Diverse Supplier of the Year
This award honors the diverse supplier who has provided significant contributions in promoting and sustaining diversity & inclusion, as well as meets and exceeds Capital One line of business needs. This award is presented to an existing Capital One diverse supplier who does superior work and pays it forward by utilizing fellow diverse suppliers in their supply chain.
Non-Diverse Supplier of the Year
This award honors the non-diverse supplier who has provided significant contributions in promoting and sustaining diversity & inclusion in the communities where we live and work, as well as serves as a thought partner with Capital One concerning Supplier Diversity. This award is presented to a non-diverse supplier who does superior work and utilizes diverse suppliers in their supply chain.
ESM (Enterprise Supplier Management) Champion of the Year
This award honors the Capital One ESM associate who demonstrates a sustained commitment to the inclusion of diverse-owned businesses in our supply chain, and engages and supports Supplier Diversity initiatives such as developmental programs.
Non-ESM Champion of the Year
This award honors the Capital One line of business partner who demonstrates a sustained commitment to the inclusion of diverse-owned businesses in our supply chain, and promotes supplier diversity across the organization.
Supplier Diversity Professional of the Year
This award honors the Supplier Diversity Professional that has strategic engagement with Capital One on incorporating innovative ways to identify diverse suppliers, and supports Capital One’s work in developing diverse suppliers.
Award Recipients
Diverse Supplier of the Year: Kane Printing
Kane Printing accepted by Anne Kane, President, Kane Printing
We have had the pleasure of working with this Kane Printing over the past 7 years with our Threads Program, (the 'uniform' look in our Branches and Cafés). We were in need of onboarding a vendor that understood the intent and overall goal of where we wanted to take our THREADS program. We interviewed several prospects, butKane Printing and their team stood out and seemed to understand not only what needed to be done to make it sustainable, but exactly where we could go with it overall. Over the past 7 years we have not only made the program adaptable and sustainable, but it is now a brand in itself. THREADS laid the foundation and is just one of the many programs we have developed in our past 7 years working together. Their communication, attention to detail, and commitment to ensuring that every item is perfect does not go unnoticed. They proactively reach out to us when something happens (late delivery, incorrect print, etc) so there are never any surprises in addition to fixing the issue and making it right. They will always make certain that they respond immediately (even if they are on vacation or a "I see this, but need a day to respond '' response) so we never need to worry that our requests go unnoticed. In our 7 years working with the team, their professionalism and commitment continues to expand and we look forward to seeing the new work we develop in the coming years.
Non-diverse Supplier of the Year : Brandito
Brandito, accepted by Anne Barrett Mayfield, Enterprise Account Manager
Brandito consistently goes above and beyond in their performance with Capital One. Any time we have presented them with new goals or challenges, they have jumped right in and run with it. One example is when we set a goal of increasing our diverse spend in 2021. Brandito has increased the diverse suppliers they use on our Company Store by 622% (from 9% in 2021 to 56% currently) and increased the average monthly diverse spend for Capital One by 471% (from 7% in 2021 to 33% currently) and they now partner with at least 1 supplier from every currently reported diverse category on The Company Store, including Asian-owned, Woman-owned, Black-owned, Veteran-owned, LGBTQ+-owned, Disabled-person owned, Hispanic-owned, and additional multiple minorities represented-owned.
We also heard feedback from associates that The Company Store would feel more inclusive with gender-neutral options and this supplier partnered with us to launch (and now consistently update) a gender-inclusive collection on the store in 2022.
In addition,Brandito’s fulfillment accuracy is 99.997% (which is unheard of in this industry), due to their innovative QA processes and team building/education that they initiated.
Enterprise Supplier Management Champion of the Year : James Mercer
Capital One Senior Manager, Supply Chain
James Mercer is a beacon for Supplier Diversity advocacy. Recognizing the importance of understanding and supporting diverse suppliers,James has organized multiple Tier II spend discussions with US Card suppliers. These sessions provided a platform for suppliers to discuss their best practices and opportunities for Tier II spend. James also played a pivotal role in identifying and including diverse suppliers in the US Card Envelope / Component RFP (over half of the candidates were diverse suppliers). He ensured that our sourcing efforts reflect our commitment to diversity and inclusion. His advocacy has led to one diverse supplier having a very high chance of being onboarded.
