Diversity groups shower company with awards

Posted on Friday, January 9th, 2009 at 5:19 PM EST.

In tough times like these it’s great to see some recognition for good work.

That’s why Chrysler is proud to be the recipient of more than 25 awards this year. The awards represent the company’s support and commitment to diverse segments of the population including minority, women-owned and veteran businesses.

Most recently, Chrysler was honored as the 2008 Corporation of the Year at the Michigan Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Annual Legacy Awards reception in Detroit on Dec. 4. The award, presented to Chrysler for the second year in a row, recognizes the company’s supplier diversity program, the proactive approach to identifying business opportunities for Hispanic-owned companies and the creation of a diverse work force.

Chrysler has taken a leading position in the automotive industry in sourcing materials from minority, women-owned and veteran businesses, which in turn helps communities across the country. In 2007, Chrysler sourced $4.7 billion of materials from these business sectors, accounting for 15.5 percent of the company’s total spend.

“Sourcing to minority suppliers has doubled in the last five years,” Jethro Joseph, Senior Executive—Diversity Supplier Development, said. “That’s a significant amount of money being spent in with diverse communities.”

Joseph said that he’s seen the positive impact the business relationship between Chrysler and the diverse communities can have on communities across the nation.

“This industry touches so many individuals,” he said. “That’s why the intent of Chrysler’s Diversity Supplier Development program always has been to create sourcing opportunities for disadvantaged suppliers so that the dollars spent could be brought back to the communities to help create wealth.”

That’s also why the bridge loans to aid the auto industry are so important now, because they will help so many other diverse businesses—those that work directly with Chrysler, and other businesses that serve those suppliers.

“Chrysler has been honored this year for its enterprise-wide diversity efforts,” Lisa Wicker, Director—Talent Management, Diversity and Leadership, said.

“Those are diverse awards from different groups touching different areas and different parts of the country,” she added. “That tells you about the breadth of our diversity efforts programs here at Chrysler.”

Listed below are the honors presented to Chrysler this year.

Outstanding Service and Commitment to our Business Award (Jethro Joseph)—Michigan Hispanic Chamber of Commerce

2008 Corporation of the Year (Automotive)—Michigan Hispanic Chamber of Commerce

2008 Corporate Economic Impact Award—Northern Ohio Minority Business Council

2008 President’s Award—Northern Ohio Minority Business Council

Top 50 Military-Friendly Employers—G.I. Jobs Magazine

Appreciation Award (Jethro Joseph)—National Minority Supplier Development Council

2008 Corporation of the Year finalist—National Minority Supplier Development Council

Champions of Diversity Award (Pat Hanna)—DiversityPlus Magazine

2008 Corporate Volunteer of the Year Award (Terri Billups)—The Michigan Women’s Business Council

2008 Minority Business Advocate of the Year Award (Tim Wright)—Michigan Minority Business Development Council

2008 Corporation of the Year—Michigan Minority Business Development Council

The Fortune 500’s Best Companies for Asian Pacific Americans—Asian Enterprise Magazine

2008 Corporate ONE Award—Michigan Minority Business Development Council

Best Places to Work 2008—Human Rights Campaign (HRC)

The 25 Year Club Award—Chicago Minority Business Development Council

2008 Award of Excellence—Wisconsin Supplier Development Council

2008 Top 50 Corporations for Diversity—Hispanic Enterprise Magazine

2008 40 Best Companies for Diversity—Black Enterprise Magazine

Best Company in the Automotive Sector—NAACP’s 12th. Annual Economic Reciprocity Report

First Ladies of Supplier Diversity (Robin Hammer)—Women’s Enterprise USA

Top Companies with Supplier Diversity Programs—Professional Woman’s Magazine

2008 Top 50 Corporation for Diversity—DiversityBusiness.com

2008 Working Mother Magazine—100 Best Companies

2008 Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve Freedom Award

National Women of Color (Kim Harris Jones)—Career Communications Group

OCA National Asian Pacific American Coporate Achievement Award—(Jayanthi Iyengar)

2008 Top 100 Most Influential Blacks in Corporate America (Frank Fountain)

2008 Black Engineer of the Year President’s Award (Judy Bridgeman)

This entry was posted on Friday, January 9th, 2009 at 5:19 PM EST and is filed under Company, Employee. You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Comments are currently closed.