Kansas City’s leading corporations and businesses are committing to increase their supplier diversity programs in an effort to promote equity and support local businesses.

Show your support by taking the CEO-to-CEO Challenge and committing to an intentional and inclusive approach to procurement.

What is the CEO-to-CEO Challenge?

Supplier diversity programs are more important than ever—and the key to strong, inclusive economic recovery.

However, too few companies have proactive and intentional programs to recruit and support local, minority-owned, women-owned, LGBT-owned, veteran-owned and historically underutilized businesses. Others don’t even know where to start.

And yet, impact-driven and community-minded business leaders understand that they can’t afford to be left out of this business imperative to support small diverse businesses.

It’s a simple matter of competitive advantage and sustained business viability.

The CEO-to-CEO Challenge encourages and supports business-to-business inclusive procurement by making that commitment visible  and helping leaders develop supplier diversity programs.

When your company accepts the challenge, you’ll pledge to:

• Buy from small and diverse‐owned businesses when possible.
• Be an advocate for the cause internally and with peers.
• Establish an internal accountability framework around intentional, inclusive procurement to include data tracking and reporting of new and existing vendors.
• Tie inclusive procurement goals to the firm’s strategic priorities.
• Evaluate sourcing and procurement spend and explore opportunities to grow and expand relationships and innovate processes to include diverse suppliers.
• Build the diversity of the firm’s supplier pipeline.
• Spotlight success stories of diverse suppliers.
• Add resources for development and measurement of these activities.

Be a part of the first 100 KC leaders to take the pledge

Be an impactful example for our community and join the leaders of these companies who have already committed to intentional, inclusive procurement with small and diverse suppliers.

• Black & Veatch
• Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City ????
• BNIM
• CBIZ ????
• Cenetric Network Services ????
• Children’s Mercy Kansas City
• Commerce Bank ????
• Evergy
• H&R Block ????
• Hallmark ????
• Henderson Engineers
• Husch Blackwell
• JE Dunn Construction
• Lead Bank
• Lathrop GPM
• McCownGordon Construction ????
• Metropolitan Community College
• MMC Corp????
• No-Where Consultants ????
• Paige Technologies ????
• Shook Hardy & Bacon
• Spire Energy ????
• Swope Health ????
• Turner Construction ????

The CEO-to-CEO Challenge is powered by Connectus Worldwide, KC Rising and KCSourceLink in collaboration with the Civic Council of Greater Kansas City and the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce.

Set the example. Take the CEO-to-CEO Challenge.

We’ll send you the pledge letter and follow up with the Challenge Playbook and next steps.

By supplying your contact information, you authorize KCSourceLink to contact you with further resources, events and opportunities to engage with other businesses and KC’s startups ecosystem. You may unsubscribe from our communications at any time.