BDR Inducts New Members
The Billion Dollar Roundtable (BDR) inducted two new members, The Boeing Company and The Kroger Co., at its annual summit in New York. The BDR is a top-level forum of major U.S. corporations that have attained $1 billion or more in annual supply chain diversity spend.
"We are pleased with the inclusion of Boeing and Kroger into our ranks. We value their unparalleled commitment to supplier diversity and look forward to their ideas and contributions," said BDR Chairman and Co-Founder Don McKneely, president of TexCorp Communications Inc., publisher of Minority Business News USA
Boeing is a Chicago-based aerospace company that is the world's largest manufacturer of commercial jetliners and military aircraft. Headquartered in Cincinnati, OH, Kroger is one of the nation's largest grocery retailers. Top officials from both companies were celebrated at the BDR induction ceremony following the daylong summit that examined global supplier diversity and opportunities for minority- and woman-owned companies.
The 12 incumbent BDR member corporations are Altria, AT&T Corp., DaimlerChrysler Corp., Ford Motor Corp., General Motors Corp., IBM Corp., Johnson Controls, Inc., Lockheed Martin Corp., Procter & Gamble Co., Toyota Motor North America Inc., Verizon Communications Inc. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
"Boeing and Kroger are forward-thinking global organizations. They join us at a key period in BDR history. We are spending 2007 examining the business case for global supplier diversity. In addition to our summit today in New York, members are convening an international conference Nov. 6-7 in London that is being co-hosted by the London's Mayor's Office. We anticipate that major European corporations as well as diverse entrepreneurs will participate," said Sharon Patterson, BDR CEO and Co-Founder.
BDR members Johnson Controls, Inc. and Toyota Motor North America served as the summit co-hosts. Discussions will serve as a blueprint for the BDR's publication of a comprehensive policy paper in the fall.
The Billion Dollar Roundtable (www.bdrusa.org) was created in 2001 to recognize and celebrate corporations that achieved spending of at least $1 billion with minority and woman-owned suppliers. The BDR promotes and shares best practices in supply chain diversity excellence through the production of key policy papers. In discussions, the members review common issues, opportunities and strategies. The BDR encourages corporate entities to continue growing their supplier diversity programs by increasing commitment and spending levels each year. The BDR inducts new members bi-annually.
