Nationwide follows vision to ensure diversity among suppliers

In a politically correct world where feeling good sometimes outweighs good business sense, Nationwide’s commitment to supplier diversity goes beyond doing the right thing to making a smart business decision.

“Supplier diversity provides economic empowerment to the communities and is a measurable way of giving back with a value-added contribution to those communities,” said Steve Warren, manager for supplier diversity at Nationwide. “Secondly, it aligns itself to our overall strategic direction.”

Warren said the effort is “more than just buying a product. It is an initiative that is all encompassing. We’re not just purchasing goods and services; we’re creating relationships. We are creating balance within communities with the dispersion of products and services.”

With more than $160 billion in statutory assets, Nationwide is one of the largest insurance and financial services companies in the world offering a range of insurance products and financial services including auto, motorcycle, boat, homeowners, life, farm and commercial insurance, administrative services, annuities, mortgages, mutual funds, pensions, long-term savings plans and health and productivity services.

One of the ways Nationwide demonstrates its commitment to diversity and inclusion is through its supplier diversity initiative. This initiative helps ensure that diverse suppliers have an opportunity to compete for business through a four-step process to accomplish a goal of inclusion, supplier development, education, communication and generation of business value.

“Nationwide recognizes the strong connection between our customers and the many relationships we have with diverse suppliers who help us meet their needs,” Warren said. “That’s why we’re committed to developing and implementing a strategy that promotes contracting with, educating and mentoring diverse suppliers to improve their interactions with us and build their business. Suppliers will be developed with needs specific to their segmented group for purposes of moving them along the development path.”

Nationwide has had a supplier diversity department for more than 12 years and Warren joined the team about a year ago.

In the past year, Warren and his staff have formulated a supplier diversity strategic team consisting of leadership representatives from various lines of business to help focus time, talent and resources to achieve their team goals.

“Our emphasis and focus is to expand our involvement in those lines of business where significant inclusion and economic empowerment can occur for diverse firms of minorities and women across the country,” Warren explained. “Our philosophy is to develop existing diverse suppliers in the system and to seek out diverse suppliers that have the capacity to contribute today or the ability to grow their capacity for our future needs.”

Nationwide’s partnerships with organizations such as National Minority Supplier Development Council, Women’s Business Enterprise National Council, and the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce among others provide significant support toward achieving the firm’s diversity goals. Nationwide participates in trade shows and management seminars to get out to the community through those alliance partners.

“More companies are recognizing the economic power and importance of that business relationship,” Warren said, noting that this target population has a trillion dollars in buying power. “We are continuing to progress toward a level of understanding that there is a mutual economic benefit for both suppliers and buying organizations.

“One of the things that is important to understand is that (using diverse suppliers) requires a holistic approach,” he said. “Supplier diversity is just one aspect. By embracing the whole spectrum of diversity in areas like workforce, community, communications, development and cultural competency, Nationwide becomes inclusive and establishes value-added component core values.

“The exciting part of this whole initiative is that we are getting significant support from the top down,” Warren continued. “From the CEO down through the organization, Nationwide has demonstrated its commitment to our supplier diversity initiative. I have confidence that with support and direction our objective of being a world-class supplier diversity initiative is feasible.”