Major Women’s Owned Business Organization Adds 6 Board Members

The non-profit Women’s Business Enterprise Council (WBEC) Pacific announced the addition of six new board members to “drive economic growth” to women and minority-owned businesses.

Source : Pxhere

July 15, 2021

Author : Patty Rodriguez

These kinds of non-profits have been critical for many small businesses in their recovery for the pandemic. WBEC Pacific notes how they have helped businesses modernize by implementing e-commerce into the business model, access capital, and develop new technology platforms.

“I’m so pleased to welcome our new board members as we continue looking for ways to support the success and continued growth of our WBEs,” Dr. Janice Greene, president and CEO of WBEC Pacific said in a press release.

“Having input from corporate representatives helps us immensely in understanding the current supply chain challenges and the resulting requirements for our members who wish to do business with global Fortune 100/500 companies,” she added.

WBEC Pacific is the regional arm of the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC), a non-profit founded in 1997 to “develop a nationwide standard for women-owned business certification. Since then, the organization has grown to become the largest third-party certifier of businesses owned, controlled, and operated by women in the United States and a leading advocate for women-owned businesses in corporate and government supply chains,” the organization boasts on its website.

The pacific branch, which covers Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Northern California, Oregon and Washington is partnered with 911 certified WBEs, or Women Business Enterprises, employing more than 35,000 workers. Companies that work with WBEC Pacific range in industry; from manufacturing to marketing, and their combined revenues exceed $7.7 billion. So clearly WBEC Pacific plays a big role for women in the economy.

New board members include women from T-Mobile, JPMorgan Chase, utility companies and more.

New board member LaSandra Hunt, Vice President and Commercial Banker at JPMorgan Chase, said she was “thrilled to join the WBEC Pacific Board of Directors and to continue championing for diversity and inclusion.”

“In line with JPMorgan Chase’s D&I mission and WBEC Pacific’s innovative strategy I aim to make real change for our M/WBE’s and Corporate members,” she added.

As the non-profit goes on to note, around 40 percent of businesses in the United States are owned by women and they collectively generate $1.8 trillion a year. Due to the devastation the pandemic brought to the small business community, the role of organizations like WBEC Pacific in helping women-owned businesses weather the store is all the more apparent.

One new board appointee, Michelle Picard, is the Director of Business Governance and Risk Management and the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Liaison Officers at Siemens Mobility North America. Siemens is the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe.

“I’m drawn to organizations, such as WBEC Pacific, that express interest and work diligently toward growing small businesses of diverse backgrounds,” Picard said “Siemens Mobility is a strong supporter of small businesses, through its economic reach, as an employer of more than 2100 people on the West Coast, who support the small business network in the community, and through its efforts to utilize small businesses in its broader supply chain – both for manufacturing as well as day to day operations.”

Category : Minority Women Business Enterprises Women Business Enterprises Diversity Outreach Procurement

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