Seattle, May 16, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Last night, the National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC) announced this year’s Equity Honors recipients during a reception and dinner at beautiful Fremont Studios as part of the organization’s 2024 Minority Business Economic Forum. Amidst the increasing legal and economic pressures facing minority-owned businesses, The Equity Honors recognizes the chief corporate officers leading the way to greater economic equity and minority business integration. The awards acknowledge that building a more equitable economy requires a renewed focus on business diversity at all levels of corporate America.

The 2024 winners are:

Chief Executive Officer of the Year
Calvin Butler, Exelon

Chief Diversity Officer of the Year
Celeste Warren, Merck & Co.

Chief Financial Officer of the Year
Robert Verostek, Denny’s

Chief Information Officer of the Year
Jay Cavalcanto, Constellation 
Sanjay Sood, CDW

Chief Marketing Officer of the Year
Tariq Hassan, McDonald's

Chief Operations Officer of the Year
Derek Ferguson, TIAA

Chief Procurement Officer of the Year
Susanna Webber, Merck & Co.

“Despite an uncertain economic climate resulting from the global COVID-19 pandemic, inflation, and continued legal and political uncertainty, minority-owned businesses have seen unprecedented economic growth over the past few years,” said NMSDC CEO and President Ying McGuire. “Resolute visionaries like these have helped spur this growth and are leading the charge as we march towards our shared vision of $1 trillion in annual revenue for NMSDC-certified MBEs” she added.

Nominations were made by NMSDC corporate members and certified minority business enterprises (MBEs) with winners determined by a panel of supplier diversity practitioners. For more information about the NMSDC Equity Honors including everyone who was nominated this year, please visit https://www.nmsdcconference.org/2024/the-forum/the-equity-honors.

About NMSDC
Founded in 1972, NMSDC is the longest-operating business growth engine for the broadest group of systematically excluded communities of color (Asian-Indian, Asian-Pacific, Black, Hispanic, and Native American), and our impact goes far beyond the supply chain. It’s about upward mobility for the emerging majority of Americans, an equal shot at participating in the American experiment of free-market capitalism and entrepreneurship. Our work is about correcting the unequal access to wealth-building opportunities. For more information, please visit nmsdc.org.

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Jered Weber
National Minority Supplier Development Council
701.388.7283
jered.weber@nmsdc.org