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Shell Oil aims to increase its core technical spend
Icon Information Consultants is Shell Oil Company's
largest M/WBE IT staffing services provider.
It has been on the job since 1998
 Shell Oil Company (Houston, TX), the U.S. subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell PLC, has a well-established supplier diversity program. The program began some thirty-five years ago when an enthusiastic chief purchasing officer brought the idea to the company's president with positive results. Since then the program has had an important influence on the development of WBEs and MBEs in the Houston area.
"We were one of the founding members of the Houston Minority Business Council," says Debra C. Stewart, Shell Oil's manager for supplier diversity, workforce development and diversity outreach.
Stewart is a polymer engineer by training. She began her career in the R&D side of the petroleum industry,  then moved to technical sales. Her twenty years with Shell have been spent working in marketing, sales, mergers and acquisitions, and, most recently, supplier diversity.
Stewart has been directing the supplier diversity program for a year and has brought a fresh perspective to the organization. "I'm finding that this is a great use of my commercial background," she says. "I understand the seller's end."
Increasing spend in core areas
First-tier M/WBE spend for Shell in 2009 was 8.5 percent of total, up a point from 2008. The company has also focused on increasing second-tier spending: that represented two percent of total discretionary spend in 2009.
Currently the supplier diversity program's strongest focus is on areas where Shell is low on M/WBEs. Stewart has her eye on core technology in particular.
"We have a big investment in the core technical area, and that's where I'm looking to increase the spend," she explains. "I'm hoping my business and engineering background will help with this."
Stewart notes that it is easier to find diverse suppliers for support functions like HR, IT, legal and finance than for technical areas like engineering and manufacturing. Her group has identified some suppliers, but there is still "a clear need to concentrate on developing firms with broader and deeper capabilities," she says.
Model for capacity building
Stewart notes that capacity development is an important focus in the world of supplier diversity, but a relatively new one.
The Houston Minority Supplier Diversity Council (HMSDC) has developed a model for capacity building focusing on the petroleum industry, and Shell is looking to partner with national organizations like NMSDC and WBENC to address the issue. Stewart is lining up internal resources to support the effort.
"We are figuring out what a program should look like, what the mentoring should look like, how we're going to do it and where we are going to focus our spend," Stewart says. "For example, where are the M/WBE land-to-water logistics firms? Where are the M/WBE equipment maintenance firms? That's a whole different element in the petrochemical industry, but it's where the bucks are!"
For now, diverse suppliers are mentored informally to give them a better understanding of the company's requirements. "We discuss their capabilities and give advice on how they can come across more strongly," Stewart notes. "Eventually we do plan to establish a formal program because of our desire to expand into the core technical area."
Pamela Chambers O'Rourke's Icon: hot in the IT staffing line
Icon Information Consultants is an information technology staffing services provider and the largest M/WBE firm doing business with Shell Oil Company. It has been on the job since 1998, the year Pamela Chambers O'Rourke, president and CEO, founded the company.
O'Rourke worked in IT for fifteen years before founding her business. She started with an associate degree and went on to a BSMIS from the University of Houston (Houston, TX) in 1995.
"I was a single mother working a full-time IT job, but I wanted to fulfill my idea of what a consulting company should be," O'Rourke says.
In the beginning O'Rourke herself was the company's sole consultant, and its marketing department as well. The first year of business is always difficult for new companies and O'Rourke projected that Icon would do $70,000 worth of business. The company wound up doing $2.5 million.
The relationship between Icon and Shell began through a friend, "But you have to earn the business," O'Rourke says. "You can't just walk in and expect to have it. I never give up! It took six years to get UPS and seven years to get Coca-Cola, and we finally got Shell Trading this year. In fact, we now do business with every single Shell company."
Early and under budget
Today Icon is a certified WBE and employs more than 1,200 people in forty-eight states. 2009 revenues were more than $87.5 million and 2010 revenue is projected at $125 million.
O'Rourke credits much of her success to a good, strong business plan. "I realized I had sales skills and what I had to sell were my IT skills. I understand the IT side, and I understand accounting, finance, HR and procurement; I know what oil traders need. You have to jump to make things happen and come in under budget. That's always my goal: turn it in early and under budget!"
Shell regularly rates its suppliers' performance, and O'Rourke finds that very helpful. "This way I know how well we've done. We've had a long-term relationship because I can usually provide what they need, and they value MBEs and women-owned businesses and believe in a partnership. They want dependable suppliers, though, and you need to be Johnny-on-the-spot," she says with a smile.
O'Rourke is full of passion for her work and her company, and she's also a perfectionist. "I'm process driven, and from day one I've streamlined the process. If you're working with sixty different clients and they all have different processes, everything still has to be documented for every company," she says.
Time to contribute
Despite her incredibly busy schedule, O'Rourke donates time, resources and money to support WBENC and its regional partner, the Women's Business Council Southwest. She's on the boards of both organizations. And she's a member of the Women Presidents' Organization for large woman-owned companies, the Texas WBENC partner organization Women's Business Enterprise Alliance (WBEA), the international Committee of 200 for top women business owners, and others.
O'Rourke sponsors other WBEs at national WBENC events, and ninety-nine percent of all products and services used by Icon's corporate office come directly from MBEs and WBEs.
O'Rourke has received many awards, and values all of them. She's been recognized as the 2008 WBEA/WBENC "Star," Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year 2009 in the business services category for the Houston and Gulf Coast area, and WBEA 2009 Supplier of the Year.
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