If your business is looking to expand and diversify its suppliers, today's Business as Usual at noon is a must attend! We're excited to welcome George Robinson, Director of Supplier Diversity and Inclusion at UPMC. George will detail how you can strengthen your supply chains by adding minority-owned businesses to your portfolio. He will also overview how UPMC works with suppliers of all backgrounds to effectively meet its needs. Learn more at https://supplierdiversity.upmc.com/
Transcription:
Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to today's session on business as usual. Thank you for joining us today. It is a really important topic. And we're thrilled to have our guests, George Robinson, who I will introduce momentarily. So I'm joined today by by our co host, Jonathan Kersting. He's vice president of visibility and all things media for the tech Council. And I want to just tell you a couple of things about today's call first, it would not be possible without the support of our good friends at Huntington bank, they have stepped up from the beginning. We're in our 60th or 65th. Seventh session, who's counting? who's counting since COVID. Hit and we have a strong pipeline of people that we really want to talk to, and today is no exception. So thank you, Huntington. Thank you for the work that you're doing on on our SBA work during this pandemic. I also want to just give you a little bit of an update about what's happening for the rest of this week. Tomorrow we have Dr. Lisa Meredith dacus. And she is actually a Senior Director of infection prevention at Johns Hopkins University. And so most of you should know that most of the data actually comes out of Johns Hopkins, that's considered the most highest integrity data of COVID around the world. So we're very excited about that. And then Friday, we have potion Lowe. He's the founder of Expo, he launched the Novus app. And he is with us for Friday. So we're very excited about that. So a couple of things, we've muted you, so muting you only because there's noise going on in the background. But we have a chat and that chat is used to ensure that you can ask questions of our guests and so I'm going to jump right in and say that thank you thankful for George Robinson. He is the director of Supplier Diversity and Inclusion at UPMC. UPMC has been very committed to supplier diversity and they have lots of things that all of us can learn from and apply. And George is going to spend some time doing a little bit of a deep dive on the topics that are near and dear to his heart and his work. So I want to welcome George and bring George to the forefront. Thank you, George, for being here.
Thank you, Audrey. And thank you to the the PTC team. It's a pleasure to address the audience today. Having been a member of the audience for 66 previous shows. And I'm glad to be able to address the audience today to talk about supplier diversity and inclusion and where UPMC is within our community and across our country in business engagement with diverse vendors.
Well then then let's just jump in. Why don't you start out by talking about your role. Why UPMC is committed to supplier diversity and what have been some of the outcomes. I mean, let's let's just start.
Sure. So Supplier Diversity and Inclusion has been an integral part of UPMC business strategy from a procurement standpoint, as well as the community engagement standpoint for almost 25 years. The program began in 1996 and was re engineered in 2006 to provide business opportunities, information exchange to our diverse community. So our diverse community includes minorities, women, veterans, disabled veterans, LGBTQ and disabled businesses. And our prime focus is to, again be that bridge of information support advocacy. For those vendors that are interested in doing business with with UPMC. We also play a significant part With UPMC health plan and supporting their efforts to engage diverse vendors, from all across multiple stratis technology to products, goods and services to consultancy, and things of that nature. I'm glad to see several of our vendors on the call today. And I appreciate what they do to help UPMC achieve that wide change medicine that we so dearly appreciate.
The commitment to supplier diversity, as you said is over two decades. But over the recent years, you've really, you've really sort of amped up the focus, and that's correct. You know, I stand on the shoulders of a giant Tony Silva, who retired in December of 2019. She had been in place roughly 14 years and that 2006 period to 2020, where she began to lay a framework of genuine business engagement, genuine business support and advocacy, as well as connection across our diverse business community and UPMC. And with her evolution within that department, they brought me on as as manager supplier diversity in 2018. And just as with you know, so many opportunities, you have a lot of bandwidth and energy and activity that is being metered out and saw upon her retirement and me taking the position as director. I've just turned the faucet wide open in terms of programming in terms of connectivity, in terms of relationship development, that that our vendors so desperately deserve, especially with the system such as UPMC Where we're growing, we're in three states, with our hospital system, New York, Pennsylvania and Maryland. And in our insurance product, through UPMC health plan, we're offering that product in 40 states across the United States. For those that don't know, we, you can see us presently in five countries. And so we have an international healthcare approach as well. And that entire supplier diversity message is being extended now across our international shores, recognizing that even for those members in your audience in the tech field, that you can provide critical services to our institutions on a global scale. And that's just a part of some of the many things that I've begun introducing within my directorship with UPMC.
So you know, if small businesses and When I say small, I use that loosely, right? I mean, it can be all sizes and shapes. Sure, small businesses are interested in becoming new suppliers to UPMC. What is their entry point?
