The Greenville Chamber of Commerce and MDI Take Leadership Role in Promoting Diversity

Chamber and MDI Host Diversity Forum With Local Area Business Leaders

For Immediate Release

GREENVILLE, South Carolina (March 11, 2003) - In an effort to raise awareness of the positive impact of diversity in the workforce, The Greenville Chamber of Commerce and MDI, a leading IT and professional services firm, hosted the first in a series of educational forums on diversity. Representatives from BMW, Michelin, Denny's, Milliken, Greenville Hospital System, and Honeywell participated in the Diversity Forum held last week in Greenville. The purpose of the forum, entitled "Communicating the Value of Diversity," was to provide a framework for company executives to develop diversity best practices and discuss how to implement diversity initiatives in their respective organizations.

"We are delighted to co-sponsor the Diversity Forum with MDI," said Timika Nesbit, manager of small and diverse business development for the Greenville Chamber of Commerce. "MDI has experience in helping companies implement and track diversity initiatives. By bringing in MDI, we were able to provide a forum for local business leaders to discuss their diversity issues in a peer-to-peer environment and show them how to develop best practices. Developing best practices is the key to implementing a successful diversity program."

The main topic of discussion at the Diversity Forum was Supplier Diversity and how to ensure vendors represent the diversity of the marketplace. Other topics included attracting and retaining diverse talent, diversity within the corporate culture, and how to obtain executive support of diversity issues.

“The Diversity Forum helped business executives better understand how to integrate Supplier Diversity into the business objective of their company,” said Ella Koscik, CEO of MDI. “When your company and your vendors do not represent the diversity of the marketplace, you lose touch with the community you serve. Many companies don’t realize that by ensuring a certain percentage of their vendors are minority-owned or woman-owned helps them reach a diversity goal.”

“Denny’s takes supplier diversity very seriously. We have challenged all our departments to create diversity objectives,” said Michelle Hunt, manager of supplier diversity for Denny’s. “We have made great strides and are now working on a spend analysis to uncover additional opportunities for local minority and woman-owned companies. By attending last week’s forum, I was able to benchmark our progress and get feedback from other diversity leaders. The Diversity Forum was instructive and informative.”

“The Greenville Chamber is having to take a leadership role in dealing with the complexities of diversity issues. We are developing a mentoring program for minority suppliers and planning additional Diversity Forums with MDI,” said Nesbit.

“We received a very positive response from the participants, and everyone agreed that it will be very helpful to have more forums in the future. It is imperative that the Chamber remains on the forefront of diversity and gives the business community a format in which to discuss the issues,” concluded Nesbit.

About MDI Group
MDI Group is a premier IT Workforce Solutions provider with more than 20 years expertise in finding 'best-fit' IT talent for mid-sized to Fortune 500 clients nationwide. Offering IT Staffing Solutions and Contingent Workforce Management, MDI Group has recorded profitable growth every year since it was established in 1988. Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, MDI Group has also been named one of Atlanta's 40 best places to work. To learn more about MDI Group, please visit www.mdigroup.com.

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