SMSDC NEWS
May 2017
From the President's Desk: 

SMSDC's Premier FaceTime Expo 2017 "Creating Connections Procurement Conference" will be here before you know it! We are excited to create connections with our corporate members and our MBEs, which will result in minority business growth and economic development for our communities.

We have heard you. We are keeping our successful development courses; Benchmarking Plus for Corporate Members, Capacity Plus for MBEs and of course, the interactive Buyers Breakfast Roundtable. However this year, we have replaced our traditional luncheon keynote speaker. We are pleased to announce the inclusion of a CPO Summit, which will be an exciting panel discussion with Chief Procurement Officers from some of our Premier Sponsor Corporations.

Following lunch will be our much anticipated ribbon cutting ceremony to launch our 2017 Premier Face Time Annual Expo! This is your opportunity to meet more procurement professionals and suppliers to create connections. Later in the afternoon, we are pleased to bring back MBE "Idol." This is for Certified MBEs only and you must pre-register in advance to participate. Certified MBEs will have the opportunity to present their story and receive invaluable feedback from a panel of judges. Those who qualify will be invited to exclusively present to a panel of judges on Thursday July 20th, at Dell Inc. offices in Austin, TX. More information about this opportunity is to follow and as always, please check our website for more details.

That evening, join us as we honor your peers during the Regional Awards Ceremony and celebrate the successes of the Southwest Region. The Premier Face Time Award nominees will receive awards in the following categories: Corporation of the Year, Supplier of the Year and Advocate of the Year.

On Friday June 9th, we invite you to participate in our annual Premier Face Time Golf Tournament. This competition will be held at La Cantera Golf Club, one of Texas' most exclusive and challenging courses.

Corporations in attendance will be Toyota, Dell, JCI, Oncor, ConocoPhillips, CenterPoint Energy, Pearson, Chevron, The Coca-Cola Company, and Facebook Inc. The 2017 Premier Face Time Corporate Title Sponsor is Toyota. Other event sponsors include GSD&M, Millennium Steel of Texas, OpTech, Real Time Solutions, Genesis, Dell, JCI, Chevron, Conoco Phillips, Oncor, and The Coca-Cola Company.
  
Early bird registration ends on May 12th. To register today, please go to www.smsdc.org and click on events.
We look forward to seeing you at this year's 2017 Premier Face Time Expo, "Creating Connections Procurement Conference" for opportunities to network and grow your business.

Sincerely,

Karen Box
President & CEO 

In This Issue


Toyota_Corporate
Proudly Presents:
SMSDC's 2017 Premier Face Time Expo,
Awards Ceremony & Golf Tournament
"CREATING CONNECTIONS
PROCUREMENT CONFERENCE"



Day 1 - June 7th - Development Day
The Westin Riverwalk, 420 W Market Street
San Antonio, TX, 78205
Benchmarking Plus for Corporate Members
Capacity Plus for Certified MBEs
Opening Chairman's Reception
   
Day 2 - June 8th - Buyer's Breakfast Roundtable, Tradeshow
& Awards Ceremony
The Westin Riverwalk, 420 W Market Street
San Antonio, TX, 78205
Full Day of Opportunities including:
Buyer's Breakfast Roundtable, CPO Summit Luncheon, Live Auction, Interactive Tradeshow, HUB Informational Session, MBE "Idol", Closing Reception & Awards Ceremony
   
Day 3 - June 9th - Golf Tournament
The Palmer Course @ La Cantera Golf Club
17865 Babcock Road, San Antonio, TX 78255
___________________________________
 
 
EARLY REGISTRATION ends May 12th!

 

HOTEL ACCOMMODATIONS FOR THE
2017 PREMIER FACE TIME ARE NOW AVAILABLE!
June 7-9, 2017 

The Westin Riverwalk
420 W. Market St., San Antonio, TX 78205
  $189 per night


Click here to make your hotel reservation.

Room block expires May 12, 2017  

Join us in Austin on May 18th!

The Austin Regional Task Force presents:
"Presenting Your Pitch"

multiethnic_business_group.jpg

Do you want to strengthen your sales pitch and clarify the messaging for your business? Come learn from other successful MBEs and SMSDC corporate member experts. Networking opportunity will immediately follow the educational event. Space is limited and RSVP is required.

Learn from experts Karla Fernandez, President & CEO of  Sensis Texas-K. Fernandez & Associates and Roy Austin, Business Development Director with ILS Company.