So, you know, for many of them, it's been having a personal relationship with someone within our organization. And because of the advancements of technology and us trying to build more efficient pathways, for procurement as well as our efforts to reduce cost, we've implemented new technology to help those vendors who are interested in soliciting UPMC. So we presently have our supplier diversity web portal. That Portal was launched roughly four months after I started in an effort to more quickly connect our vendors to our procurement assets. And so that portal supplier diversity.upmc.com enables vendors to register their company provide business profile, provide a business contact information, a description of your business, as well as identify strategic keywords that most closely align with that vendors, goods, products or services that they're offering. We also asked that vendor select their NAICS codes, their SIC codes, as well as UPMC category codes. So we do all of this in an effort to connect our procurement assets when they log in on the backside of that portal to most quickly find those businesses, be able to evaluate them, and then if possible, connect them with requests for proposals and other solicitations. And so, the old way that we did it, you know, firms had to send in information via paper. We had to keep an Excel database folks would call us across our system. We've eliminated all Those steps, we put the power both in that vendor savings as well as those individuals across UPMC would spend authority to quickly identify those vendors, we step out the way we let the technology provide that access.
So people go to the link, we put the link out there, and we'll continue to share that. Sure. In the link they can navigate in terms of products and services.
Exactly. And there's a whole host of other resources on that link. Because UPMC engages in business with certified diverse businesses. So you have to be certified minority women, veteran, etc. We have a wealth of information on certifying agencies state level, as well as a for profit organizations that provide certification. We have frequently asked questions that will help individuals that you know, have concerns or questions regarding that certification. process as well as how we conduct business. Quite frankly, our department has sort of leapfrog supply chain management in terms of being forward facing. And so we have, you know, many instances where non diverse vendors want to find more information. And we actually have resources for non diverse businesses as well, on how to connect with UPMC supply chain management.
Okay, so that's terrific. Thanks for your work and all that automation and making things seamless. I think a lot of people get intimidated when they think about UPMC and an opportunities there. So talk about how you work to build the capacity of small businesses and that's that's really what I'm interested in. Sure. So you know, the issue surrounding capacity is always at the forefront with an organization such as UPMC when we engage in In contractual relationships with the with the vendor, we want to be sure that that vendor has the capacity has the wherewithal has the resume or is interested in developing that resume to help us again achieve that life changing medicine, in interacting with our customers are patients as well as our employees and other stakeholders. And so here recently, our department was challenged by senior leadership within UPMC health plan, who had more of a community facing role to say, hey, look, you know, we've seen everything from the state disparity studies showing how disparate diverse businesses are in terms of numbers of minority owned businesses, women owned businesses, disadvantaged businesses, what can we do as an organization to assist those companies number one, to better themselves through education, knowledge and training, but to to begin developing related With organizations such as UPMC, and so I, along with several community partners have developed the UPMC diverse Business Education and Development Program. We have a very strong relationship with Pitts Small Business Development Center, where we've deployed our essential for Success Program. Several of the participants on the call here, I think our graduates in that program is specifically identified for businesses that have never done business with UPMC. Or are startup companies that require not only that initial touch, you know, business engagement with UPMC, who some of the players are, where some of the resources are, but to also have the assistance from Pitt Small Business Development Center and Institute for entrepreneurial excellence. walk alongside that company and help them grow, whether it's in insurance, whether it's in business planning, whether it's financial etc. They walk alongside them. They understand our initial hurdles, as well as entry points. They understand our web portal, and helping businesses craft those profiles and things of that nature. So that's that's where our startup companies and businesses that haven't done business with UPMC. Today, we've had over 300 participants in that program itself. We also have another program called the Seven Pillars, and that's actually run through ima cielo cares. That program is specially for businesses that are currently doing business with UPMC diverse businesses who are doing business with UPMC. But we recognize that there are areas of improvement that that company could benefit from. And so we actually have a support program in place with Alma cielo cares under Seven Pillars program where we have businesses Just walk alongside them where they evaluate them find those areas of weakness and provide strength and resources to help them be better vendors to UPMC. Go ahead, Audrey just noticed. Um, can you reiterate the name of the diversity education program? Okay, so we put that out there, right. So it's actually a three legged stool. We have three programs within our diverse business education program. The first one is essential for success. And that's marketed through Pitts, a Small Business Development Center. Our second program is our slo care Seven Pillars program that's marketed through Alma cielo anonymous ello cares. That's what Joshua Pollard and chasing flowers and then our third component, which wouldn't necessarily be tech related, but it does has some some tech leanings is our Turner School of Construction Management, where we've partnered with Turner construction. Who has a 50 year long history of the point there Turner School of Construction Management where we bring in construction companies, engineering companies, design companies that need to gain a better understanding of the skill, scope, size and level of projects that UPMC deploys, in turn are having that history, as well as business relationship with UPMC walks along that participant in an eight week long program, where they bring on various specialists throughout Turner to discuss construction issues and concerns, as well as topics to help build that participants capacity and knowledge of what is really expected of you when approaching an organization such as UPMC. And so those are our three programs in just that one. Offering that we have community wide.
