A major reason–according to former U.S. Secretary of Labor Alexis Herman–for regional minority-, woman-owned and disadvantaged business enterprises to attend the March 30 SHARE 2017 event is to reap the opportunity and benefits it will offer.
“It’s a time where you have businesses, diverse suppliers, advocacy organizations and government officials all in one place,” she said. “It’s an opportunity for all of Pittsburgh to participate in the transformation taking place inside the city in a more inclusive way. During my presentation, I’m going to discuss the benefits of inclusion, the benefits of being at the table and the benefits of having diverse suppliers that impact the bottom line that helps a company grow. When a company grows, a community grows and as a result its citizens grow, the businesses grow and it makes for a stronger more vibrant inclusive community.”
Herman, Bill Peduto, Mayor of Pittsburgh; Rich Fitzgerald, Allegheny County Executive; Arlinda Moriarty, CEO of Moriarty Consultants; Lynne Hayes-Freeland, CEO of LHF Communications and members of the Pittsburgh business community will join together at the Rivers Casino, 777 Casino Drive on the North Side for SHARE 2017, a collaborative supplier diversity event designed to promote economic development opportunities for MWDBEs.
With the goal of SHARE 2017 to bring together the region’s top corporations, institutions and MWDBE suppliers Toni Silva, Director of Supplier Relations, UPMC says it is important for the executives of the region to gain a better understanding of supplier diversity, its importance and how it can help the region grow. “The leadership of the corporations have to get involved and understand why SHARE is so significant and why it makes sense for us to have this event every year to introduce and match the MWDBEs with the corporations in this region.” Anticipating that this year will be a great success she is pleased that the number of corporations participating has increased from last year as well as the invited number of MWDBEs.
A new addition to this year’s event is Herman’s presentation and the panel discussion with Herman and Moriarty moderated by Hayes-Freeland. Previously the networking among participating organizations and the one-on-one match making sessions have been the highlight.
As former U.S. Secretary of Labor and currently chair and chief executive officer of New Ventures, LLC, Herman possesses a wide view on embracing innovation and entrepreneurship and brings considerable knowledge and experience in helping understand the current global labor picture. She says a thread throughout her career has been lowering barriers and focusing on inclusion.
Her three-fold message to business owners as they operate in the 21st century and next four years is what she calls the three Es; to stay enlightened, engaged and encouraged. “Pay attention to what’s going on and get the facts for yourself. Stay enlightened to the real facts and do your homework. Know the issues and stay engaged,” she said pointing out that being engaged is part of our history and what makes democracy work. “We can’t afford to checkout or dropout.” The third “e” she described as staying encouraged. “Things are changing and in the mist of it all people don’t know what to think. But you can’t lose hope. You have to find ways to stay encouraged.”
A Mobile, Ala. native, Herman describes herself as never forgetting from which she came; as having a strong belief in the Lord and one who has spent her whole life trying to make a difference for others. After being appointed by President Jimmy Carter at the age of twenty-nine as the youngest director of the Women’s Bureau in the history of the Labor Department in 1992, she became the first African American woman to serve as an assistant to the president as the Director of the White House Office of Public Liaison. In 1997 under former President Bill Clinton’s administration, she was sworn in as Secretary of Labor and the first African American ever to lead the United States Department of Labor. During her tenure as a member of the President’s Cabinet she also served as a valued member of the National Economic Council. She is a recipient of more than twenty-five honorary doctorate degrees from major colleges and universities around the country, is a former trustee of her alma mater, Xavier University of Louisiana and continues to lend her expertise and talent to a vast array of corporate enterprises and nonprofit organizations.
Moriarty Consultants, a full-service home health care business operates in the Pittsburgh region as well as Connecticut, Ohio, Georgia and Mississippi. The business is listed as the third largest minority own firm and ninth largest owned firm in the 2015-16 Pittsburgh Business Times Book of Lists. In business since 2000 and the owner of several establishments, Moriarty’s concern is that small businesses and MWDBEs get their fair share. “This is a tough region for minorities to do business,” she said. She concurs with Herman that in today’s business climate entrepreneurs have to be enlightened, engaged and encouraged. They also suggest that entrepreneurs pay attention to the fundamentals of business by knowing their market place, having a strategy and plan for how they want to maintain and grow the business, to have a network of support and advocates around to help champion the business and to have a clear understanding of the financial aspects of what it means to operate.
In its third year, the SHARE event created by UPMC, grew out of a 2013 effort to increase economic opportunities for minorities by the Corporate Equity and Inclusion Roundtable, led by Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald and Tim Stevens, president of the Black Political Empowerment Project. In 2014, UPMC followed with its own attempt to match its MWDBE vendors to other regional corporations that might need their services. The goal is to further promote the economic growth and development of MWDBE suppliers in the region.
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