“font-family: Verdana; line-height: 13px;”>If anyone, it was Steve Cockerham who brought hope that a new initiative based on something as vague and unbinding as a voluntary pledge actually could result in local minority-owned business enterprises doing an additional $1 billion in contracts from area corporation annually by 2014.
“font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Verdana;”>Cockerham, vice president of Planning, Design & Construction for BJC Health Care, serves as vice chair on the board of the St. Louis Minority Supplier Development Council. He also served as corporate chair of the council’s Business Opportunity Fair, held last Thursday at the Renaissance St. Louis Grand Hotel.
“font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Verdana;”>Lunch at the business fair was used to launch the council’s Billion Dollar Impact, a new initiative in which area corporations pledge to do an additional collective $1 billion of business annually with MBEs within the next three years. James Webb, president and CEO of the council, told The American he is confident that the voluntary pledges would pay off because of the commitment he has received from executives on his board, especially Cockerham and board chair Dennis W. Weisenborn, vice president of Ameren.
“font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Verdana;”>In briefly introducing the Billion Dollar Impact over lunch, Cockerham made very clear what a commitment from someone in his position can mean when he casually mentioned that BJC is about to spend “a little over $1 billion” in renovating its Kingshighway campus.
“font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Verdana;”>Knowing that Cockerham, who has transformed the process of mandating minority inclusion in subcontracting at BJC, has “a little over $1 billion” to spend on contracts made the speculative math of the Billion Dollar Impact much more concrete.
“font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Verdana;”>Webb offered more math in his brief remarks at the lunch. He said the council has 280-plus certified member MBEs and 145 corporate members. He said if regional corporations succeed in upgrading from $3 billion to $4 billion annually in contracts with area MBEs, as pledged, this would create 2,000 new jobs.
“font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Verdana;”>The council’s board also includes top executives at Laclede Gas, U.S. Bank, Metropolitan Sewer District, Boeing, Monsanto, Express Scripts, World Wide Technology and Enterprise Holdings. “We are going to start with the commitment from our board and add corporations as we go,” Webb told
“mso-bidi-font-style: normal;”>The American name one corporation not represented on the council’s board, has made the pledge. Webb also credited Tom Voss at Ameren and David Steward at World Wide Technology for their leadership and commitment.
“font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Verdana;”>The initiative is a public/private partnership. Webb listed many elected officials who have pledged their support, and Mayor Francis G. Slay spoke at the announcement. Slay said the Billion Dollar Impact is a “bold, urgent, and very, very important initiative.” One MBE owner, Carmen Jacob of NextGen Information Services, spoke at the lunch and provided anecdotal evidence that a corporation’s willingness to try to work with MBEs can pay off.
“font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Verdana;”>“Our business has grown because two ladies at AT&T sat down with us and listened, and then committed to expanding with us,” Jacob said.
“font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Verdana;”>Jacob urged other area corporations to do the same. She urged them to “give MBEs a chance and increase the value of your supply chain.”
