leadership Archives - Northwest Mountain MSDC

News Release: Two New Members Join Northwest Mountain MSDC Board of Directors

Posted on August 5, 2021 by Jeffery Bartley

Northwest Mountain Minority Supplier Development Council | August 5, 2021

Tukwila WA | The Northwest Mountain Minority Supplier Development Council announced today the appointment of two new members to its Board of Directors. Richard Cardone of Vulcan Inc. and Richard Chacon of MUFG, Union Bank both assumed their roles on August 1. There are now 11 members on the Board of Directors.

“We are excited to have both Richard and Richard join our Board of Directors. Their commitment to Supplier Diversity and expansive experience in Corporate America adds strength to an already strong Board” said Fernando Martinez, Northwest Mountain MSDC President & CEO. “The strength of our Board continues to grow and position the Northwest Mountain MSDC as regional leader in minority business development and growth.”

Richard Chacon is rejoining the Board of Directors after serving the National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC) in other regions of the country. Mr. Chacon brought MUFG, Union Bank to the Council as a Corporate Member in 2008. He has been with MUFG Union bank for 23 years and brings a wealth of experience in Supplier Diversity Development, External Affairs and Community Development.

“I’m honored to be a member of the Northwest Mountain Minority Supplier Development Council Board of Directors” says Chacon. “Union Bank is a longtime supporter of the Council. We strengthen our commitment to the Pacific Northwest supplier community through my direct involvement on the Board.”

Richard Cardone brought Vulcan, Inc. into the Council as a Corporate Member last November and has been active with the Council since then. Mr. Cardone has over 25 years of global business experience in information systems, accounting, financial reporting, tax, operations, cash disbursements, supply-chain, and inventory management. Prior to joining Vulcan Inc. he worked with Starbucks, Amazon, and AT&T.

“Over the past year, my participation with the NWMMSDC has been a pivotal career experience that has brought me into the work of MBE development” says Cardone. “Awareness through NWMMSDC has helped me improve the way I do business in thought, word, and deed. Diverse people coming together make a difference in making the world a better place. I am honored to be accepted as a board member and look forward to taking up my role with the utmost gusto!”

About the Northwest Mountain MSDC

Founded in 1978, the Northwest Mountain Minority Supplier Development Council (Northwest Mountain MSDC) is a nonprofit organization certifying, developing, and connecting Minority Business Enterprises (MBEs) with major corporations and public agencies. They are an affiliate of the National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC) providing certification, membership and subscription services to the Pacific Northwest Mountain region which includes Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

NMSDC Appoints Ying McGuire as President and CEO

Posted on July 30, 2021August 30, 2021 by Jeffery Bartley

Press Release from the desk of Jose Turkienicz, Chairman, NMSDC Board of Directors

July 29th 2021

It is a pivotal moment in the history of the National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC), as the Board of Directors announces the appointment of Ying McGuire as its new Chief Executive Officer and President.

As NMSDC approaches its half-century milestone, our mission to advance business opportunities for certified Minority Business Enterprises (MBEs) and connecting them to our Corporate Members remain as relevant as ever.

“With the appointment of Ms. McGuire, NMSDC is welcoming a dynamic individual and thought leader with passion, energy, and the track record of success to help elevate NMSDC to new levels of excellence,” says Jose Turkienicz, NMSDC’s Chairman of the Board of Directors. “We are confident Ying will be a great leader as we continue to advance our strategy to enable MBEs to grow. She is the right person to lead the organization through its next chapter. NMSDC could not be in better hands,” added Turkienicz.

“I am honored and energized by the opportunity to lead such a great organization in the midst of fundamental focus to enable Certified Minority Businesses to achieve their full potential,” says Ying McGuire. “I am humbled and grateful to the opportunity to work on my life’s passion: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. I am looking forward in partnering with all stakeholders to enable our Certified MBEs to grow and to create value to our Corporate Members,” added McGuire.

The NMSDC CEO and President Search Committee executed a comprehensive, rigorous and thoughtful selection process to hire the right leader for the organization. The six-member committee included our Board’s Chairman, Vice-Chairman, Treasurer, and Secretary, in addition to the CEO of one of our Certified MBEs, and one of our affiliate’s President. The Committee partnered with Korn Ferry interviewing several well-qualified and highly talented individuals and selected Ying McGuire to be NMSDC next CEO and President.