James is a thought leader in identifying opportunities for diverse suppliers in his category. He is recommending rebate approaches with diverse suppliers so Capital One is incentivized to grow spend with them. He has also gathered inputs from suppliers during these diverse spend conversations and synthesized the results to report back to the accountable executive.
James has dedicated hours to organizing diverse spend discussions with the suppliers, collaborating with the line of business to find pockets of opportunities within the category, and sharing out best practices regarding Tier II spend with suppliers to grow diverse spend within the category.
Non Enterprise Supplier Management Champion of the Year: Melissa Matthews
Extended Operations Manager with Capital One Supply Chain Solutions
Melissa Matthews is an operations manager on our Supply Chain Solutions team. Late last year, Melissa's accountable executive had noted that he was interested in learning more about diverse spend in his area. Melissa, along with James Mercer and other ESM teammates, were asked to evaluate the use of and spend with diverse suppliers in the Supply Chain Solutions area. She led the work with the ESM team, who began a deep dive into the current situation, including bringing in supplier diversity to gather Tier I and Tier II spend. She initiated information gathering sessions with suppliers who are currently reporting diverse spend with their subcontractors to learn best practices and worked with the Supplier Diversity team to develop a plan to drive continued communications and reporting of supplier diversity information in Odi Agenmonmen's business area.
Fast forward six months later when Melissa presented to Odi and his leadership team. Her presentation drove a robust conversation and commitment by Odi to taking action to increase spend and drive further evaluation of including two diverse suppliers in upcoming RFPs. Melissa researched industry trends, found research about the impact on the bottom line of using diverse suppliers and included this in her presentation. She did sensitivity analyses on what it would take to grow spend to specific levels. She has embraced supplier diversity and is continuing to move the business towards a more diverse and inclusive way of thinking.
Supplier Diversity Professional of the Year: Linda A Hamilton
Founder & CEO, Linda A Hamilton, CPA LLC
Linda Hamilton has been a tremendous partner to Capital One's Supplier Diversity program. She has worked with Capital One for 8 years in her role as co-business leader and now as a business partner in the Sage Advice Program, our joint development program that was originally developed with WBEC DMV/NY for WBEs. The Capital One and WBEC team have come to rely on this award winner for her counsel, dedication and commitment to supporting women owned businesses in our area.
During the pandemic, Capital One decided to expand the SAGE program to WBENC midwest. Before doing so, we consulted with Linda to see if she could partner with us. We knew we needed her partnership for a successful program!
Linda is committed to building a stronger community of qualified diverse suppliers by helping them manage their financial resources to profitability. She is an asset to WBE’s given her volunteer work in strengthening women-owned businesses throughout the WBENC network.
A strong workforce is vital to our economy, and this award winner's commitment and dedication to helping women-owned businesses grow, create jobs and thrive is undeniable to the impact they have. In addition, she also runs her own successful and award-winning CPA firm where she understands first-hand the challenges of building a company and workforce
Diverse Supplier of the Year: Secure Collateral Management
Accepted by Joseph Farley, Chief Operating Officer
One example of Secure Collateral Managements outstanding customer service was when they faced a tremendous challenge coming out of the pandemic as over 20% of their agent network shuddered their doors forever, and the remaining 80% drastically reduced operating capacity. The team didn't panic, but rather doubled down on their existing relationships and added key new ones. As a result, their coverage area was minimally reduced for Capital One and they achieved the highest performance out of Capital One's five repo forwarders in 2022. This is attributed to the people first, diverse, and inclusive culture of our award winner.
Non-Diverse Supplier of the Year: Cenveo
Accepted by Mr. Mark Greenberg, President
Cenveo supports US Card, COAF, and Canada. For US Card, Cenveo brings innovation and partnership in the creation of acquisition envelopes. During the paper shortage in 2022, they stepped up to procure paper outside the Capital One paper program to ensure we could mail at our desired volumes. The team consistently provides high levels of customer service by proactively calling out risks and providing actionable solutions to provide a high quality product and experience. Cenveo is a valued partner that goes above and beyond to help our business partners meet their objectives.
ESM Champion of the Year: Tama McLean
Senior Manager, Supply Chain
Tama McLean is a beacon for Supplier Diversity advocacy. She promotes the use of diverse suppliers to her team and business unit by including the topic in team meetings and beyond. She also leads our efforts in Texas by serving on the board of the local WBENC affiliate. In this realm, she attends external events as a representative. She is actively engaged in our SAGE program, regularly serving as a business resource partner lead. Finally, she serves as a Supplier Diversity Ambassador, so she carries the 'official' title as an extended member of our team.
Non-ESM Champion of the Year: Jerome Frederick
Manager, Brand Creative
Jerome Frederick is a manager in Brand Creatives. In his role, he partners with creative agencies to deliver creative solutions to help Capital One in our marketing efforts. He has been a supporter of diverse businesses and uses innovative ways to get his work done. For one of the shoots that was being done by Brand, he was creative and influenced the team to use a primarily diverse cast and production crew. This was necessary to enable him to meet the demands of the demographics that he was targeting with the shoot. This award winner also commissioned the program More Color Please, an initiative to support diverse owned businesses in the creative space. Through this program, he was able to partner with a company, TW Tote and design products for Capital One's use. In both of these cases, he was innovative and found ways to grow our engagement with diverse owned businesses and elevate their presence and business.
Supplier Diversity Professional of the Year: Clifford Bailey
Co-Founder, Owner, and CEO of TechSoft Systems, Inc.
Clifford Bailey has been a tremendous partner to Capital One's Supplier Diversity program. He is a thought partner to Capital One's Supplier Diversity program, and a frequent point of call by the program to discuss strategy and challenges. He has served as a guest speaker at ESM's AllHands where he shared with the department the benefits of Supplier Diversity as well as some work that he did to support a cyber assessment of diverse suppliers, a partnership with Capital One. He has also served as a judge for Catapult, Capital One's Supplier Diversity developmental program over the last 5 years. His background as a business owner enables him to ask probing questions which helps the businesses better think of their businesses.
Diverse Supplier of the Year: Guardian Services
Accepted by Sidney McCann, Vice President of Operations
One example of Guardian Services outstanding customer service was in 2021 when major hurricanes were set to hit Louisiana. In order to protect our inventory, they stepped up by transporting automobiles to auction for us and all of their lienholders.
Non Diverse Supplier of the Year : Jones Lang LaSalle
Accepted by Erin Haglund, Account Executive, JLL-Capital One Account, on behalf of JLL
JLL is a fantastic partner to Capital One as evidenced by their ongoing commitment to spending a percent of their overall contract amount with diverse suppliers, as well as developing a mentoring program for diverse businesses and working with our team to curate applicants
ESM Champion of the Year : Bill Haymes
Capital One Non Associate Labor Sourcing Manager
Bill Haymes has been an advocate for diverse suppliers for many years. He has worked tirelessly to increase the number of diverse suppliers in the Non Associate Labor Space. Bill epitomizes what it means to be a supplier diversity champion and ally!
Non ESM Champion of the Year : Sean Chrysostom
Capital One Community Impact & Investment
Sean Chrysostorm has been a constant advocate for and instructor in our Supplier Diversity development programs for years. Sean never hesitates to work with us to adapt the programs to fit the changing needs of our diverse business owners. Sean exemplifies what it means to be a supplier diversity champion!
Supplier Diversity Professional of the Year : WBEC Metro NY & Greater DMV
Sandra Eberhard, President & CEO, WBEC Metro NY & Greater DMV
Sandra Eberhard has been a great partner and friend to Capital One for over 10 years, and was instrumental in developing the SAGE program, a program by which several other development programs have been modeled. Sandra has worked tirelessly to assist in bringing women-owned businesses into our supply chain. Sandra is a beacon of light for the supplier diversity community.