National Grid US Director of Supplier Diversity Carla Hunter Ramsey has been named a national 'Champion of Diversity' by DiversityPlus Magazine for demonstrating great leadership and skill in driving supplier diversity within the company.
The 2010 DiversityPlus awards represent the fourth year that the magazine has named Champions of Diversity. The awards are a unique effort to reach out to minority suppliers of all sizes, products and service backgrounds to determine which executive individuals are perceived as doing the most to promote the benefits of diversity within their organisations. Hunter Ramsey is one of only 25 individuals honoured this year.
More than 15,000 women and minority suppliers across the US participated in the 2010 Champions of Diversity evaluation and selection process. Each of the 15,000 plus women and minority-owned businesses contacted were asked to complete a survey to nominate a supplier diversity executive as a Champion of Diversity. Nominees needed to serve in a managerial or director capacity and demonstrate great leadership and skill in driving supplier diversity at their firm. Ultimately, there were 102 candidates nominated for the 2010 awards.
The Top 25 Champion of Diversity award winners stand out from their colleagues due to their demonstrated leadership abilities and roles as good mentors to diverse suppliers. Award winners also went above and beyond in championing diversity within their organizations, increasing their firm’s diversity spend year over year, being responsive to the needs of diverse suppliers, and implementing important best practices and bench marking standards to help drive their company’s supplier diversity programmes.
An additional consideration for the selection committee was how diligently the 2010 Champions of Diversity worked to help minority and women-owned business owners get their foot in the door at their organisations to bid on contracts. Many of the 2010 Award winners were actively involved in matching suppliers to internal opportunities to help build capacity and increase their outreach efforts.