Ms. McGuire brings over two decades of leadership experience to this position. As Dell Technology’s global supplier diversity leader, her team nearly quintupled diversity spend from $640M to $3B within three years. Subsequently, she joined an MBE and NMSDC Corporate Plus Member, Technology Integration Group, as an executive leader, and took the company globally.

Within the NMSDC network, Ms. McGuire has served as an NMSDC Corporate Member and a Certified MBE. In addition, she was involved with regional councils, and her peers elected her Board Chair of the SMSDC, and a board member of SCMSDC. As a member of The NMSDC International Committee, she played a crucial role in NMSDC’s global expansion, where she mentored MBEs for global expansion.

Ms. McGuire has also delivered exceptional service in the civic sector as a non-profit leader, economic empowerment board member, and policy advisor to government agencies. In 2016, the United States Secretary of Commerce appointed Ms. McGuire to the United States Investment Advisory Council.

On behalf of the Board of Directors, Ying McGuire has our support and confidence as NMSDC’s new CEO and President. We welcome her and look forward to a new era of growth and development for our Certified MBEs.

Best regards,

Jose Turkienicz

Chairman of the Board, NMSDC

Letter from the President: Mental Health Resources

Posted on June 17, 2021August 30, 2021 by Jeffery Bartley

Dear Members, MBEs, Friends, and Colleagues,

The past year has put great stress on our collective mental health, worsening an already serious health and economic crisis. At the Council, caring for the health and wellbeing of our MBEs, members, staff and friends is deeply woven into our core values and goal of serving our community. We firmly believe that mental health should be valued, cared for and treated equally alongside our physical health.

Beyond the affect mental health has on individuals, it also has a significant impact on business. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that depression and anxiety cost the global economy $1 trillion per year in lost productivity. People who are grappling with anxiety, depression, grief, or trauma are not able to show up as their best self anywhere, and this includes the workplace. But WHO also found that for every $1 spent on treating common mental health concerns, there is a return of $4 in improved health and productivity.

In our commitment to deliver value to our Members and MBEs, we have compiled a list of mental health resources available to share with your teams, and best practices around employee mental health. While this list is not exhaustive, some key points to consider when building a strong workplace mental health plan include:

Health insurance benefits that offer good mental health coverage. If you are not familiar with how your employee health plan performs in this area, we encourage you to research it.
Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs). An EPA is a voluntary, work-based program that offers free and confidential assessments, short-term counseling, referrals, and follow-up services to employees who have personal and/or work-related problems.
Open communication and a pro-mental health culture. Talk about mental health openly in the workplace and encourage employees to take concrete steps to support their mental health.
Mental health education: standard training or onboarding that covers mental health, recognizing signs of stress, and ways to help. This is especially important for managerial roles.
Promote wellbeing by offering flexible schedules as possible, spaces dedicated to meditation or quiet, and encouraging vacation time
Ensure your leadership models healthy behaviors. A critical part of building a positive culture around mental health is ensuring your own actions as a leader model the behaviors you encourage. Employees who see their supervisor work through all their vacations will feel less comfortable utilizing their own vacation time.

The best approach for each business will vary depending on size, existing structure and environment. Whether you are a sole proprietor or a company of 200, we encourage you to explore resources available to you and your employees, including the enclosed list. After the collective stressors of the Covid-19 pandemic and social injustice upheavals over the past year and a half, note that even as the economy begins to return to pre-pandemic state, our lives and the lives of our teams and families are far from returning to ‘pre-pandemic business as usual.’

Sincerely,

Fernando Martinez, President & CEO NWMMSDC

To view and download resources, please click here

King County Pro-Equity Contracting Executive Order

Posted on May 6, 2021 by Jeffery Bartley

Yesterday our President and CEO, Fernando Martinez, joined other leaders in supporting King County Executive Dow Constantine’s announcement of an executive order demonstrating the county’s commitment to pro-equity contracting and formalize the actions that King County will take to increase the participation of minority- and women-owned small businesses (MWBEs) in county contracts.

