In an ongoing effort to provide opportunities to diverse suppliers, State Fund held their third annual Supplier Diversity Summit on April 6. The networking event is designed to bring together diverse suppliers with State Fund buyers, internal business partners, and primary vendors. The event organizers welcomed 37 suppliers to the Vacaville campus.
Amanda Poe, Vice President of Enterprise Procurement, said, “Our Supplier Diversity Program arose out of a sense of social responsibility to the communities we serve. To see our diverse spend grow each year is truly gratifying, and while we’re proud of our efforts, we’re committed to continuing to expand the program.”
State Fund’s policy is to encourage and afford opportunities to diverse suppliers, while ensuring that it receives the highest quality products and services. The organization spent just short of $50 million with certified diverse suppliers in 2016. The Supplier Diversity Governing Board, which analyzes trends and tracks spending, released the results of the first national insurance diversity survey in December of 2016, which found that insurance companies spent more than $7.7 billion with diverse suppliers across the nation in 2015.
State Fund’s outreach to minority businesses heightened with the passage of Assembly Bill 53 in 2012. The legislation requires insurers to report on its minority procurement efforts to the insurance commissioner. The California Department of Insurance passed the Insurance Diversity Initiative in 2012. Since the first California Supplier Diversity survey was administered in 2013, there has been an 83% ($770 million) increase in diverse spending with California suppliers.
