NMSDC introduced its newest awards program, The Equity Honors, as part of its inaugural Minority Business Economic Forum. The following winners were announced at the Equity Honors Awards Ceremony on May 12, 2022, at the Venue SIX10 in Chicago:

The Equity Honors for Chief Executive Officer of the Year
Craig Arnold, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Eaton Corporation

The Equity Honors for Chief Financial Officer of the Year
Daryl Bible, Chief Financial Officer of Truist

The Equity Honors for Chief Marketing Officer of the Year
Drew Otoo, Senior Vice President, Global Vaccines, Merck Human Health of Merck

The Equity Honors for Chief Procurement Officer of the Year
Paris Pavlou, Executive Director Global Purchasing and Manufacturing Services of General Motors Company, LLC

The Equity Honors for Chief Diversity Officer of the Year
Monica Jackson, Vice President, Global Inclusion & Diversity of Eaton Corporation

The Equity Honors for Public Service went to:
Isabella Casillas Guzman, Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration

“We are thrilled with the number of applications we received for our newest awards program, The Equity Honors,” said Ying McGuire, CEO and President of NMSDC. “We are turning the corner on supplier diversity to business diversity, and these winners are at the vanguard of economic equity and minority business integration. We need all lines of business engaged at our corporate members to accelerate the growth of minority business enterprises and close the wealth gap for systematically excluded communities of color.”

Thank you to your founding sponsors for their support of The Equity Honors and the Minority Business Economic Forum: Ariel Investments, Bristol Myers Squibb, MasTec, Truist, UPS, VDart, and World Wide Technology.

To schedule an interview with an Equity Honors awardee, please contact Stefan Bradham, Vice President of Marketing and Communications at stefan.bradham@nmsdc.org.

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About The Equity Honors
The Equity Honors awards corporate chief officers who have been recognized by their peers and our community as the true leaders at the vanguard of economic equity and minority business integration. They are the bold ones, breaking open old circles of influence and opportunity to usher in talent, perspectives, and expertise that have been too long ignored. They are the visionaries, creating the conditions for minority businesses to fully realize their vast, untapped impact on the American economy and quality of life. And they are unshakable, the living blueprints for upending the status quo and making the kinds of changes that change everything. For more information, please visit For more information, please visit https://www.theforum.nmsdc.org/equity-honors

About the Minority Business Economic Forum
Inspired by the World Economic Forum, the Minority Business Economic Forum is the leading event where NMSDC and its partners tap the top leaders of corporate America, the Presidential Administration, and leading thought academic leaders to recalibrate the MBE narrative to be an integral part of the American economy. To learn more, visit https://www.theforum.nmsdc.org/.

New York, NY—The National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC) releases its 2021 Minority Business Economic Impact Report as a follow-up study to its 2019 Report to better understand how the coronavirus pandemic and the racial justice movement affected NMSDC certified Minority Business Enterprises (MBEs) over the last two years. Although the pandemic has disproportionately affected systematically excluded communities of color, the racial justice movement, along with NMSDC’s steadfast focus on serving as an MBE growth engine, has seen certified MBEs grow significantly over the last two years:

• 22% increase in total revenues at MBEs certified by NMSDC ($261 billion, up from $214 billion)
  • Asian owned firms saw a 31% increase
  • Hispanic owned firms saw a 7% increase
  • Black owned firms saw a 27% increase
  • Native American owned firms saw a 6% increase
• 64% increase in total US jobs at MBEs certified by NMSDC (865,000, up from 528,000)
  • Asian owned firms saw a 76% increase
  • Hispanic owned firms saw a 40% increase
  • Black owned firms saw a 73% increase
  • Native American owned firms saw a 69% increase
• 126% increase in wages earned by US employees at MBEs certified by NMSDC ($72 billion, up from $31.8 billion)
  • Asian owned firms saw a 125% increase
  • Hispanic owned firms saw a 92% increase
  • Black owned firms saw a 193% increase
  • Native American owned firms saw a 100% increase
• Average employee composition at MBEs certified by NMSDC held steady at 70% minority employees.

Additionally, the report breaks down a state-by-state comparison between 2019 and 2021, which allows NMSDC to work with its Regional Affiliates to take a deeper dive into the why behind the numbers and develop strategies to address the decline in various regions.  For example:

• Wyoming saw a 94% decrease in spend with MBEs and an 83% decrease in jobs at MBEs.
• Florida saw a 24% decrease in spend with MBEs and a 21% decrease in jobs at MBEs
• New Hampshire saw a 25% decrease in spend and 17% decrease in jobs.
• Montana saw a 25% decrease in MBEs, 17% decrease in spend with MBEs, and 61% decrease in jobs at MBEs.

Finally, the Report discusses how businesses today are highly integrated, with every business relying on other businesses to create their products and services. As a result, MBEs support jobs not only in their own companies but also at the other businesses they utilize while running their operations, which expands the total impact on the United States (U.S.) economy through certified MBEs:

• $396 billion in total economic activity driven through certified MBEs.
• 75 million U.S. jobs supported directly and indirectly by certified MBEs.
• $122 billion in wages earned through supported jobs.

“Overall, this Report shows how NMSDC is leading the charge to economic equity by creating connections that help MBEs and corporations to benefit from each other, stoking entrepreneurship, and growing wealth for these excluded communities,” comments Constance Jones, Senior Director of Field Services. “Closing the wealth gap is the key to creating a more united and prosperous society for all, and there is more work to be done!”

To download the 2021 Report, please visit here. And to schedule an interview with NMSDC, please contact Stefan Bradham, Vice President of Marketing and Communications at stefan.bradham@nmsdc.org.

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National Small Business Week 2022
Building a Better America Through Entrepreneurship Virtual Summit May 2-5, 2022

May 1^st through May 7^th marks the dates for the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) to promote National Small Business Week. This year’s theme is “Building a Better America Through Entrepreneurship”, and as part of the commemoration, the SBA has put together a virtual summit that will provide small businesses across the country with resources to help them start, grow, or recover their business.

The virtual summit will acknowledge small businesses from across the country for their resilience, ingenuity, and creativity. It will also recognize SBA partners for their involvement in entrepreneurial development, disaster recovery, government contracting, financial development, and overall support for small businesses and entrepreneurship.

The SBA will co-host a free, four-day virtual summit from May 2 through May 5, 2022, along with SCORE, to honor the nation’s 32.5 million small businesses for their perseverance. This year’s summit will feature access to critical federal resources, educational workshops, and networking to help our nation’s entrepreneurs pivot and grow in the face of any challenge, seize new opportunities, and make sure the dream of starting a small business is in reach for every American.

Details on National Small Business Week, including event registration and speaker information are available at www.SBA.gov/NSBW.