Creating a sustainable program for the inclusion and participation of diverse subcontractors and suppliers in the building of projects for our customers throughout the country. In doing so, we became members of our local diversity councils, which lead us to adopt and implement the National Minority Supplier Development Council’s (NMSDC) Eight Best Practices. These best practices align with our corporate vision as well as our core values.

To better assist our internal procurement teams with the inclusion of diverse businesses, in 2014, we implemented our very first in-house supplier diversity trade fair, now named “Built For Opportunity” (BFO). Not only did this action prove to be very successful for us internally, but we were also able to assist our lower tiered subcontractors and suppliers with increasing inclusion within their subcontracts.

To date, we have held eight very successful BFO’s that continue to grow in size year after year.

Metrics and Accountability are also key to performance. What gets measured, gets done! By implementing and tracking our own internal supplier diversity goals, we can benchmark ourselves whether or not there are client-required targets in place.

Mentorship is a vital aspect in the sustainability of diverse businesses. In 1992, we entered into a mentor protégé with a small minority subcontractor, Devon Contracting. This relationship was very successful, grew over time and in 1998 Devon Industrial Group was born. Devon Industrial Group has grown to be a $150M per year construction company.

As a result of our supplier diversity initiative over the past decade, Walbridge has spent more than $4.7 Billion Dollars with diverse owned businesses.

During this time, we have also received 48 Supplier Diversity Awards from various diversity councils and organizations as well as from many of our customers.

Jackie Jackson, Assistant Vice President, Supplier Diversity