Membership Recognizes Global Media and Technology Company’s Commitment to Supplier Diversity
Peter Kiriacoulacos, Chief Procurement Officer of Comcast NBCUniversal
DALLAS, August 19, 2015 – The Billion Dollar Roundtable Inc. (BDR), a top-level corporate advocacy organization that promotes supply chain diversity excellence, announced today that it recently inducted Comcast NBCUniversal as its newest member during the annual BDR summit in Dallas.
The global media and technology company joins 20 other U.S.-based corporations in an exclusive group of companies that have attained $1 billion or more in annual Tier I supply-chain diversity spend. Comcast NBCUniversal joins the BDR as its 21st corporate member and is the first media and technology company to be inducted.
“Comcast NBCUniversal is an accomplished and innovative leader in supplier diversity with an impressive record of advancing supply-chain opportunities for diverse businesses. We welcome the ideas Comcast NBCUniversal will bring to the Billion Dollar Roundtable to support our mission to drive supplier diversity excellence through best practice sharing and thought leadership. Comcast NBCUniversal presents a great example of why supplier diversity is a vital business imperative for top-performing companies,” said BDR Chairman Rick Hughes.
“Diversity in our supply chain is integral to our continued success…”
Comcast NBCUniversal’s supplier diversity program is designed to promote, increase, and improve the participation of diverse businesses within its corporate supply chain. In 2014, 17 percent of Comcast NBCUniversal’s total applicable procurement spend was with diverse suppliers.
“We are beyond thrilled to become part of the Billion Dollar Roundtable,” said Peter Kiriacoulacos, Chief Procurement Officer of Comcast NBCUniversal. “Diversity in our supply chain is integral to the continued success of our Comcast NBCUniversal family of companies. We spent more than $5 billion with diverse vendors between 2011 and 2014, and our commitment to diverse vendors will be further strengthened by our membership in the Billion Dollar Roundtable. We look forward to learning and sharing best practices with other corporations that share in our commitment to diversity and inclusion.”
The Billion Dollar Roundtable honored Comcast NBCUniversal at a formal induction ceremony August 18 during the Dallas summit. BDR summits convene thought leaders, Supplier Diversity procurement executives and other stakeholders to offer critical reviews of current approaches to supplier diversity and devise solutions to foster new opportunities.
The Billion Dollar Roundtable Inc. was created in 2001 to recognize and celebrate corporations that achieve spending of $1 billion or more with diverse suppliers, including minority- and woman-owned companies. The BDR promotes and shares best practices in supply chain diversity excellence through summits, collaboration with other organizations and the production of policy papers. BDR member companies review and discuss issues, opportunities and strategies related to supplier diversity as a way to advance opportunities for corporations and diverse suppliers. The BDR encourages corporate entities to continue growing their supplier diversity programs by increasing commitment and spending levels each year.
“The theme of our Dallas Summit is Collaboration, Connectivity and Digitization, examining how supplier diversity can benefit in an era of flourishing technologies and digital platforms.These are areas that Comcast NBCUniversal knows very well. The BDR welcomes Comcast NBCUniversal to the summit as our newest member,” said Sharon Patterson, BDR co-founder, president and CEO.
In addition to Comcast NBCUniversal, BDR member companies are AT&T Inc., Avis Budget Group, Bank of America, The Boeing Co., Chrysler Group LLC., Dell Inc., Ford Motor Corp., General Motors Corp., Honda North America, IBM Corp., Johnson Controls Inc., Johnson & Johnson, Kaiser-Permanente, The Kroger Co., Lockheed Martin Corp., Microsoft Corp., Procter & Gamble Co., Toyota Motor North America Inc., Verizon Communications Inc. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
For more information, go to billiondollarrountable.org.
