• St. Louis Minority Business Council Welcomes the Minority Business Enterprise Center

• Introducing MBEC’s David Stephens

• BOF Moves Upstream: Which Direction Is Your Business Growing?

• Reminder: MBE Development Series

• General Membership Meeting

• New MBEs and Reciprocal MBEs

• Candidates Selected to Participate in Focused Growth Program

St. Louis Minority Business Council
Welcomes the Minority Business Enterprise Center

On May 1, 2007, the St. Louis Minority Business Council introduced its Minority Business Enterprise Center (MBEC) along with the new Project Director, David Stephens, at a special ribbon cutting presentation held at the SLMBC  office.  The SLMBC received a $232,800 grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce Minority Business Development Agency.  Mr. Ronald N. Langston, National Director of the Agency, applauded the SLMBC for its efforts and offered his services and support during the development of the Center.  Attendees included representatives from several local, state and national government offices; Eric Dobyne, the Chicago Regional Director; and area business and civic leaders.

David Stephens recently joined the staff of the St. Louis Minority Business Council as the new MBEC Project Director.  Dana Hill, Director of MBE Development, stated that “David brings to this position a unique background, knowledge and skills to serve our MBE clients.”  Stephens, a former SBC employee, has more than 25 years of experience in sales, marketing, market management, product management, human resources, strategic planning, training and leadership development. For his last assignment with SBC, Stephens served as a Performance Consultant for individuals and business units.  Most recently, he was the Corporate Director of Telecommunications for Brown Groups Inc. in St. Louis.  He attended Olivet Nazarene College in Kankakee, Illinois and is a certified trainer and consultant.  Stephens’ skills and expertise will anchor MBEC and strategically place “fast track or rapid growth potential” minority businesses in key positions for greater growth and economic gain.

BOF Moves Upstream: Which Direction Is Your Business Growing?

This year, let your navigational devices lead you to a new, spacious, state-of-the-art experience located on the river’s edge. On June 12, the 2007 Business Opportunity Fair (BOF) will be held at the St. Charles Convention Center complete with power-packed breakfast and luncheon speakers. The BOF is the place to enjoy networking and a professional trade show.

On Monday, June 11, all registered participants are invited to the Welcome Reception at Maggiano’s, located at #2 The Boulevard (across from the Galleria). A ribbon-cutting ceremony will mark the official opening of the Trade Show on June 12. SLMBC-certified MBEs will showcase their business wares, products and services for more than 400 corporate executives, procurement officers and diversity managers.

This year’s Fair is designed to give MBEs and our corporate members information and pointers on how to meet their goals, and access new contacts and resources. MBEs are encouraged to take advantage of the Early Bird Registration which ends on May 31. Come with questions and leave with directions and next steps delivered by Wes Hall, the author of You Are The Money. Hall is also known for challenging audiences to produce extraordinary results. Following this event, Brian Tippens will deliver his thoughts and approach to planning for diversity in the world market at the On-the-Move Luncheon. Minority vendors and majority companies will leave the BOF with tools for strategic partnering, new contacts and clear directions for overall growth.

For more information, visit the SLMBC Web site at www.slmbc.org or call the SLMBC office at (314) 241-1143.

Reminder: MBE Development Series

Topic:

General Membership Meeting

On April 3, more than 50 people attended this year’s first SLMBC General Membership meeting held at Monsanto Company. James Webb, SLMBC President, provided an overview of the SLMBC and its programs. Featured speaker Ralph G. Moore, CPA, President of Ralph G. Moore & Associates, engaged participants in a discussion that explored how strategic sourcing and global competition has impacted minority suppliers. He further enlightened attendees on ways to build effective partnerships between MBEs and buying organizations; and he presented the nine components of successful suppliers. The morning events included the Corporate Membership Educational Series titled: “Using Metrics to Advance Supplier Diversity.” Moore discussed how supplier diversity professionals can incorporate metrics into their action plans to elevate the supplier diversity process. The presentation addressed the following topics:

• What’s Next in Supplier Diversity
• Incorporating Relevant Metrics into your Action Plan
• Incorporating Capacity Building into your Process
• Best Practices in Supplier Diversity

The SLMBC extends a special thanks to Monsanto for hosting this event. Our next General Membership meeting will be held in October.

New MBEs and Reciprocals

New MBEs

Goodwin Electrical Services
Mr. Kenneth Goodwin, President
11640 Hazeloak Drive
Florissant, MO 63033
Phone: (314) 355-5073
Fax: (314) 355-8036
E-mail: kenneth-goodwin@sbcglobal.net

Products/Services:  Electrical Contractor

The Edward L. Davis Company
Mr. Edward L. Davis, President
430 Wimmer Place
East St. Louis, IL 62205
Phone: (618) 274-3505
Fax: (618) 274-0795
E-mail: eldavis400@yahoo.com

Products/Services:  Concrete supplier; placement and finishing

New Reciprocal MBEs

Clarity Partners, LLC.
Ms. Ellen Rozelle McGee, President
161 N. Clark Street, Ste. 1750
Chicago, IL  60601
Phone: (312) 920-0550
Fax: (312) 920-0554
Email: emcgee@claritychicago.com
Website: www.claritychicago.com

Product/Services:Full service management and information technology firm

TI Electronics, Inc.
Mr. Greg Martinek, President & CEO
W133 N5139 Campbell Drive
Menomonee Falls, WI 53051
Phone: (262) 783-6080
Fax: (262) 783-4959
Email: ptrivedl@mtielectronics.com
Website: www.mtielectronics.com

Product/Services:  Manufacture of printed circuit board assembly (surface mount & thru-hole), layout, in-circuit & functional test; test design and full box builds; design, manufacturing & testing of ceramic-based hybrid circuits.

Candidates Selected to Participate in Focused Growth Program

Congratulations to the following MBEs for their selection as participants in SLMBC’s Focused Growth Program (FGP).

• Carl Arizpe, President - Lightspeed Technologies, Inc.: provides industrial custom online training to companies.  Lightspeed is a business consultant and a partner in helping its clients address longstanding needs with flexible approaches to new internal or industry standards as it relates to online training. Lightspeed also produces continuing education instructional content that has been approved for college credit and has expertise in sales and marketing, safety and homeland security.

• Gloria Carter Hicks, President - Hicks-Carter-Hicks (H-C-H): provides a variety of techniques to improve performance and meet corporate objectives.  H-C-H specializes in leadership, human resources, performance leadership, performance management, training and development, diversity, quality management and strategic planning. The company’s services include organizational development (management consulting, human resources and strategic planning), coaching, training, team meeting facilitation, diversity consultation and keynote presentations.

• Harish Sundaram, CEO - Simple Tech, Inc. d/b/a OnlyLink: specializes in managed services including remote desktop monitoring and computer network management. In addition, the company provides a host of Internet services including Web hosting, collocation, exchange hosting, CRM hosting and high speed Internet. OnlyLink offers tremendous bandwidth over a secure network; it is the only network approved by the Department of Homeland Security for the transport of military data. The company also offers a package of security services that includes audits, vulnerability assessments and penetration testing.