Supplier Diversity, a unit within the Office of Procurement Services, provides critical guidance that helps uphold IU’s core values and mission. We sat down with the Director of Supplier Diversity, Richard Wise, AVP of Procurement Services, Baris Kiyar, and Executive Director Tally Thrasher to get the scoop on the department’s mission and how the university community can help
Meet Richard Wise
Richard Wise, pictured left, joined Procurement Services as the Director of Supplier Diversity on April 1, 2021. Richard provides vision, leadership, and strategy for IU’s supplier diversity program and advocates for the university within diverse business communities. Richard comes to us from Citizens Energy Group (Citizens), where he led the company to numerous supplier diversity recognition awards and milestone achievements.
He is also actively involved with several organizations, including the Mid-States Minority Supplier Development Council (MSDC), National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO)-Indianapolis, Great Lakes Women’s Business Council, the Indiana Energy Association’s Supplier Diversity & Development Committee, and the Business Equity Initiative for Indy (BEI).
What is Supplier Diversity?
Supplier Diversity springs from a 1969 directive by then-US President Richard Nixon. Executive Order 11458 created the Office of Minority Business Enterprise, today known as the National Minority Supplier Development Council. Its mission is to remove barriers to enable business growth, jobs creations and other economic, social and community successes for Minority Business Enterprises (MBEs) who are pursuing access to business opportunities with corporate America, public institutions and other economic drivers. The National Minority Supplier Development Council, along with its 23 non-profit regional affiliates, strategically work in concert with its national, local corporate and public members to certify, develop, connect, and advocate for business opportunities for certified Minority Owned Businesses across the United States and internationally. The movement has grown to also include certified Women Owned Businesses and Veteran Owned Businesses, both of which are included in IU’s vision for Supplier Diversity.
In an IU context, “Supplier Diversity” is a strategy that identifies the gaps in IU’s business processes through which minority-owned businesses tend to fall and become marginalized or disadvantaged. The department works to reduce or eliminate these barriers and disparities. This is accomplished a variety of ways, from community outreach to the development of relationships and rapport with minority-owned businesses. Because IU is a major economic driver across the state, it’s important that the university is strategic in leveraging and prioritizing business with these suppliers to better represent our diverse student community. Additionally, the state of Indiana has requirements for diverse dollar spend which the university is working to meet and exceed. These state-sanctioned goalposts help IU to evaluate its spending and make changes that promote the visibility and use of minority-owned businesses.
How do Supplier Diversity and Purchasing work together?
Here’s the short version: Supplier Diversity cultivates relationships with diverse suppliers locally, in communities across Indiana, and beyond. Purchasing then ensures those diverse suppliers are included in sourcing events.
To accomplish this, Richard and support staff member DeeDee Whittaker work together to strengthen relationships with diverse suppliers who currently work with IU in addition to building new ones. This takes many different forms, running the gamut from research to community outreach and meetings with supplier representatives. The Supplier Diversity team helps ensure suppliers are aware of business opportunities at IU and the successes IU and its current partners have achieved.
When Purchasing is involved in a contract or sourcing event, they are committed to making every possible effort to ensure diverse suppliers are considered and ideally used. Sourcing is a process used by Purchasing to request quotes from multiple suppliers for one purchasing event and is generally required for single transactions exceeding $10,000. Several new positions within Purchasing were created recently to support this effort. Tom Westerhof and Lisa Hardy were recently promoted to the role of Strategic Sourcing & Diversity Manager. In this role, they work with Purchasing Category Managers to ensure a variety of diverse suppliers are considered during sourcing events, with Lisa focusing on IT and Professional Services and Tom on the MRO/Scientific space. Additionally, Tom and Lisa provide technical support to suppliers unfamiliar with navigating sourcing events in BUY.IU.
What can we all do to help?
If you make purchases of any type for the university, you are a champion for the cause of Supplier Diversity. Because Richard and his team can’t be in all places at once, the good of the university relies on IU staff bringing questions and ideas to Supplier Diversity so they can help guide business decisions that uphold IU’s mission and goals. The entire IU community, especially administrative staff, need to recognize the part they play in cultivating a diverse supplier base.
BUY.IU provides options target supplier searches to return suppliers that qualify as diverse spending. Documenting these options and educating all IU faculty and staff on the importance of Supplier Diversity is the first phase of spreading this team’s mission. Additionally, Richard intends to spotlight legacy diverse suppliers on the Supplier Diversity website to help raise awareness. Every campus and department have the opportunity to recruit diverse business opportunities. Sharing this camaraderie across campuses helps elevate this initiative to the institution-wide level that it needs to be successful. Working with and thinking about diverse suppliers should be in IU’s DNA. Striving for diversity should be our default, not an afterthought as it sometimes is today.
Diversity is a positive thing! It is emblematic of everything we do at Indiana University. By working actively on the prioritization of minority-owned businesses, the Supplier Diversity department seeks to cultivate equity and level the playing field for these communities. Success in supplier diversity is synonymous with success of IU: the makeup of our student body reflects global diversity so the dollars we spend must as well.
Want to learn more? Contact Richard Wise for assistance with community or supplier outreach. Interested in learning how to diversify your spend? Submit a Support Form and select the Suppliers, Help locating a diverse supplier option.