That's absolutely So do you publish anywhere the criteria for selection for the vendors to say so so that that's a unique question. We don't necessarily publish it. But when you participate in our education and development programs, you are provided that audit and that's our way of staying within, you know, our corporate structure where we can't necessarily advantage one business over another. But when you go through our programming, we do provide those resources and information. But just real quickly for the audience. You know, we look at four factors in terms of qualifying businesses, you know, number one, are you a certified diverse business? Number two, do you understand what the need is of UPMC as it relates to your product, you know, I give this talk in our Central's program. You know, everyone wants to sell to UPMC you know, we currently spend in the Navy hood have about 3 billion and sortable spin that means where we get to choose where we spend the money goes. Everyone wants to sell at us, but not everyone came. And so, you know, being able to throughout your business development process as a vendor understand what that need is, you know, realize and we have an army UPMC UPMC enterprise and tech space, where we are sales are creating tech, software, hardware, a attendances, everything like that we're we're actually selling to other healthcare organizations. So really just being able to find out how your product aligns with our need. Know, the third key thing is recognizing there's a national and global conversation around healthcare costs. You know, being able to deploy high value and understand that cost is going to be a concern. You know, as an advocate, I realized that businesses, you know, you have to set your price and live your life. You know, that That's the nature of your company. But you also have to understand that we, as a healthcare provider, are looking at overall costs in medicine and in health care. And one of those key areas that we look at is our vendors and where we can find, you know, value as well as cost consideration. And in addition to that quality product that you're offering.
So, you know, you have a strong network of diverse suppliers that are that are already serving UPMC. Is there any way for other companies who might want to work with some of those firms to get connected?
So that that's a unique question. We don't necessarily publish our list of vendors. But what we do have is on an annual basis UPMC birth a program called share, and what share is is a opportunity for our corporate community tomorrow. market there diverse vendors amongst themselves. What we've done with with share which here in Pittsburgh, we're in our fifth year of celebrating share, we are in the process of holding our third share Harrisburg this week, we actually open up registration initially to our corporate partners. So it's not only UPMC, but say ppg, Highmark Duquesne like the universities and others where we get to invite companies to participate. But then we're also looking at given some consideration to open it up to the public. Unfortunately, with the COVID-19 era that we're in, we postponed our share Pittsburgh, which was originally scheduled in April to October and so that will be a live in person event. Our share Harrisburg is presently a web based matchmaking session. That'll be happening this week. So just stay tuned for additional information on on share. And Audrey, you know, you and I and your team have discussed PTC involvement with share Pittsburgh. Again, October 13. We hosted at rivers casino, that's one of our major community partners. And, you know, we're looking forward to growing that that number of participants and share.
Now, I mean, I can tell you and I can tell everyone candidly here, while the concept of supplying and you know, being a part of a, of a supply Forum has I've been really impressed with the amount of thought and meticulousness that has gone into the work as you think about share I being in the tech community, I like to get everything done pretty quickly. And George's like there's process and we're going to work with you on the process. He's going to chuckle because I did say how to work on this and he told me, you know, take your time, take your time.
But I appreciate I appreciate the diligence. And the protocol that's gone on over many years and even more recently, as we as we look to the future and look at app diversity and related topics, because that goes into my next question, and then we'll get into some of the questions from from our listeners is for companies that are new to forming supplier diversity programs, like where do they even begin to start? So people all that would like to know that that's a unique question, um, you know, in my response is not necessarily geared to the current environment that we're in, but just in the profession itself. You know, I would definitely encourage you know, those corporations that are interested in developing supplier diversity programs to reach out to larger corporations. Have a history with supplier diversity to give that a, you know, true response to how those programs were developed, the types of responses that they have received and where they are forecasting supplier diversity in terms of priority, not only from a professional perspective, but from a personal perspective. You know, we're currently in evolving times right now, as a nation and as a world in terms of supplier diversity. Many people aren't aware but there are other countries and other geographic regions globally that are now starting to utilize supplier diversity as a part of their business mix. So there's a supplier diversity focus in Canada, the UK, South Africa, and oddly enough China, where supplier diversity is being recognized on a national platform Other resource that companies can look at are agencies that certify organizations in businesses. So for example, our good friends at the eastern minority supplier Development Council, national minority supplier Development Council, we bank. Those types of organizations can provide you resources in terms of supplier diversity program development. And then oddly enough, there's a lot of information that you can google online with respect to establishing supplier diversity programs. Korn ferry has several reports with respect to supplier diversity programming, the current status of supplier diversity from a practitioner standpoint, as well as from a corporation standpoint. So now there's several resources, talking about those that are in the industry, talking with certifying agencies, and then a googling resources from agencies that that evaluate the space.
