Purdue conference helps minority business owners network
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Purdue University's Office of Supplier Diversity Development, in partnership with the Supplier Diversity Development Coalition of Greater Lafayette, will host the seventh annual Relationships to Partnerships session on Nov. 16 to help minority and women business owners in Indiana connect with Lafayette-area businesses.
The daylong conference will start at 8 a.m. in Stewart Center and feature Max Siegel as luncheon keynote speaker. As the former president of global operations at Dale Earnhardt Inc., Siegel was the highest-ranking African-American executive in NASCAR. He is now CEO of Max Siegel.
The Greater Lafayette Supplier Diversity Coalition encourages diversity and facilitates partnerships among small, diverse businesses and members of the Greater Lafayette business community.
Relationship to Partnership sessions will allow attendees to meet with a large range of buyers.
"We have had great success connecting with minority and women business entities from across the state and creating business relationships that have benefited them as well as Purdue," said Jesse L. Moore Jr., director of Purdue's Office of Supplier Diversity Development. "We usually have had more than 200 businesses participate each year. It's rewarding to see this effort grow since we started in 2005."
Moore said when the event began, only buyers at Purdue attended. In 2007 the Supplier Diversity Coalition of Greater Lafayette became the sponsor and expanded the business opportunities available at the conference.
The mayors of Lafayette and West Lafayette and the Tippecanoe County commissioners have supported the event and declared the day of the conference as Supplier Diversity Day, Moore said.
In the past, Relationships to Partnerships has helped minority- and women-owned businesses meet clients such as Freitag-Weinhardt, State Farm Insurance, Caterpillar, Tate & Lyle, Ivy Tech Community College, Eli Lilly and Co., Kirby Risk and Alcoa.
This year, the plenary session is from 9:15-10:45 a.m. in Stewart Center, Room 218. The session, "Success is a Marathon – Not a Sprint," will feature a panel of diverse business owners. Also during the session, Moore will present Purdue's response to the 2010 Indiana Disparity Study.
Three concurrent sessions take place from 11 a.m. to noon in Stewart Center. Session 1, which is on construction, architectural engineering and related services, will take place in Room 214 AB. Session 2, which is on marketing, computer and IT services, takes place in Room 202. Session 3, which is on products, goods and professional services other than A&E, will be in Room 214 CD. The sessions will be followed by an awards luncheon from 1-3:15 p.m. in Purdue Memorial Union's North Ballroom.
Those interested in attending this year's event can register online at https://www.conf.purdue.edu/R2P7
Writer: Greg McClure, 765-497-6911, gmcclure@purdue.edu
Source: Jesse L. Moore Jr., 765-494-3739, jlmoore@purdue.edu