Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative Steps Up to Bat for Diverse Suppliers
On August 28, 2015, Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative (SMECO) held an outreach for small, women, minority and service disabled veteran owned firms. The inclusive gathering was a collaborative effort between SMECO and Maryland Chamber of Commerce’s Business Development Council (BDC) On the Road series. The event was held at the state of the art College of Southern Maryland’s La Plata Campus.
SMECO’s Thomas Dennison, Government and Public Affairs Director, and Leona Charles, Supplier Diversity Manager, opened the outreach. Mr. Dennison explained that SMECO is seeking to spend upwards of 25% of its procurements with diverse suppliers while Ms. Charles stressed that vendors be prepared with proper skill set and strong safety practices and records. On hand too were six of SMECO’s chief buyers and they graciously broke out into individual groups for one to one success meetings.
“All in all, this was a historic morning for SMECO,” said Wayne R. Frazier Sr., President of Md. Washington Minority Companies Association (MWMCA). “Since the PSC-PC16 MOU was created in 2009, I don’t recall SMECO receiving so many optimistic and eager firms of diverse backgrounds in a setting like this. I applaud senior management for taking supplier diversity seriously.”
To contact SMECO and learn more about their vendor registration procedures, email Leona Charles at Leona.Charles@SMECO.coop.