So I think though in summation is that as it relates to UPMC, there's a process and education process and as well as the certification process that is required, and it makes you as a company much more appealing all across other companies as well not just EPM say, well in the The nice thing about our particular perspective, and this is something that we share corporate wide. You know, we want to assist our diverse business community, whether you're doing business with us or someone else, hey, you know, I don't care if you're working for Highmark, or American healthcare tosser any of our competitors. Our philosophy is we want to help improve you with the the goal of eventually being able to do business with UPMC where there is a business need and business alignment. And so, you know, in terms of you know, having that conversation With respect to the evolution of our program, you know, UPMC, we are prepared to assist other organizations in developing supplier diversity programming, just by looking at our playbook by having conversations with myself and my team and other assets across UPMC in that space. This is something that, again, helps to build a more robust collective community of vendors, as well as economic development assets, because those vendors become employers just the same, right? Yeah, this is really important. So it's good behavior patterns for all of us to learn all of us. Yeah. And I think that's the thing that I've really grown to appreciate in the recent conversations that we've had is that once you've gone through this process, your capabilities transcend just UPMC. So that makes you that makes you a really good steward. There's a question. There's one question here. And I'm not sure if we, if we actually asked it or you've answered it. So let me see if I can grab it, Jonathan. I see Jeffrey Hurd. And he's asking about do you see it?
We pull it up, hold on a second. I'm letting people in and out of the thing here here.
Oh, yeah, here we go. Our sourcing buyers required or encouraged to search for diverse suppliers to participate in RF x events.
So in terms of their participation, I can only speak for our supplier diversity efforts. So we've had some some bear down knuckle type conversations, of course in the transition of leadership in terms of what we intend to do, you know our level of intentionality in terms of diverse events spin I saw another Question that that it popped up with respect to publishing information on our supplier diversity programs? No, that is not anything that we necessarily make public. But what I will tell you is UPMC exceeds presently. And as our marketing information for this call suggests, you know, our spend exceeds the national average for healthcare and supplier diversity. So that national average of spend for healthcare, as it relates to supplier diversity sits between roughly five to 7% of a company's overall spin. Right now we're at roughly 11 with the goal of hopefully reaching 15 of our entire spin so we're, we're surpassing the national average on that. And we're looking to set some some new records and that's why I'm here today with this conversation. You know, to let let your your listeners know that you know, we're open for business and where we see this business alignment, we're going to make it happen.
So if people want to reach out, what's the best way to reach out? So there are people here who are wondering about that.
Sure. So the best way to reach out to us again is if you have a business that's established, you can actually register your company again supplier diversity dot UPMC comm x we also have our UPMC Supplier Diversity and Inclusion LinkedIn page, you can actually just keyword search that on LinkedIn. We offer several resources, announcements of information, events and things of that nature. Again, that's key word UPMC. supplier diversity and inclusion. And if you want to directly contact our office, you can email us at supplier diversity@upmc.edu supplier diversity@upmc.edu
So you have three ways. So no excuses, no,
I won't get my phone number because we're not back to work in our offices. And I respond a lot faster, our team responds a lot faster.
Now, that's awesome. So there isn't anyone who can't find a pathway. You've made yourself accessible. We know what you're up to now, this is being recorded, we're going to share that we've shared the links. So I mean, I can't thank you enough for that. George. I think that, you know, we I'm very excited about you teaching us in the tech community, about the about the house, as well as the measurements because, you know, I like to set a target and I want to achieve that. And I think you've really sort of, um, you know, just infused myself and my team in terms of really understanding that there's a process and there's protocols and that matters. Firstly, my hat's off to you for taking your time with us. And your your thank you for having me now. Absolutely. So I want to thank everyone for joining us today that was George Robinson with UPMC. He directs global supply and Global Diversity and suppliers. And he's passionate about it. This is been his his work and if there's any thing that you need, we've sent links out, but look, stay tuned because at the tech Council, we're going to be working with him and his team and understanding share. And and particularly as we go throughout the rest of the year to do some things that are that are market and demonstrative. So I want to thank you for your time. Thanks, UPMC overall, and thank everyone for joining join us tomorrow we're going to have a chance to talk about COVID and some of the global and national trends right from a leader at Johns Hopkins University and we will are trying to continue to remain relevant and keep the community engaged and move the needle. So thank you again, George. Thank you Johnson for being with us. Thanks everyone. Stay safe and stay connected.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai