Ameren Awards Scholarships to Diverse Business Supplier CEOs

ST. LOUIS, April 1, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- One minority, woman-owned and one woman-owned construction companies were awarded business development scholarships from Ameren Corporation to attend the Minority Business Executive Program at the Tuck School at Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H.

The scholarships were awarded March 27 as part of Ameren's two-day Supplier Diversity Symposium in St. Louis. The recipients were selected based on the volume of business and strategic relationship with the company, and the supplier's success in providing service to a range of companies in Ameren's 64,000-square-mile service territory.

The 2013 scholarship recipients are:

• Ashanti Mitchell, CEO of Bumpy's Steel, LLC, of East St. Louis, Ill. Bumpy's Steel is a minority, woman-owned company that is certified as a MBE/WBE/DBE and specializing in structural steel erection and concrete reinforcement placement in transmission and substation foundations. 
• Candice Fowler, president of Donco Electrical Construction, LLC, of Edwardsville, Centralia and Eldorado, Ill. Donco is a woman-owned company specializing in commercial and industrial electrical construction meter services, locating, communications and gas and electric design.

"We are happy to be awarding scholarships to these two top-flight suppliers," said Dennis W. Weisenborn, vice president of Safety and Supply Services for Ameren. "Our commitment to supplier diversity reflects our belief that diverse supplier partnerships are vital to the economic success of our region and to the success of Ameren."

"I am looking forward to gaining insight and knowledge from the Minority Business Executive Program. I know it will help me grow personally and help my company grow," Mitchell said. "I want to thank Ameren's Supplier Diversity team for giving me a surprising opportunity to attend the Tuck School of Business."

"We believe that our business relationships should reflect the communities we serve as well as our workforce," said Richard J. Mark, president and CEO, Ameren Illinois.  "We are proud to work with diverse suppliers to help them grow their businesses and local economies."

Ameren began offering scholarships to local suppliers in 2007 as part of its first Supplier Diversity Symposium. Mitchell and Fowler are the 10^th and 11^th recipients, respectively, of scholarships from Ameren. This year's symposium drew more than 450 local diverse business owners.

Ameren's total non-fuel spend with diverse suppliers from the initial event in 2007 has grown from $73 million to $127 million or 8.1 percent of total non-fuel spend in 2012. Ameren's projected supplier diversity spend for 2013 is 9.3 percent of its total non-fuel spend.

"Ameren invests more than $1.5 billion annually in materials and services in our infrastructure," said Thomas R. Voss, chairman, president and CEO of Ameren. "We recognize the value of doing business with a diverse community. I think it is important for companies, especially utilities, to be inclusive in procurement and hiring from the communities they serve. We are focused on our community obligations and on providing the energy that powers our quality of life."

With assets of approximately $22 billion, Ameren serves 2.4 million electric customers and more than 900,000 natural gas customers in a 64,000-square-mile area of Missouri and Illinois.

SOURCE Ameren