Fernando’s letter of support on behalf of the NWMMSDC can be read in full here.

The recording of the press conference announcing the Executive Order is available to watch here.

2021 Virtual Business Conference Part One

Posted on April 22, 2021April 22, 2021 by Karla Malacon

The Northwest Mountain MSDC hosted part one of its annual Business Conference. This is the second time the Council hosts a virtual conference due to the Pandemic.

It was a successful morning of networking between MBEs and Corporate/Public Agency Members. During this session, Dr. Suj Chandrasekhar, Founder and Principal, Strategic Insights discussed “Digital Transformation”. Earl W. Overstreet II, President, GMI shared a motivational presentation, as he told the story of his journey as an entrepreneur. Fernando Martinez, President and CEO of the NWMMSDC closed out the meeting with an informative presentation, sharing Council activities and defining Tier 2 / Mentor-Protégé.

To view Suj’s presentation, click here: Digital Transformation

To view Fernando’s presentation, click here: 2021 Business Conference Part One

Fernando Martinez Defines the 7 Attributes of True Leadership

Posted on March 25, 2021September 16, 2021 by Karla Malacon

“Leadership is the ability to motivate and lead individuals, teams, and organizations through discovery, discussion, and actions they would not have arrived upon on their own.”

It took a lifetime of work, research, experimentation, and refining before I arrived at my definition of leadership. To become a great leader, more importantly a visionary-leader requires a significant deal of work and conscious effort. I had to be very intentional in my search for understanding what a great leader does, why a great leader seeks this role, and ultimately understand how to become a visionary.

1st attribute of Leadership – Desire: I consciously committed myself to become a great leader. It takes time, effort and risk.

2nd attribute of Leadership – Be a Teacher: I have enough confidence in myself to be willing to share all my learning’s from my work, education, and experience.

3^rd attribute of Leadership – Challenge: I have been willing to lean forward into risk throughout my career and being a provocative thinker: consistently asking the question “So What?” – not to be difficult but to encourage thoughtfulness and deep level 2^nd and 3^rd level thinking (i.e., critical thinking).

4^th attribute of Leadership – Courage: Intelligently face challenges. It takes courage to lead into the fray day-after-day, defining accountability, holding people accountable, and putting the right people in the right seats.

5^th attribute of Leadership – Team Builder: Respect for everyone is the foundation of building a team: Respect for themselves; their teammates, and, for the organization. Respect for the leader that sets the course and helps them understand how to get there.

6^th attribute of Leadership – Collaborator: Very early in my career I found that all the good leaders pull all the appropriate resources/stakeholders together and help them achieve a common goal.

7^th attribute of Leadership – Communicator: Without the appropriate level of communication the other characteristics of leadership are of no value. A good leader communicates, communicates, communicates!

Lastly, as these seven attributes build upon each other and become an innate skill, we achieve the pinnacle of leadership – Insightfulness – Visionary: Through my years of experience I feel I have moved from being a first line employee to becoming a Visionary – a state of “Enlightened Competence.” This is a state true leaders desire to achieve. It is the state where we see things no one else sees as well as gaps, solutions, opportunities, and improved methodologies that no one else sees. This is the highest state of Leadership we can achieve – become a Visionary, become a Great Leader!

Download – Fernando Martinez Defines the 7 Attributes of True Leadership

Northwest Mountain Minority Supplier Development Council Stands Firmly in Support of our Asian American Pacific Islander Community

Posted on March 22, 2021March 22, 2021 by Karla Malacon

The Northwest Mountain MSDC stands strongly in support of the Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Community and against all forms of hate, racism, and violence. We condemn current and past acts of anti-Asian violence and support the civil rights of AAPI community. This hate, racism, and violence, deeply rooted in personal and institutional beliefs, has no place in our society. We, at the Northwest Mountain MSDC, are committed to the eradication of such hateful, violent, and destructive behaviors.

The attacks in Seattle, Atlanta, and across the country against our AAPI Community has no place in a civilized society. Attacks have escalated over the last year. Hate crimes against our AAPI Community increased 149% in 2019, while overall hate crimes in the U.S. declined. Other sources, that do not necessarily report crimes to the Police Department, indicate crimes against the Asian American Pacific Islander Community ranged between 3,800 and 4,800 incidents. Most of these hate crimes, 68%, were committed against women. The trend continues. In 2021 there have already been over 500 reported hate crimes against members of the AAPI Community. Hate crimes will continue to increase in numbers, simply because individuals think they can commit acts of violence against innocent people based on their race, ethnicity, and gender without fear of repercussions from our legal institutions.

The Council vehemently opposes these acts of hate, racism, and violence. We must stand together as a community to #StopAsianHate and stop all hate, racism, and violence.

About the Council

Founded in 1978, the Northwest Mountain Minority Supplier Development Council is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to drive economic value by equalizing opportunities. As an affiliate of the National MSDC, the Council certifies minority owned businesses and provides access to supplier development, supply chain inclusion, networking events and formal introductions. The Council serves the states of Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.

###

Download Press Release

2021 Leadership & Advocacy Awards

Posted on March 19, 2021March 19, 2021 by Karla Malacon

NORTHWEST MOUNTAIN MSDC RECOGNIZES EXCELLENCE IN PERFORMANCE FOR 2020

The Northwest Mountain MSDC recognizes excellence in performance annually. Yesterday, we celebrated outstanding corporate and individual supplier diversity leadership and advocacy achievements in 2020, a year full of challenges for all businesses. Congratulations to all Award Winners! Read more here.

To view the presentation, click here: 2021 Leadership and Advocacy Awards by Fernando Martinez.

Thank you for your contributions to the MBE Scholarship Fund!

Covid-19 2020 Impact by Fernando Martinez

Posted on March 18, 2021March 26, 2021 by Karla Malacon

President and CEO of the Northwest Mountain MSDC, Fernando Martinez, shares information regarding the impact of Covid-19 on Minority Business Enterprises and Corporate/Public Agency Members in 2020.

COVID-19 2020 Impact Presentation

Northwest Mountain MSDC Recognizes Excellence In Performance For 2020

Posted on March 10, 2021 by Karla Malacon

NORTHWEST MOUNTAIN MSDC RECOGNIZES EXCELLENCE IN PERFORMANCE FOR 2020

The Northwest Mountain MSDC recognizes excellence in performance annually. This year, we celebrate outstanding corporate and individual supplier diversity leadership and advocacy achievements in 2020, a year full of challenges for all businesses. On Thursday, March 18, 2021, the Northwest Mountain Minority Supplier Development Council (Northwest Mountain MSDC) will be recognizing organizations and individuals that excel at advocating, promoting, and contracting with Minority Business Enterprises. The 2020 Award Winners are:

Advocacy Awards: Presented to individuals who exemplify an unselfish commitment to Minority Business Enterprise Development.

Recipient of the John A. Gilmore Award: Dicran Arnold, World Wide Technology, Inc.

Recipient of the Robert L. Ryan Award: Tim Otani, MUFG Union Bank, N.A.

Leadership Awards: Presented to Minority Business Enterprises that deliver excellence in performance and value to private or public sector customers.

Class 1 Supplier of the Year – Annual Revenues up to $1M dollars: Mike Nakamura Photography LLC

Class 2 Supplier of the Year – Annual Revenues between $1M – $10M dollars: RLA Engineering LLC

Class 3 Supplier of the Year – Annual Revenues between $10M – $50M dollars: ServiceMaster of Swan Island

Class 4 Supplier of the Year – Annual Revenues above $50M: Rose International, Inc.

Leadership Awards: Presented to the Public Agency and Private Sector Corporations that commit and live the practice of Minority Business Enterprise inclusion.

Public Agency of the Year: Port of Seattle

Regional Corporation of the Year: Skanska USA Building Inc.

National Corporation of the Year: Intel Corporation

Congratulations to all our Award Winners!

About the Council

Founded in 1978, the Northwest Mountain Minority Supplier Development Council is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to drive economic value by equalizing opportunities. As an affiliate of the National MSDC, the Council certifies minority owned businesses and provides access to supplier development, supply chain inclusion, networking events and formal introductions. The Council serves the states of Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.

###