Karla Fernandez, agency founder with over 20 years of experience. Client experience includes American Airlines, P&G's Sunny Delight, Google, M&M Mars, Wells Fargo, Jack Daniels, McCormick & Co, Voice Stream (T-Mobile), American Rice, United Healthcare, DolEx, Melrose Family Fashions, Germania Insurance, Franklin Electronics, Texas CASA, Bank of America and others. Latina Style Entrepreneur of the Year 2012 for San Antonio.  Recognized by Hispanic Trends Magazine as one of the top 100 Hispanic Entrepreneurs in the U.S. 
 
Additional speakers to be announced.

To help prepare you, our guest speakers, Karla Fernandez and Roy Austin will provide valuable best practices to help you craft your winning marketing story & prepare you TO PARTICIPATE IN MBE "IDOL" semifinals. 

MBE "Idol" Semifinals will be held during the Premier Face Time Expo where (12) Certified MBEs will have the opportunity to present their marketing story to a panel of judges and receive invaluable feedback. Those who qualify at the EXPO semifinals will move into the finals and invited to exclusively present to a second panel of judges on Thursday July 20th at Dell Inc., offices in Round Rock, TX. The winner of MBE "Idol" will be invited to have a lunch meeting with a Dell Inc., executive.  More information coming soon! 
 
 
Event details:
Thursday, May 18th
Time: 5:30 - 7:30p.m.
Location: TBD
 

SAVE THE DATE - 2017 NMSDC LEADERSHIP AWARDS
MAY 17 - NEW YORK, NY



Did you miss out?  It's TIME TO CONNECT!

Austin Regional Task Force Event
April 5, 2017 | Austin, TX

"The Critical Importance of MBEs"
Hosted by Oncor, Austin's RTF event held at the Austin Club was a continuation of the 2017 Public Policy Day. Texas State Representative Ron Reynolds spoke on public policy issues he has authored. In his comments, he stressed the importance of sustaining and expanding the inclusion of MBEs and their socio-economic impact within our communities.
 
Karen Box, President & CEO of the SMSDC reinforced the organization's continued commitment to advocate for minority-owned businesses and highlighted the necessity of MBEs being aware of the current legislation. Those MBEs in attendance had the opportunity to network and make additional connections with our Local Corporate Members who had also attended. The SMSDC sincerely thanks Oncor for hosting this event, which was both energizing and engaging for all who participated.


Charles O'Neal, President, TAAACC
Monsherra Odanga Blank,
Regulatory Affairs Manager
, Oncor,  
Karen Box, President & CEO, SMSDC  
State Representative Ron Reynolds, District 27
Alex Reyes, Tramps Fashion Compression Hosiery  


Charles O'Neal, President, TAAACC
Monsherra Odanga Blank,
Regulatory Affairs Manager, Oncor
Karen Box, President & CEO, SMSDC
State Representative Ron Reynolds, District 27
Tommy Hodinh, President & CEO,
Mag Rabbitt 

The Importance of NOT Letting your  
SMSDC Certification Expire!
We frequently receive frustrating calls by our MBEs telling us their SMSDC/HUB Certification has expired. Once your SMSDC certification expires, ALL MBEs have to begin the entire certification process from the beginning. Please note, WE NO LONGER ACCEPT PAPER APPLICATIONS. ALL certification is now done on-line. There are no exceptions.
 
For those MBEs in the STATE OF TEXAS, in addition to beginning the entire certification process all over again, the HUB certification, which enables you to bid on contracts, is no longer valid. The HUB certification process is only done once a month. This means for those MBEs in the State of Texas, they will now have to wait an entire month for their HUB certification.
 
Please make sure to check the expiration date on your SMSDC certification. You will receive an e-mail notification from the AdaptOne portal which looks similar to this:



DO NOT ignore this e-mail.
It is a courtesy reminder your certification is about to expire.  

Please contact Eduardo Muniz-Fraticelli at Eduardo@smsdc.org or Olivia Jones at Olivia@smsdc.org . They are both here to assist you.

Techie News

Below is the link to start your New Certification Application & the Recertification process.


https://affiliate.nmsdc.org/smsdc/
  
*Go to request a Login.  If you already have your Login information, click on Login in the right top hand corner and begin the process.  
Welcome!  NEW MBEs


APRIL 2017
America Transportation Group, LLC - Laredo, TX
COPILASER US CORPORATION - El Paso, TX
HealthCarePoint.com Corporation - Cedar Park, TX
Mone Transport, LLC - Laredo, TX
Papa Grande Gourmet Foods, Inc - San Antonio, TX

MARCH 2017
EP South West Logistics, Inc - El Paso, TX

FEBRUARY 2017 
Expedited Specialized Carriers LLC - Laredo, TX
Expedited Specialized Logistics LLC - Laredo, TX
Gevitrans, LLC - Laredo, TX
HMI Mold El Paso Inc.- El Paso, TX
Ivy Rod, Inc. - Corpus Christi, TX
Seneca Construction LLC - Durant, OK

