DIVERSITY RATING
Five
$2 million or more spent with black media or ad dollars spent with black media comprising at least 5% of total spending of at least $10 million
Four
$1 million or more spent with black media or ad dollars spent with black media comprising at least 3% of total spending of at least $10 million
Three
$750,000 or more spent with black media
Two
$500,000 or more spent with black media and/or significant marketing efforts, outside of direct advertising, appealing to black and other ethnic minority consumer groups
One
Less than $500,000 spent with black media
Johnson Controls Inc.; Milwaukee ; Automotive systems and building controls ; Reginald Layton, Diversity Business Development Director; Johnson Controls’ core business is to design, manufacture, and/or install automotive systems. The Milwaukee-based company has not been slow to realize that it must partner with ethnic minorities as well as others. Of the $4 billion that JCI spent in procurement, nearly 23% was spent with ethnic minority suppliers last year. JCI’s list of 400-plus suppliers includes black-owned companies such as Manufacturers Industrial Group (No. 36 on the BE INDUSTRIAL/SERVICE 100
list with $118 million in sales) as well as ARD Logistics and Detroit Technologies Inc.
However, JCI’s greatest contribution to black business was its establishment of a joint venture that grew to become one of the largest companies on the BE 100S: Bridgewater Interiors L.L.C. (No. 4 on the BE INDUSTRIAL/SERVICE 100 list with $751 million in sales). The joint venture was launched in 1998 by Ronald Hall with a big boost by JCI. Keith Wandell, then president of JCI Automotive Group “called in 1998 and said, ‘How would you like to work with us on this deal?’ And I’m thinking ‘Is the Pope Catholic?'” recounted Hall in a 2005 interview with BE. The rest is history.
Hall became a 51% owner in the venture. In addition to financial backing to start the company, JCI provides Hall’s company with the muscle necessary to service large automotive contracts. “We have been able to get lines of credit at banks because JCI is my partner, and I can tap into their technology base to make Bridgewater stronger,” added Hall noting that if his firm has a hiccup, JCI’s engineers are at the Bridgewater plant the next day. ; N/A; Advertising Diversity Rating: 1; Strengths: Supplier Diversity, Board of Directors
Aetna Inc.; Hartford, CT; Healthcare benefits; Raymond Arroyo, Chief Diversity Officer; Aetna has developed a philosophy that allows its multicultural workforce to grow and succeed. That philosophy is communicated within the insurer’s corporate corridors and is embraced by Chairman, CEO, and president Ronald A. Williams, one of BE’s 75 Most Powerful African Americans in Corporate America. Blacks represent 18% of Aetna’s more than 30,000 U.S. employees; four sit on the insurer’s 12-member board of directors; and three can be found on the company’s senior management team. In 2006, Aetna spent $6.5 million of its $1.1 billion procurement budget with minority suppliers. ; 2006; Advertising Diversity Rating: 1; Strengths: Senior Management, Board of Directors
AT&T INC.; San Antonio, TX; Telecommunications; Forrest Miller, Group President – Strategic Initiatives