National Minority Supplier Development Council Recognizes Business Leaders

Business owner Earvin "Magic" Johnson, chairman and chief executive officer of Magic Johnson Enterprises, will serve as master of ceremonies for the National Minority Supplier Development Council's 2009 Minority Business Leadership Awards Dinner event on May 13.

This year, NMSDC will honor David B. Dillon, chairman and chief executive officer of The Kroger Company; Alex Lopez Negrete, president and chief executive officer of Lopez Negrete Communications and Kenneth M. Ricketts, president and chief executive officer of Quality Packaging Specialists International, for significant long-term achievements in minority business development. More than 1,600 guests are expected to attend, including CEOs and executives of Fortune 500 corporations and minority business owners from across the nation.

David B. Dillon is chairman and chief executive officer of The Kroger Company. Its 2008 sales were $70.2 billion and Kroger employs 323,000 people. The company celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2008. Kroger operates 3,660 stores, including nearly 2,485 supermarkets and multi-department stores, under two dozen banners in about 30 states. The company has had a supplier diversity process and has been a national corporate member of NMSDC for more than 25 years. In 2007, Kroger spent $709 million with 738 Asian, Black, Hispanic and Native American businesses. Kroger also encourages its major suppliers to increase their supplier diversity opportunities. In 2007, Kroger reported $190.6 million through Second Tier spend. In 2006, Kroger reached its goal of spending more than $1 billion annually with minority- and women-owned businesses and was inducted into the Billion Dollar Roundtable.

Alex Lopez Negrete is president and chief executive officer of Lopez Negrete Communications. He founded the Houston-based advertising and communications agency with his wife and partner, Cathy, upon the conviction that the Hispanic market is a viable and powerful consumer segment and that thoughtful, relevant, fully integrated, in-language and in-culture communications are the best way to reach this important market. His approach has produced results. The agency has more than 180 employees, and had $161 million in billings in 2008. Lopez Negrete credits the success of the agency to the fact that it comprises a team of multicultural, multinational, bilingual and bicultural communications professionals. Lopez Negrete is intricately involved in providing strategic counsel and creative direction to all of the agency's clients, which include Bank of America, Microsoft, NBC Universal Pictures Group, Reliant Energy, Shell Oil Products U.S., Tyson Foods, Visa U.S.A. and Wal-Mart Stores. The company is an NMSDC Corporate Plus member.

Kenneth M. Ricketts is the president and chief executive officer of Quality Packaging Specialists International, a packaging company based in Burlington Township, NJ. He describes the company as a "supply chain solution provider." The company had sales of $145 million in 2008. Their customers for marketing, packaging and fulfillment services include Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble and Wal-Mart. Quality Packaging has 993 employees, of which 918 are minority employees. The company spent more than $1 million with other minority businesses in 2008. Ricketts participates with the National Minority Manufacturing Institute to increase the number of minority manufacturers in the U.S. Quality Packaging is a Corporate Plus member.

The NMSDC Network includes a national office in New York and 38 Regional Councils across the country. There are 3,500 corporate members throughout the network, including America's top publicly owned, privately-owned and foreign-owned companies as well as universities, hospitals and other buying institutions. The Regional Councils certify and match more than 15,000 minority-owned businesses with member corporations that want to purchase their goods and services.