From the President's Desk

Hello Stakeholders',

Let me begin by thanking everyone who attended our SMSDC's Virtual Premier Face Time Expo event on June 16th. We are pleased to have received much positive feedback from our dedicated corporate members and certified MBEs. Although we experienced some hiccups (as most virtual events do), it was a very successful event filled with productive networking, including the World-Class Buyers Breakfast Roundtable, SMSDC's 2022 Awards Ceremony, engaging keynote speakers, virtual trade show and a virtual matchmaking session. 

Congratulations to SMSDC's

2022 Award Recipients:

Advocate of the Year

Reginald K. Layton

Vice President, Supplier Diversity & Supply Chain Sustainability

Johnson Controls

Supplier(s) of the Year

Class III

HERO Logistics

Class IV

Corporate Plus

Forma Automotive

Class IV

Avanzar Interior Technologies

Corporation of the Year

Johnson Controls

As we continue our event season in 2022, we invite you to attend the New Frontier MBE Showcase Virtual Event on July 21st.  Certified MBEs will present their business virtually to the entire SMSDC community including Corporate Members, Certified MBEs and community partners. 

Diversity at the Border is coming up on September 22nd.  Register today for an opportunity to join a corporate breakout room hosted by ConocoPhillips, Oncor, Southern Glazers' Wine & Spirits, Toyota and various state agencies.  Online registration is now open for both events. Visit www.smsdc.org to register now.  

I look forward to seeing you virtually in our upcoming events!

Take care,

Karen Box

President & CEO

SMSDC

REGISTRATION OPEN!

"New Frontier Showcase MBE Showcase"

July 21st

1-3 p.m.

Register Here Now

SAVE THE DATE!

"Diversity at the Border Virtual Event"

September 22nd

2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Register Here Now

SMSDC 2021 Annual Report

We are excited to share our 2021 Annual Report. The annual report shares SMSDC's 2021 activities and financial position. Please take a look to see the Council's success in 2021.

Hello My Fellow Business Colleagues,

Well, Summer is here and the Heat is on! I hope this message finds you well and thriving in your purpose! As we work our way into a busy and hopefully fruitful season, I wanted to reflect on the opportunity to Restart, Renew and Recharge with our members. I know many of you are ready to get back to business and connect to one another. I thought it would be great to share a few nuggets of business with all of you and maybe some money-motivating thoughts that can inspire you to reconnect with one another to support our ecosystem of businesses. 

With that, let’s talk about the new way we can restart! Having a beginner's mind brings new ideas and allows us to reflect on old habits that don’t work in our favor. I attend a ton of sessions around self care for business owners and I have reengaged my community on pushing restart and reengage! Is this one day for you or the day? 

Next, let’s talk about the total Renew! How can you go back and rekindle some old business contacts or business friendships that may have fallen through the cracks? I know we have a tough time keeping up with personal relationships when our business is thriving- but use this time to Renew! Pull out your contact list, or go to your Linkedin and start connecting again. This will keep you top of mind and also infuse a little gratitude into your day and business! 

Finally, the Recharge! This is powerful and often times gets overlooked. We forget about the recovery it takes when we are pressing hard to get things done. We have to stop and plug in to restart the momentum of our business. The best way to do this is pick a list, maybe two or three things that you know needs recharging. Maybe some systems that need to be revisited; or even some technology that would step up your game in areas that need that extra lift. The best way to take this on is just to put time to write down things you wish to see different and allow this to be your starting point to Make a List and tick right through it.

These tips are just a few things that I have found myself pushing through for the summer and that have given me more motivation behind engaging with you all and in my everyday! My intention for connecting with you all here is to continue to support all the hard work, patience, and opportunity that we can bring to our members. Our community continues to grow and the more momentum we build the more engaged we are and the more opportunities will come our way.

Stay plugged in! 

As always check out our upcoming events in the calendar on the SMSDC Website and check out the programs! 

With Gratitude,

Debbie Trevino

SMSDC MBEIC Chair

President, Treco Services

2022 Mid-Year Update from NMSDC CEO and President Ying McGuire

I cannot believe we are already halfway through 2022. Earlier this year we set big goals for 2022. If you missed the strategy briefing I did back in February (or just need a refresher), I encourage you to go back and watch it for a great overview of the ambitious strategic journey NMSDC is on. 

