Chief of Staff SENIOR MANAGER, PRODUCTION AND DESIGN LaKesha White Pamela Prince-Eason MARKETING Limb Design Senior Compliance Manager President and CEO Laura Swenson PHOTOGRAPHY Vaughn Farris CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Kathy Anderson Senior Manager, Strategic Programs Laura Berry Shellee Fisher Photography Cogberry Creative, LLC Linda Johnson NEW CORPORATE MEMBERS: City of Columbia; Infineum USA LP; Publicis Healthcare; Standard Insurance; Vizient, Inc. WWW.WBENC.ORG // AUGUST EDITION 2016 3 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE DEAR FRIENDS, Record-Setting. History-Making! is a new focus of our network and promotes a Entrepreneur Program. Be sure to read the feature culture of women-owned businesses supporting on this exciting program. Both Corporate and WBE In this case, I could be referencing the recent those who support parity for diverse businesses in mentors received some of the highest compliments Olympics in Rio de Janeiro; however, I am speaking order to create economic growth. We have such our students have ever provided. Student sponsors of WBENC’s activities and accomplishments this tremendous support for our activities so remember: and mentors performed at such a high level that summer at the 17th Annual National Conference & our students had the opportunity of a lifetime. Business Fair. “Morning, Noon and Night – As we move through the day, remember, we have many Our story would not be complete without an awards Just as each country’s national Olympic team opportunities to support those who support ceremony. We created a special recognition for has a foundation of support, the WBENC network our WBENC network.” From our tremendous Nancy Conner who has just retired from W.W. has tremendous support in creating the venue for sponsors to our large membership base, you Grainger and launched her own business. We gave the WBENC Games that occur each June. Our can find a list of those who support WBEs an Applause Award to Jessica Narvaez, who is attendees participate in education, networking, starting on page 31 as well as on making a difference behind the scenes each and and other useful business-building interactions. wbenc.org. A very special thank you to every day. And read more about the newly minted Feedback from this year’s attendees indicates we the National Conference & Business Fair Hes4Shes Champion award that was awarded to scored a gold medal. Corporate and WBE Co-Chairs, three Host Eugene Campbell. Regional Partner Organizations, fantastic Host Throughout this issue you will see highlights of the Committee, and all our event sponsors. Finally, I would like to award the Team All-Around week’s events. If you were not able to attend this Champions gold medal to the WBENC staff, who year, make plans to join us for our 20th Anniversary Your feedback indicates that both the Business created and provided this historic and record- National Conference & Business Fair at Mandalay Fair and the 1:1 MatchMaking each scored a gold setting event. Bay in Las Vegas, June 20-22, 2017. Chaired by medal this year. Additionally, Top Corporations Bristol-Myers Squibb, MGM Resorts International, from the Energy and Automotive industries created On behalf of the entire WBENC team, we would like Southern California Edison, ALOM, Ampcus, and NEI unique experiences for attendees. Those industry to thank all of you, our WBENC Games judges, for Global Relocation and presented in partnership with participants scored individual gold medals for your support and feedback! the Host Council, the Women’s Business Enterprise their leadership and we are looking for a repeat Council-West (WBEC-West), and a tremendous Host performance in 2017. We also expect the Best Regards, Committee chaired by Event Movers and Hybrid competition to expand with unique experiences to PAMELA PRINCE-EASON Collective, this milestone anniversary event is shaping be created by the pharmaceutical and IT industries WBENC PRESIDENT AND CEO up to be record-breaking! and possibly more. In Orlando, we were very excited to introduce Our final performance gold medals were our ACTIntentionally campaign. ACTIntentionally awarded to those who participated in the Student 4 PRESIDENT’S REPORT NATIONAL CONFERENCE & BUSINESS FAIR HIGHLIGHTS WITH MORE THAN 3900 ATTENDEES, THE 2016 WBENC NATIONAL CONFERENCE & BUSINESS FAIR WAS ONE FOR THE RECORD BOOKS. HERE’S A LOOK BACK ON THE ACTIVITY FROM ORLANDO, FLORIDA! Attendees met up each morning to go Netwalking, a new walk and talk networking program created by the Women’s Enterprise Forum. WHAT’S YOUR NUMBER? he phrase “What’s Your Number?” was used to break the ice many times throughout the week of the conference. Launched this year, Tthe “What’s Your Number?” campaign serves as a conversation starter, enabling attendees to easily jump into a dynamic conversation with a new connection. Every attendee could select a number that best told their story and Cheryl Snead, the Women’s Enterprise Jennifer Brown, Founder and CEO of helped them to connect with someone new. Some attendees shared the Forum Chair and CEO of Banneker Jennifer Brown Consulting, spoke about Industries, Inc., welcomed fellow WBEs diversity and inclusion in her keynote to dollar amount spent with WBEs last year or their goal for the number of to Orlando during the Women’s Enterprise the Women’s Enterprise Forum Meeting. Forum Meeting. additional WBEs they want to do business with this year. Alternatively, some attendees shared the number of new corporate members they wanted to meet at conference.