Welcome Back!  Returning MBEs
 
APRIL 2017
Alamo Analytical Laboratories, LTD
Alamo Environmental, Inc.
AMN International, Inc.
Angelou Economic Advisors Inc.
Artesia Springs LLC
Champion Supply Company, LLC
Cherokee Nation Office Solutions, LLC
CNC P.M. Int'L, LLC
Complete Tablet Solutions LLP
Dorada Poultry, LLC.
Elevation Energy Group, LLC
F.C. Felhaber and Company, Inc.
Global Tooling Specialties, Inc.
Great Southwest Tool Company
Horizone Construction, 1 Ltd
Lopez Foods, Inc.
Lopez Marketing Group Inc
Mighty Clean LLC
National Educational Systems, Inc.
Newton Design, LLC
Oveana, LLC
Pencil Cup Office Products, Inc.
Ramiro Ramirez Construction, Inc.
Sun City Group, Inc.
TBM Carriers, Inc.
The 5125 Company
Three Frontiers Express, Inc.
Treco Services, Inc
UIS International Services Corp.
Zamora Enterprises, Inc.
Requirement for All New MBEs:
You must attend the following!

All new MBE's must attend a Pre-Certification & Post-Certification training.  The training will be held by conference call several times a month for each session.  Please make sure to attend one pre-certification & one post-certification training in order to complete the certification process. Appointment is not necessary.

The following are dates available for May:
Wednesday, May 10th
Wednesday, May 17th
Wednesday, May 24th
Wednesday, May 31st  
           
Each training is from 10am - 11am CST
Conference call number: 641-715-0700
Access Code:  372354
Did you Know?

SMSDC offers subscription services to all of our Corporate Members & Certified MBEs.  What are subscription services & how will they benefit my business?
  
Subscription services for MBEs include:
  • Access to top corporate purchasing agents
  • Premium business connection outings and networking events
  • Vital introductions to national corporate members
  • Specialized procurement conferences & Trade Fairs
  • Supplier Diversity summits and roundtable discussions
  • Professional development fellowships
  • Mentor-Protégé pairings and other educational or development programs
  • Technical and/or financial assistance and support

 
Subscription services for Corporate Members include:
  • Targeted prime supplier match
Fees for subscription services vary.  Contact our Austin office at 512.386.8766 or email us at smsdc@smsdc.org today. 

 


DEVELOPMENTAL SERIES

SMSDC along with Corporate Member, Johnson Controls Inc, is proud to offer Developmental Classes to all Corporate Members & Certified MBEs during each of our regional events. 

Learn more about these classes and how to register for the next session!


Benchmarking Plus is a process for corporations that seek to accelerate their supplier diversity initiatives based on real world experimentation. This two year process takes your corporation from where it is today to where it needs to be in the future in order to engage minority businesses in a sustainable manner.  Benchmarking Plus delivers the tools and management perspective to help your corporation determine what it is doing right and how you can help it approve.
    

Capacity Plus is a process for certified minority business enterprises that seek to enhance their sales and marketing processes and build their capacity to work with Fortune 500 corporations. This two year process provides practical insights that will help you address business challenges.  Capacity Plus delivers the tools and management perspective to help your company demystify corporate procurement processes.

 
Benchmarking Plus & Capacity Plus is led by Johnson Controls Inc, a world leader in supplier diversity, with more than 600 diverse suppliers and $1.8 billion in diverse spend.

If you are interested in signing up, please contact Mayra Pena at mayra@smsdc.org or call 915.433.0612.  These classes are complimentary but you must be an active corporate member or certified MBE to attend. 
Shutterstock
Topics of Interest...

CEOs: Five Reasons Your Startup Needs A CIO

The most recent technology IPOs include MuleSoft, Alteryx, Coupa, BlackLine, Talend, and Twilio. Add to that list recent filings by Okta, Yext and Cloudera and the market's appetite for enterprise technology IPOs continues to grow in 2017. Now a new batch of more than 300 are in the running for an initial public offering. For all of the digital enterprises preparing for IPOs this year, staffing the right executive team is critical. Although these companies know technology is at the core of every business process and is the primary driver of competitive advantage, CIOs are often not hired in the early stages of the company. In fact, very few pause to think of a CIO until there's a dire need. While there's no doubt that CTOs and CFOs are critical, CIOs have an equally important role to play.

