PSEG has a diverse customer base and we wanted to find ways to increase the diversity of our supplier base and supplier spend.

For the last 12 years we have hosted PSEG Supplier Diversity Procurement Fairs, bringing together representatives of New Jersey's diverse business community and the state's largest utilities. The events offer small, diverse businesses an opportunity to meet with prospective buyers and discuss their products and services. We have expanded the fairs and now, in addition to Newark, we annually hold one in South Jersey (focused on increasing the diversity spend of our nuclear power plants) and in Long Island.

The vendors have a chance to meet with procurement representatives from across PSEG as well as other utility companies and organizations such as NJ Association of Women Business Owners, NJ African American Chamber of Commerce and the Statewide Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

The events have been extremely successful - the last one held in Long Island was attended by more than 250 diverse suppliers. The fairs have been critical to increasing PSEG's diversity spend. During 2017, PSEG set a new company record by buying $532 million worth of goods and services from minority-, women­and veteran-owned businesses, nearly a 13 percent increase from 2016 and 19 percent of our overall spend. We have increased our total diverse-supplier expenditures by more than 300 percent over the past decade.

Barb Short