Global Supplier Diversity Conference

A huge thanks to each of you for your support of the Global Supplier Diversity Conference. We wish each of you a blessed holiday season. #GSDC #happyholidays #grateful

While a very strong ethical case can be made around the ability (and need) for large companies to use their power and influence to help address racial injustice through actively diversifying their vendor pools, equally strong arguments can be made for the business case for supplier diversity. A more inclusive procurement strategy provides more options to businesses to meet their specific needs, can increase healthy competition, lower costs, improve quality, and make supply chains more reliable and flexible. The first supplier diversity programs in the U.S. can be traced back to General Motors that set up programs in Detroit in 1968, creating a ripple effect throughout the automotive industry. Inclusive or diverse procurement practices enable companies to use their huge spending power to provide greater opportunities for populations that have traditionally enjoyed fewer of them in our society. That includes small business owners, minority-owned businesses, woman-owned businesses and, increasingly, businesses owned by other underrepresented groups such as members of the LGBTQ+ community, veterans and people with disabilities. Our Founder, Monica McCoy, looks forward to welcoming founders from around the world on September 18th. There is a special movement happening in America and our firm is honored to be at the forefront. #GSDC25 #hopeforAmericans #smallbusiness #economicinclusion #servingothers

Wishing the small business owners in our Global Supplier Diversity Conference community a phenomenal #SmallBusinessSaturday! #makesmallbig #GSDC25 #entrepreneur #hopeforAmericans

The history of supplier diversity in the United States is rooted in the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s and driven by legislative mandates. The current spotlight on economic and racial inequality in the United States draws much attention to the impact of supplier diversity programs. Most businesses are small- 99.9% of American businesses. There are 33,185,550 small businesses in the United States. According to the 2022 Annual Business Survey (ABS), there were approximately 5.9 million employer firms in total, of which, 1.2 million (21%) were minority-owned, 304,823 (5.2%) were veteran-owned, and around 1.3 million (22%) were owned by women. Supplier diversity programs represent an opportunity for corporations to collaborate with diverse-owned companies, create economic opportunity, and enhance and amplify their businesses. Corporations have experienced the benefits of unlocking the power of diversity to deliver innovation and capture new markets — yet more work is needed. The Global Supplier Diversity Conference (GSDC) provides the strategic framework to help women and diverse business owners gain insight to secure funding and corporate contracts while connecting founders and business owners to those opportunities. The full-day conference is about making connections, boosting spending with diverse and women-owned businesses, launching new vendor partnerships, and increasing the number of successful small business suppliers. Our founder and CEO, Monica McCoy, invites you to save the date for our 8th GSDC being held on Thursday, September 18th, 2025. We most recently focused on the EMEA BU and look forward to focusing on the APAC BU for 2025. #GSDC25 #APAC #economicinclusion #hopeforAmericans #policy #economy

Over the last five months, I have never experienced more professional joy. The joy was not a result of my personal accomplishments on the campaign, but instead had everything to do with building a beautiful community. It was an absolute joy listening to countless voters, meeting with local candidates, engaging with community leaders, reviewing strategies, working with our political team, organizing canvass launches, and most importantly working towards a common cause and North Star that was bigger than any one person. Many of you have reached out to me to ask how to keep the momentum going. As I’m focused intensely on closing everything out properly this month, I look forward to engaging with each of you who are interested in ‘Doing Something to Keep the Momentum Going’ in the near future. You can complete the link in comments to express your interest and I will be in touch next month. Please always remember that the best is yet to come… #dosomething #community #purejoy

To our United States Global Supplier Diversity Conference community, if you live in any of these states, make sure you register to vote! Today is the last day to register. #vote

A beautiful recap of the 7th Annual GSDC! #GSDC24

Another phenomenal Global Supplier Diversity Conference is in the books. Our founder, Monica McCoy, celebrates everyone who was a part of this game changing day from the speakers to the. attendees. The conference was dedicated in loving memory of Betty Rice. #GSDC24

We are so incredibly honored to announce that Vela McClam Mitchell Thomas as a featured speaker for the 7th Annual Global Supplier Diversity Conference. Vela McClam Mitchell Thomas is a strategic visionary with expert knowledge of the travel industry specializing in travel technology product development, financing and operations. Vela is the Founder and CEO of VIMM Global Brands. In this role she has focused her energy on building a world class travel advisory group performing global travel distribution analysis, travel management technology evaluation, analytics and reporting. Prior to forming Vimm Global, Vela was the CEO of Georgia International Travel (GIT), which was an American Express Travel affiliate. She sold GIT in 2016 to Direct Travel who sought out her successful mid-market corporate travel management company for its market placement and customer portfolio. Previously, Vela was SVP and General Manager with operating responsibility for the Global Travel Supplier Solutions Group at Worldspan (a company formerly owned by Delta Air Lines, Northwest Airlines and American Airlines). Under her management were Worldspan’s multi-million dollar travel distribution product software sales and operations to more than 500 airlines, 50,000 hotel properties and 40 car rental companies globally. Vela’s business and technology management career also includes a role as Director of Industry Sales Programs at Northwest Airlines, and as a Strategic Defense Systems Business Developer for Hughes Aircraft Company where she was one of the first women in the country with direct responsibility for missile technology sales to the U.S. Government. Prior to Hughes she was a market manager for Honeywell selling avionic systems for military and commercial aircraft, drones and missiles. She is a former member of the board of directors of ET-China in Guangzhou, China, Jetspan in Singapore, Hotel Electronic Distribution Network Association, Ron McNair Foundation for Science and Technology, World Trade Center Atlanta, and the American Express Travel Services Advisory Board. She is currently on the advisory board of one the largest wine industry trade shows in the world, Vin Expo America/Drinks America where she serves on the marketing committee, the St. Jude ALSAC Digital Strategy Advisory Board focusing on digital platforms for giving and the Johnson Research and Development Foundation Johnson STEM Activity Center (JSAC) Board where she serves on the finance and marketing committees. Vela began her career on Capitol Hill as a legislative aide to Congressman John Jenrette from her home state of South Carolina. She has an MBA from the Graziadio School of Business at Pepperdine University, a MS from Howard University and a BS from Claflin University. She is married to Kentucky State Senator Reginald Thomas of Lexington, Kentucky. We are so honored to have our founders learn from Vela. #GSDC24 #economicinclusion

On behalf of the 7th Global Supplier Diversity Conference team, we are excited to announce that our GSDC Founder and 2024 GSDC Chair, Monica McCoy, will be officially opening the doors to dynamic founders in 13 days. This year's conference theme, "Empowering Inclusivity, Uplifting Opportunities, Unleashing the Potential and Global Partnerships," promises to be an extraordinary event. We have curated an agenda that features esteemed visionaries, thought leaders, and change agents from diverse industries, providing attendees with inspiration, innovation, and thought-provoking ideas in the global business landscape. Thank you to our amazing community for your continued support of GSDC over the last seven years. This promises to be our best conference. #GSDC24 #strategicpartners #entrepreneur #economicinclusion #global #EMEA #LATAM #APAC #NA