CEOs, here are 5 reasons your startup needs a CIO today:

1) Start Right: CIOs are typically brought in when a company's considering going public or planning an exit. By this time, the company has thrown heads at business problems and have a slew of internal business systems that are not properly integrated and definitely not built for scale. The unfortunate truth is that the CIO is scrambling to clean up the mess of unguided investments. These often include multi-year agreements of the wrong technology, short-sighted choices, and siloed business decisions. The first-time company CIO will be too busy cleaning house and documenting manual business processes for compliance and governance purposes as opposed to focusing on enabling business growth strategies.

It's pertinent that you make the right technology investments early on to prevent chaos and be able to focus on growth.

2) Stay Current: As technology evolves, our lives seem to get simpler and more complicated, at the same time. To stay competitive, you need a CIO who challenges the status quo and drives agility with disruptive technologies to differentiate your business.


Forbes.com
April 12, 2017
 


Be a part of the #WeAreNMSDC Campaign 
From the NMSDC website:

The #WeAreNMSDC Campaign

To celebrate our 45th anniversary, the accomplishments of the NMSDC network, and to showcase the economic impact of minority businesses, the #WeAreNMSDC Campaign is highlighting the achievements of our corporate members, MBEs and affiliates councils, and will culminate at the 2017 NMSDC Conference in Detroit, October 22-25.

We invite our corporate members, MBEs and affiliate councils to participate in the #WeAreNMSDC campaign. Get Involved! To learn more about about the campaign click on the link below.

Learn More, click here.

Did you miss out?  SMSDC Advocates for MBEs!

2017 Interagency HUB Vendor Fair
April 5, 2017
Austin, TX

"Marketing for Success"
The General Land Office and eleven other state agencies co-hosted the 2017 Inter-Agency HUB Vendor Fair "Marketing For Success" on April 5th at the JJ Pickle in Austin. 60 state agencies and universities along with LCRA, the City of Austin and Travis County were just some of the agencies in attendance. The agencies hosted the booths to allow vendors to go from table to table and meet with them.
 
SMSDC President & CEO Karen Box addressed the audience and highlighted the relationship between the HUB Agencies and SMSDC. She also articulated the critical importance of our MBEs being involved and connecting each other to continue to impact their bottom line.


   

 
 
Staff Announcement...

The Southwest Minority Supplier Development Council (SMSDC) is proud to introduce Eduardo Muniz-Fraticelli as the Council's new Certification Manager.  Prior to joining SMSDC, Eduardo was a Practice Manager at Shumway Van Hansen & Cryptologic Linguist for the U.S. Army.   

While at Shumway Van Hansen his jobs included Practice Manager, Business Development and Marketing Manager, Legal Assistant, Notary Public, and
Spanish Interpreter/Translator.   During his tenure at the U.S. Army his jobs included gathering, interpreting, translating, and transcribing real time communications for the purpose of Intelligence gathering with the purpose of assisting military operations. 

Ready to demonstrate his skills and expertise, Eduardo is committed to Certify, Develop, Connect and Advocate SMSDC members and to build mutually beneficial and sustainable relationships that positively impact the bottom line of all stakeholders. We look forward to Eduardo's contributions to SMSDC in the areas of certification, recertification and State HUB certification.  SMSDC President, Karen Box and the entire SMSDC Staff invite you to extend a warm welcome to Eduardo. 

Eduardo's official first day is April 5, 2017.  You may contact him at eduardo@smsdc.org.
Stay Connected - Upcoming SMSDC Events
SAVE THE DATE

June 7-8, 2017 
Premier Face Time Expo
The Westin Riverwalk
420 W Market Street, San Antonio, TX, 78205
EARLY REGISTRATION NOW OPEN! 
 
June 9, 2017 
Premier Face Time Golf Tournament
The Palmer Course @ La Cantera Golf Club
17865 Babcock Road San Antonio, TX 78255
EARLY REGISTRATION NOW OPEN! 
 
August 2-3, 2017 
New Frontier Buyer's Breakfast Roundtable
The Skirvin Hilton Hotel
One Park Avenue Oklahoma City, OK 73102
 
September 6-7, 2017 
Diversity at the Border Buyer's Breakfast Roundtable
The Doubletree Hotel
600 N. El Paso St.  El Paso, TX 79901
2017 Premier Sponsors


PLATINUM:

   Dell       Toyota_Corporate

GOLD:
       

SILVER:
       Coca Cola Company_new


BRONZE:


About SMSDC

The SMSDC is a non-profit organization dedicated to certifying, connecting and developing minority-owned businesses (MBEs). Through active leadership & professional education, the SMSDC works with major corporations throughout the United States and MBEs within the Central and Southwest Texas regions, Oklahoma and New Mexico to increase participation in diversity programs.

Contact us

Austin headquarters: 512.386.8766 
 
El Paso: 915.433.0612
Oklahoma: 405.767.9900 
San Antonio : 512.297.6478