What are your duties and responsibilities?

Manage the SBE program with the support of an outside WBE consulting firm; Responsible for the in-house print shop and forms management for the system; develop logistic solutions for end-users relative to forms and equipment; participate on the Business Recovery team (disaster/hurricane)

What’s the best thing about your job?

The diversity of it. It’s like a potholder you made as a kid with the loops -- there are some common threads that integrate across the key responsibilities.  Each day offers new challenges and the solutions appear the same, but are implemented differently.

How long have you worked with Memorial Healthcare System?

I started working on December 6th 2000 and will have completed 8 years this December 2008.

How can WBEs get noticed by Memorial Healthcare System?

Memorial’s SBE program is inclusive of all vendors. The key is finding an opportunity and ensuring that the vendor is capable of handling a large organization such as MHS, both financially and with a solid infrastructure. Not every vendor that submits an application becomes a vendor.  We’ve been ale to outsource the management of our SBE program database to a WBE which was a much needed service as we receive more 30+ applications per month.

How do you become a vendor/supplier to Memorial Healthcare System?

First complete the online vendor application and submit it. We’ll add; your name to the program’s database and from there it’s a waiting game.  We make payments to over 4000 vendors and there is overlap in services.  We’re working with the consultant to reduce some of that duplication and source opportunities for new vendors.   

What is the spend for Memorial Healthcare System with women-owned businesses?

We’re in process of having our FY08 data audited for the SBE program annual report.  Certified WBE spend appears to exceed $9.3 million dollars, but this needs to be confirmed. 

What trends do you see?

Women-owned companies continue to branch into male dominated industries i.e. Construction and IT.  These new entrants appear to be aggressive and financially secure. It’s reassuring to see viable, strong, women-owned firms who need little mentoring, if any.