I want to thank our team, board, MBEs, corporate members, regional and international affiliate councils, and strategic partners for your feedback, engagement, and support as we continue the important work needed to accomplish NMSDC’s goal of increasing MBE revenue and ending the racial wealth gap. 

As part of my continued efforts to foster open and transparent communication throughout the NMSDC community, I wanted to give you all a mid-year update on our organization’s progress on our strategic goals and where we are headed next. 

Capacity Building

As many of you know, one of the goals from NMSDC’s strategic plan involves building a winning team so that we can not only achieve but exceed our stakeholder expectations. I am happy to report that we have made great strides in that area and have added several new members to our team over the last six months. We have hired nine new employees to improve our capacity in the following areas:

• Marketing and Communications
• Strategic Programs and Alliances
• Finance and Accounting
• Field Services
• Human Resources

In addition, we continue to prioritize developing the technology infrastructure that is key to NMSDC’s success over the next 50 years. With help from our partners at McKinsey & Company and World Wide Technology, NMSDC has developed an end-to-end technology roadmap that will guide us as we implement the technology solutions needed to support our mission. 

We have also continued to enhance service consistency across the NMSDC network through certification workshops and rationalizing our programming to focus on high quality programming that provides the greatest amount of value to the NMSDC community. 

Finally, we have made forward progress on achieving NMSDC’s internal goal of financial sustainability. We moved NMSDC headquarters to a new location in the Avenue of Americas which will save the organization $900,000 in operating expenses that we can reinvest in our efforts to help MBEs grow. I also want to thank our corporate members and MBEs who have helped us exceed our first half revenue targets. I want to give a special thanks to World Wide Technology and Mastec for their combined commitment of $3.5 million over the next five years to NMSDC’s 50 for 50 Capital Campaign.

To continue reading this article, click here.

In alignment of SMSDC’s four pillars, Certify. Develop. Connect. Advocate., education continues to be fundamental. Launched in 2012, SMSDC continues to offer the PLUS+ Platform classes: Benchmarking Plus & Capacity Plus. These signature programs are a mix of in person & online courses presented by supplier diversity expert Reginald K. Layton, Vice President, Supplier Diversity & Supply Chain Sustainability for Johnson Controls’ Inc and Ralph G. Moore, CPA, president of Ralph G. Moore & Associates (RGMA). Moore is recognized as one of the world’s foremost thought-leaders in the area of supplier diversity and minority business development.

For CORPORATE MEMBERS ONLY is a process to accelerate supplier diversity initiatives based on real world experimentation. Benchmarking Plus delivers the tools and management perspective to help your corporation strengthen your supplier diversity processes. Learn more here

For CERTIFIED MBEs is a process to enhance sales and marketing processes and build their capacity to work with Fortune 500 corporations.  Learn more here

Join us on July 21st for SMSDC's New Frontier MBE Showcase, a virtual event where Certified MBEs will present their business to the entire SMSDC community including Corporate Members, Certified MBEs and community partners. 

Certified MBE presenters will present their company’s products/services to all in attendance. The event is open to all Certified MBEs, Corporate Members and Community Partners . You DO NOT have to be a presenter to attend. Join us and support your fellow MBEs. This is a perfect opportunity to promote MBE to MBE spend! Teaming up with one another is a way to support minority businesses! 

SMSDC's Corporate members will also present how to do business with their corporation as well as any upcoming opportunities in the next 12-18 months. Corporate presenters include Dell, JE Dunn, OneGas, and PNM Resources.

Certified MBE Presenters:

Gale Parker

President

A1 Staffing



Gale Parker, President/CEO, founded A1 Staffing &Recruiting Agency in 2004. A1 Staffing provides temp-to-perm and direct hire placements. Specializing in light industrial, administrative, and medical. Our goals are to save you time and money so you can focus more on your business.

We cover your work comp, general liabilities insurance, and employees’ taxes, a significant expense for a business. A1 is certified as WBENC, NMSDC, DBE WOSBMBE, and American Staffing Association. A1 Staffing was recognized as the minority small business in 2010. A1 Staffing & Recruiting Agency service Oklahoma and Texas. So, try before your hire.

Gary Clyne

CEO

Carbon Asset Developer Associates

Carbon Asset Developer Associates LLC (CADA) offers climate finance opportunities under the Paris Agreement’s Article 6 offset markets. As both a project developer and contractor, we provide a value proposition which earns our customers project equity and operating revenues.

