WBENC builds a bridge to quality at its annual national conference

Enhanced quality services that WBEs can offer will be discussed at this year’s conference in San Francisco. More than 2,500 attendees and 400-plus exhibitors are expected

The Golden Gate and Bay Bridges won’t be the only major spans in San Francisco this year. When the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC, www.wbenc.org) holds its annual conference at the Hilton Hotel and Moscone Center from June 9 to 11, women business owners will hear about a towering new “bridge to quality.”

Linda Denny, president of WBENC, explains that conference attendees will learn how their companies’ internal systems can be configured to provide superior products and services and meet the rising quality expectations of corporate and government clients.

Denny is well aware of the issues. She’s planning to meet and beat attendees’ high expectations for this year’s conference.

“The ‘bridge to quality’ is the theme of our entire year’s events,” she points out. It started as the theme for the educational summit and Salute to Women Business Enterprises put on by WBENC this March.

WBE and corporate co-chairs
The is the ninth consecutive Women in Business national conference and business fair. This year four companies are conference co-chairs: Wells Fargo and Wal-Mart Stores share corporate co-chair honors, while Hollister Construction Co and Artech Information Systems L.L.C. are WBE co-chairs.

Hollister: WBENC promotes growth
Holli Dorr.

Hollister Construction Co (Anaheim, CA) is a general contracting firm that provides clients throughout California and Nevada with construction and related services for tenant improvement projects. Holli Dorr, the firm’s president and founder, is passionate about what she does and happy to
mentor other WBEs.

“We started from scratch and struggled for years,” she explains. “We always hoped to find an organization like WBENC that helps women-owned businesses connect the dots to corporate America through certification.”

Dorr notes that it took her seventeen years to complete her 1989 BA in business admin from National University. “I was also raising a family and working sixty-plus hours a week. Before starting Hollister in 1992 I worked for several architectural, engineering and general contracting firms.

“WBENC is a fabulous organization to meet people, to get work, and to grow the company.
My commitment to co-chair the conference is a ‘thank you’ for everything they do for all
of us,” says Dorr.

“We always make new contacts at the conference that lead to new work, but that’s not the primary goal. We appreciate WBENC’s support for the growth and development of women business owners.”

Artech Info: fuel for growth
Ranjini Poddar.

The second WBE co-chair is Ranjini Poddar, who founded Artech Information Systems L.L.C. (Cedar Knolls, NJ) in 1992 with her husband Ajay. Artech deals in consulting and outsourced IT services. The firm turned its first profit after just two years of operation and expects 2008 revenues to run some $180 million, according to Poddar.

“Small businesses have been the fuel for economic growth and WBEs represent a significant percentage of small businesses,” she says. “In order to grow, you have to keep focusing on new client acquisition despite the poor economy. You must always be innovative and responsive, but particularly now.”

Poddar was recently named businesswoman of the year for 2008 by IndUS Business Journal. WBENC, she says, “provides a platform to connect and engage with corporations that need our services. This is accomplished in formal events like the national conference and also in informal settings.

“It’s great to attend one of these conferences, but then it’s up to us to make the most of our opportunities.”

Wal-Mart: great partnership
Theresa Barrera.

Theresa Barrera is supplier diversity VP for corporate conference co-chair
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc (Bentonville, AR). “Wal-Mart gets so much out of the conference. We have a great partnership with WBENC,” she says. The official Wal-Mart co-chair is Tonia Smith, VP of global indirect sourcing and head of supplier diversity.

Barrera describes herself as a “living, breathing success story.” She’s been with Wal-Mart for twenty-three years, starting as a part-time cashier in a Sam’s Club in Corpus Christi, TX while attending college. She graduated from Corpus Christi State University on a Wal-Mart scholarship.

“Our mission,” she says, “is to sell what customers want to buy. That means finding great, unique products, and supplier diversity helps us do that. We want to find more great suppliers, so we sponsor women’s business enterprises, and see WBENC conferences as an opportunity to meet some of the real innovators.”

Wells Fargo: a good partner
Sonya Dukes.

This 2009 national conference marks the first time as a co-chair for Wells Fargo Corp (San Francisco, CA). Sonya Dukes, SVP and director of corporate supplier diversity, notes that WBENC’s focus on WBEs aligns well with her company’s goals. “WBENC has a good national presence and is a good partner,” says Dukes.

Dukes herself has received many awards for her work. She’s sought after
on the speaker’s circuit, and talks to organizations, universities and corporations across the country.

Three goals
Dukes lays out Wells Fargo’s three goals for the conference: “First, we want to promote awareness that Wells Fargo is focused on, and proactive about, developing and engaging women business owners. Second, we want to share who we are with a national audience.”
And, of course, “We want to learn what women business owners need from us.”

Dukes says the poor economy does not impact Wells Fargo’s interest in partnership with WBENC. “We are proactive and believe in where we want to go. In fact, the economic situation just makes it more critical to address these issues sooner rather than later!”

True marks of quality
President Linda Denny describes some of the interesting aspects of this year’s WBENC conference. “We want to help women-owned businesses understand and focus on the true marks of quality,” she says. “Smart WBEs will differentiate themselves with quality products and services like green initiatives, sustainability statements and core competency credentials.

“Our WBEs need to hone their practices to take out inefficiency. Companies that achieve this are obviously better managed and better able to establish long-term relationships. At this conference we intend to identify these marks, show why they are important and discuss how
to implement them.”

The conference will also include MatchMakers, one-on-one meetings between corporate reps and potential suppliers for which WBEs must pre-register; along with many other networking events to bring buyers and WBE suppliers together. More than 400 exhibitors are expected for this years’ all-day business fair, always the conference highlight.

New interactive workshops
This year’s conference will feature three symposia devoted to quality, each four-plus hours long and completely interactive.

“Environmental sustainability” will discuss aspects of green initiatives like energy, water and even office practices. “Manufacturing: benchmarking to drive growth” examines suppliers’ competitive orientations. In the third symposium, banking, insurance and legal gurus will offer advice and perspective on “Thriving in a challenging economy.”

An international track
The 2009 conference will also feature an international track. The goal is to show WBEs, supply chain managers and the supplier diversity staffers of global corporations how business can be done together in the international marketplace. “This track brings together women business owners from many countries,” Denny notes.

Corporate sponsors, exhibitors and WBEs
Besides co-chairs Wal-Mart Stores, Wells Fargo, Artech and Hollister, WBENC 2009 boasts a long and growing list of other exhibitors and sponsors, from Accenture and Dell to UPS and Verizon. The conference website, www.wbenc.org/wib2009/, has all the latest information and registration materials.