NMSDC To Celebrate Corporate-Minority Business Partnerships As Part Of 40th Anniversary Commemoration

NEW YORK, May 10, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- For many years, the National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC) has used "Profit through Partnership" as its tagline. The organization will bring that mantra to life on Wednesday, May 23, when it pays tribute to 28 corporate-minority business success stories at its annual Minority Business Leadership Awards Dinner-Dance. The black-tie event will be held at the Hilton New York and Towers in New York City.  More than 1,400 guests are expected to attend, including CEOs, corporate executives and minority business owners from across the nation.

"NMSDC's objective is to be the direct link between our corporate members and certified Asian, Black, Hispanic and Native American suppliers," said NMSDC President Joset B. Wright. "As we celebrate our milestone 40th anniversary this year, we wanted to highlight some long-standing corporate-minority supplier relationships that have had a positive and profitable outcome for everyone involved."

NMSDC asked its corporate members to select minority suppliers that met the following criteria:  have a current NMSDC certification; be a current supplier to the corporate member; have a relationship spanning at least 10 years of continuous contracts; and have a current contract with a value of at least $5 million. The corporations then submitted a success story highlighting the initial contract with the minority business, the current contract and scope of work, what made the relationship grow and how the supplier adds value to the corporation.

During the evening, NMSDC will have its corporate-minority business partners walk the red carpet for photos. NMSDC will share narratives and photos from each partnership and present each corporate-minority business pair with medallions to commemorate the evening. The success stories are:

AT&T Inc. and Group O, Inc.
Alcatel-Lucent and Telcobuy.com
Allstate Insurance Company and FXI Vmark Co.
Bank of America Corporation and MarkMaster, Inc.
Cardinal Health, Inc. and Kerma Medical Products, Inc.
Chrysler Group LLC and Flex-N-Gate Corporation
The Coca-Cola Company and Ongweoweh Corporation
Eaton Corporation and National Material L.P.
Exxon Mobil Corporation and Pala Interstate
Ford Motor Company and Systrand Manufacturing Corporation
General Motors Company and The Ideal Group, Inc.
International Business Machines Corporation and SHI International Corp.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Collabera, Inc.
Johnson Controls, Inc. and Manufacturers Industrial Group
Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and MedImpact Healthcare Systems, Inc.
Kraft Foods, Inc. and Adhesive Systems, Inc.
MGM Resorts International and Thor Construction, Inc.
Merck & Co., Inc. and Agile 1
Pacific Gas & Electric Company and S&S Tool and Supply, Inc.
PepsiCo, Inc. and PetroCard, Inc.
The Procter & Gamble Company and Quality Packaging Specialists International, LLC
Scientific Games International, Inc. and Perfect Image
Sempra Energy and A. M. Ortega Construction, Inc.
Shell Oil Company and Brewster Procurement Group, Inc.
Toyota Motor Engineering and Manufacturing North America and Superior Maintenance Company
United Parcel Service, Inc. and Avion Systems, Inc.
United Technologies Corporation and The Bernd Group, Inc.
Verizon Communications, Inc. and AdAsia Communications Inc.

Mark Bertolini, chairman, chief executive officer and president of Aetna, Inc., will serve as Honorary Chairman for this gala event. Nearly 100 chairmen of America's top corporations including American International Group, Cardinal Health, Darden Restaurants, Delphi Automotive, DuPont, Ford Motor Company, General Motors, Kroger, Merck, MillerCoors, PepsiCo, Pfizer, Procter & Gamble, Safeway, Time Warner, Toyota, United Parcel Service, United Technologies and Xerox serve on the Honorary Committee.

Award-winning actress S. Epatha Merkerson will be the mistress of ceremonies for the Dinner-Dance. The George Gee Orchestra featuring John Dokes will provide musical entertainment, while Luisito Ayala and his Orchestra, and the Asian-American Jazz Connection will perform at the Chairman's reception. The New York United Lion and Dragon Dance Troupe will also entertain the guests.

About NMSDC
Providing a direct link between corporate America and minority-owned businesses is the primary objective of the National Minority Supplier Development Council, one of the country's leading business membership organizations. It was chartered in 1972 to provide increased procurement and business opportunities for minority businesses of all sizes.

The NMSDC Network includes a national office in New York and 36 Regional Councils across the country. There are 3,500 corporate members throughout the network, including America's top publicly-owned, privately-owned and foreign-owned companies as well as universities, hospitals and other buying institutions. The Regional Councils certify and match more than 16,000 Asian, Black, Hispanic and Native American businesses with member corporations that want to purchase their goods and services.

For more information about NMSDC, call (212) 944-2430 or visit the Web site at www.nmsdc.org.  

SOURCE National Minority Supplier Development Council