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Penske is a company where people help people move ahead. One way we do this is by promoting a culture and an environment that embraces diversity and inclusion. As a result, we are a stronger, more competitive company that better reflects the customers and communities we serve around the globe.
Brian Hard, President and CEO - Penske Truck Leasing
Penske is a global company with diverse customers, businesses and associates. We will improve and grow our businesses by supporting a work environment that is diverse, inclusive and respectful, so we can draw from the talents, backgrounds and varied perspectives of all our associates.
This inclusive culture will enhance our ability to attract and retain the most talented leadership and workforce, thereby enabling us to better serve and broaden our customer base, and will solidify our status as the best provider of transportation support and supply chain management services.
More than 40 diversity and inclusion practitioners recently attended the first Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) Symposium at Penske’s headquarters in Green Hills, Pennsylvania, to network and explore issues of diversity and inclusion that impact their businesses. The event was hosted by Penske and Wawa.
“We wanted to provide a forum for diversity practitioners in our area to network and speak honestly and openly about diversity and inclusion topics,” said Delphia Howze, Penske’s manager of diversity & inclusion and corporate HR, who organized the event with Elizabeth Moore, Wawa’s manager of diversity & inclusion. “At Penske, we recognize the importance of creating a warm and inclusive environment for each associate. The success of our associates equals the success of Penske.”
The all-day event featured discussions of D&I best practices, challenges, and opportunities for creating sustainable diversity and inclusion efforts within the workplace.
“We plan to continue to build momentum with the Diversity & Inclusion Symposium,” Moore said. “This event is the base of a brand new diversity and inclusion network that we can continue to build and help others on their own diversity and inclusion journeys.”
Keynote speaker Richard Simons, president, Daimler Trucks Remarketing Corporation, and chief diversity officer (on the left in the picture with Ken Hurley, Penske's senior vice president of human resources), shared his cornerstones to D&I success and how companies gain value from organized programs.
“Diversity and inclusion helps keep conformity at bay and brings new ideas and innovation,” Simons said. “Innovation is the new competitive advantage. It’s the key to bottom-line growth. According to Diversity, Inc., if you focus on diversity and inclusion, productivity increases by 18 percent.”
With the wealth of information presented on D&I best practices, symposium attendees came away with concepts or programs that could be implemented in their own settings.
“Honestly sharing questions and challenges allowed participants to engage in a dynamic exchange of ideas,” said Monica Ruano-Wenrich, senior vice president, finance and administration, United Way of Berks County. “The synergies of this process will help move the needle on diversity and inclusion by encouraging practitioners to 'take action,' whether that is the implementation of something new or the refinement of a process that already exists.”
“I was able to share many of the concepts discussed at the event with my staff,” added Steve Pradon, president and owner of Mack Employment in Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania. He also attended to represent Berks County’s Society of Human Resource Management as the chapter’s diversity chairperson. “I have scheduled meetings with our staff at our company branches to share the symposium contents and how we can discuss the content of the program with our customer base, as well as practices related to our temporary and full time employees.”
Many of the participants in the symposium identified with one of the central purposes of the symposium: to come together to network and have open and honest dialogue about D&I.
“My primary expectations were to have an opportunity to share best practices and benchmark with fellow diversity practitioners,” said Kristie King, manager of diversity recruitment for Comcast, Philadelphia. “The chances to pause and participate in professional self-reflection and learning does not often present itself for us as diversity practitioners, and this was a welcome event that provided a forum for us.”
Ellen Hennesy, senior program manager of diversity for Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Malvern, Pennsylvania, agreed.
“Networking with other diversity and inclusion leaders is paramount for professional growth and personal support,” Hennesy said. “As pioneers in the field, we have much to learn and share with one another as we expand our capacity to drive business value and serve our employees and community.”
For non-profits like Goodwill, without a formal diversity and inclusion program in place, the symposium was especially meaningful.
“Hearing all of the best practices of the other organizations was a significant help,” said Heidi D. Mull, human resources generalist regional for Goodwill Keystone Area, Reading, Pennsylvania. “I will be able to take this information to my senior management to assist in building a team to begin the process. I hope to be able to reach out to the contacts I met yesterday for assistance and direction while we work to build our program.”
Event organizers Howze and Moore are examples of the power of networking. The two met through colleagues and discovered their similar workplace journeys. They created the symposium for fellow professionals to share strategies for enhancing their own diversity and inclusion efforts.
By Bernie Mixon and Kandace Wertz
Penske Truck Leasing and Penske Logistics have been steadily growing and cultivating relationships with minority-owned and women-owned businesses for well over a decade. The effort is a part of an ongoing initiative to promote diversity and inclusion at both companies.
“We’re committed to growing and supporting our diverse supplier base companywide,” said Art Vallely, who leads Penske’s corporate procurement activities as senior vice president of rental and vehicle management.
In 2010, Penske Truck Leasing and Penske Logistics spent approximately $150 million with hundreds of minority-owned and women-owned businesses combined. This represented more than 13 percent of the total annual spend with suppliers. Even during the most-recent economic downturn, Penske continued to grow its base of diverse suppliers.
“We’ve made a concerted effort to identify and use diverse suppliers for a wide range of products and services,” said Paige Lightner, Penske’s director of sourcing. “Many of our diverse suppliers are small local businesses based within the communities where we have operations. We value the local supplier relationships as these help our businesses to reflect the communities we serve.”
Supporting minority-owned and women-owned businesses is good for the overall U.S. economy. According to the Department of Commerce’s Minority Business Development Agency, these firms collectively generate about $1 trillion in economic output to the U.S. economy and help create millions of jobs annually. (See related article from The Wall Street Journal.)
“We are always looking for reputable, high-quality diverse suppliers, and we encourage anyone interested in doing business with us to contact us,” Lightner added, photo on right. “Our supplier diversity efforts not only reinforce our commitment to diversity at the company, but we also see it adding value to our business from a competitive standpoint. We are aligning our diversity initiatives with those of our customers.”
Penske is a member of the National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC), one of the country's leading business membership organizations, and has been active with the group since 1996.
“As members we allocate part of our dues to support the regional councils in Michigan and Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware due to the presence of operations we have within those areas. We seek to include diverse suppliers where we can,” indicated Lightner. “Once these suppliers are in our systems, it becomes easier for others within the organization to utilize their services.”
The NMSDC’s regional councils certify and match more than 16,000 minority-owned businesses with member corporations that want to purchase goods and services.
The range of services Penske Truck Leasing and Penske Logistics procure from minority-owned and women-owned businesses varies greatly and includes consulting services, third-party trucking carriers, installation, temporary staffing, janitorial, landscaping, building maintenance, telecommunications support, contracting, and more.
Qualified suppliers interested in registering with Penske Truck Leasing or Penske Logistics as a minority-owned, women-owned or small business should send an introductory e-mail, and a procurement department representative will contact you with the necessary forms and other background information.
By Randy Ryerson
