by Dan Perkins

The Chicago White Sox announced today that they will list their ten best diverse suppliers of 2005 on Wednesday, April 5, 2006.  The list will appear as the first corporate entry of the America’s Best Diverse Suppliers Program, a vendor recognition program established by Genlight Por EL, Inc., publishers of the diversityinbusiness.com web site.  “We had an incredible season last year, and our diverse suppliers made important contributions to our championship drive,” said Michael Spidale, director of purchasing for the Chicago White Sox.  “We, along with Major League Baseball, welcome this opportunity to team up with diversityinbusiness.com to give broader recognition to our diverse suppliers,” he continued.

The White Sox’s work with numerous minority- and women-owned businesses each year.  “Whether the work involves stadium maintenance, stadium operations, printing services, or security, we rely on many diverse businesses to help us run our operations and field our championship team,” said Spidale.

Much of what Spidale knows about finding great minority suppliers he learned from Don Esposito, the White Sox’s senior director of purchasing, construction and maintenance. Esposito has personally contracted minority suppliers for several high-profile and mission-critical functions involving stadium maintenance and operations.

The White Sox business activities with minority and women-owned businesses is part of a larger initiative established by baseball commissioner Bud Selig.  In 1998, the commissioner honored the 50^th anniversary of Jackie Robinson’s entry into the Major Leagues by announcing a vigorous commitment to make all areas of the sport inclusive.  As part of that commitment, Major League Baseball established the Diverse Business Partners (DBP) Program to provide a structure and process through which minorities and women could gain access to the sport’s procurement centers.

Major League Baseball's DBP Program, was established under the leadership of Wendy Lewis, vice president of strategic planning for recruitment and diversity, and with the assistance of RGMA, Inc., an African American owned consulting firm based in Chicago.  RGMA worked closely with Major League Baseball and its franchise teams to incorporate many of the league’s best procurement practices into the DBP Program.

The White Sox have long embraced a spirit of innovation and inclusion at the direction of the club's chairman, Jerry Reinsdorf.  Within two years of the commissioner’s directive, MLB had developed the most effective supplier diversity program in professional sports.

Although Spidale has not sought the spotlight for his successes in the field of supplier diversity, he welcomed the opportunity to participate in the America’s Best Diverse Suppliers Program, and to position the White Sox as the first MLB club to participate in the program.

“I thrilled that this program provides the White Sox with a forum to more broadly recognize some of our most outstanding suppliers, especially those that contributed significantly to our 2005 season,” said Spidale.

The America’s Best Diverse Suppliers Program was conceived by Dan Perkins, the publisher of diversityinbusiness.com, who was also part of the RGMA consulting team commissioned by MLB from 1998 to 2003.

While many corporations purchase goods and services from only the most established minority- and women-owned businesses, Spidale prefers to take a more inclusive approach to procurement.  “I like to hear what a supplier has to offer regardless of size or years in business,” said Spidale who works with minority firms that range from some of Chicago’s largest enterprises to fledgling companies with as few as one or two employees.

“I’m not concerned with size,” declared Spidale, “I look for companies that first have the desire and capacity to help the White Sox to remain a winning organization.  In some cases, I will give special consideration to a company’s potential to meet our needs, but what I want to see the most is desire.”

Spidale was quick to recognize the potential benefits that the America’s Best Diverse Suppliers Program offers the White Sox.

“One of the things that excited me about the program is its potential to raise awareness about our diverse suppliers and our supplier diversity program,” said Spidale.  “There are publications that cover local businesses, even minority-owned businesses, but I don’t know of many that are willing to showcase the smaller businesses – the ones that help make an organization like ours successful,” he continued.  “I’m delighted that the America’s Best Diverse Suppliers Program will enable the White Sox to recognize the annual contributions of our diverse suppliers through our program.”

Increasing awareness about the White Sox’s supplier diversity program is key part of the club’s strategy to remain on top.

“We believe, most importantly, that including companies of diverse backgrounds is “a right thing to do.”  Also, from a business perspective, it makes sense.  When you increase the pool of vendors in a bid, you increase the chances of finding better prices and better products and services,” said Spidale.  “Our supplier diversity program has proven itself on two levels: 1) it has enabled diverse suppliers to support not only our organization, but the sport of baseball, at significant levels, and 2) it has saved our organization money and brought us great innovations. It doesn’t get any better than that.”

The End

Click here to see the White Sox's Best Diverse Suppliers