Nikole Vaughn

EVP & COO

Commonwealth Computer Company

Our professionals design and implement solutions by applying experience and business sense to seemingly daunting implementations. We can ensure that we will safely deliver to completion, with your help and communication.

Our services include: • Hardware, Software, Services Sales • Technology Leasing • Strategic Planning Support • Change Management & Facilitation Support • IT Training Support • Technology Life Cycle Management & Replacement • Vendor Management • Custom Business to Business eCommerce • Hardware Break Fix • Amazon Business eCommerce 

Philip Busey Jr.

Executive VP

Delaware Resource Group



Founded in 2002 in Oklahoma City, DRG has become a leading global training service contractor specializing in the aerospace defense industry. DRG proud to be a Native American-owned business. Owned and operated by the Busey family. DRG has grown to over 850 employees at more than 120 locations in 43 states and 13 foreign nations. Offering over 2 million simulator training hours per year, the DRG employee cadre includes nearly 250 simulator/logistics technicians and more than 400 aircrew instructors. The company also operates two commercial divisions supporting businesses with procurement needs and professional placement services.

Keith Allen

President

JAT Energy Services



JAT Energy Services is a Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) company, in business since in the United States since 2012. Our extensive experience in providing energy solutions has made us a recognized leader in the movement to build green communities.

​Our business is focused on the development of long-term customer relationships, relationships that center around engineered energy solutions.

JAT Energy Services is dedicated to providing an all-encompassing energy reduction solution for commercial and industrial spaces. This is achieved by working in unison with our clients, keeping them actively involved throughout the project and ensuring that their expectations will be met. We tailor our engineered solutions to meet the demanding requirements of your business and demonstrate how your upgrades will translate into additional revenue through energy savings.

Tommy Hodinh

President

MagRabbit

MagRabbit, Inc. is an award-winning certified National Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) and Asian Woman-Owned Enterprise, Founded in 1990 and headquartered in Austin, Texas.

MagRabbit’s two groups, Global IT Software Consulting Services and Global Supply Chain Management provide high quality BPO outsourcing services to its customers on a global scale. Our experience and award-winning track record includes collaboration with some of America’s top "Fortune 1000" Corporations.



MagRabbit’s end-to-end solutions for software development offer companies the opportunity to offload the heavy lifting, so they can focus on their core competencies. We turn our client's ideas into a finished product.

John Beaver

COO

Nitro-Lift



Nitro-Lift is a vertically integrated industrial and oil & gas service provider, specializing in Nitrogen Services, Industrial Fabrication, Enhanced Oil Recovery and Chemical Sales. We have 400+ Master Service Agreements and have been in business for 17 years. Headquartered in Oklahoma with service and sales capabilities across the United States, Nitro-Lift is Native American owned with 70% of our ownership held by members of the Choctaw Nation. Nitro-Lift is the only Native American owned Nitrogen Service company in the U.S. Nitro-Lift Technologies and Nitro-Lift Fabrication have been Minority Business Enterprises since 2020.

Michael Ratemo

Principal Consultant

Cyber Security Simplified

Cyber Security Simplified is a Minority Business Enterprise (MBE), that offers a wide range of Cyber Security services. Cyber Security Simplified speaks security in the language that you can understand. Our services include Autonomous Penetration Testing, Supply Chain & 3rd Party Cyber Security, Cloud Security Assessments, Virtual CISO (vCISO) services, Cyber Security Program Design, and Security Awareness and Training.

Through our services you can identify your weaknesses, assure confidence in your corporate processes and effectively mitigate and manage your risks. 

Cyber Security Simplified disruptive solution is a fully autonomous cyber attacker that emulates the behavior of real-world attackers to enable you to assess your security posture at a very low cost.

Guilherme Rodrigues

President

Veritas Management Group

Professional Development : Tailored Management Executive Training ; Management Consulting: Business Plan, Financial forecast and analysis, growth strategies. ; Peak Performance Package: Gain a deep understanding of you business through a Business X Ray

Johan Rahardjo

President/Managing Director

Can-Am Wireless

B2B Information Technology Value Added Reseller

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PREMIER PLATINUM PLUS

About SMSDC

The SMSDC is a non-profit organization dedicated to certifying, connecting, developing and advocating MBEs. Through active leadership & professional education, the SMSDC works with major corporations throughout the United States and MBEs within the Central & Southwest Texas regions, Oklahoma and New Mexico to increase participation in diversity programs.