WBENC 2022: Randy Brown with Emory University

Intro: [00:00:04] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Atlanta, Georgia, it’s time for GWBC Radio’s Open for Business. Now, here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:18] Lee Kantor here, broadcasting live from WBENC’s National Conference 2022 at the Georgia World Congress Center. We’re inside the booth of GWBC, and that’s booth 1812 if you want to come by and see us. Right now, we have Randy Brown with Emory University Manager, Supplier Diversity Program. Welcome, Randy.

Randy Brown: [00:00:37] Thanks. I appreciate it. Looking forward to the conversation.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:39] Well, I’m excited to learn what you’re doing at Emory. Talk about the Supplier Diversity Program over there. How are you serving folks?

Randy Brown: [00:00:47] Well, first of all, Emory is listed as the largest employer in the metro area for the last two years. We’re the largest healthcare in the metro area. Prior to the pandemic, our economic impact was 14.8 billion, including health care.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:00] Starts adding up to real money, right, after a while?

Randy Brown: [00:01:03] Yeah. Well, that’s the economic impact, not spend. The thing for us is that we spent the last couple of years, about 20-plus years, focused mostly on our government contracts that we get from NIH, and research contracts, and also CDC. We have about $2 billion in research contracts. Bringing me on in 2020, December 2020, my current boss, Scott Schachter, and our CPO, Kevin Nash, and then our VP of Finance, Debbie Mowry, wanted to expand the program to survive diversity and inclusion.

Randy Brown: [00:01:36] So, in the first year, we were able to increase our spend exponentially. I think it’s around $10 million from me coming on and including the fact of adding more diverse vendors. One that we talk about the most is the fact of even having a diverse vendor for our sanitation that we deal with. It helps us from a sustainability standpoint and increasing visibility for Emory as well to be more inclusive within the metro area.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:04] And it’s one of those things when the enterprise-level organizations like yours come into play and start thinking about, hey, let’s see if we can engage with the more of the diverse suppliers, the impact is huge for them. Like a contract for them of 20,000, 50,000, 100,000 it’s game-changing. You can change their individual—them as an individual, their family, their community. And for you to be thinking like that and to opening kind of a wider net for folks, it must be very rewarding for you.

Randy Brown: [00:02:39] It is. I think that we look at it from a standpoint of what our mission is. Our mission is to create, teach, preserve, and apply knowledge in the service of humanity. Emory is really no more so for some of the research or the educational pieces that we do, but I talk about the fact that as we continue to do this work, we’d be in the business already of students, research, and patients, and health care. By being more inclusive and diverse vendors in the metro area, we’re able now to expand those areas, where people are going to come to Emory for those things that I just mentioned.

Randy Brown: [00:03:13] The best thing about my job is the fact of seeing businesses that mature as they grow. Now, I’ve only been there a year-and-a-half, but however, we’ve accomplished a lot, even using for—since the pandemic, we usually have a staff fest in the spring right after graduation, hadn’t had it in two years, had it this year. The first time ever we used a certified woman-owned minority business and we sold more t-shirts that we have in the last—any staff as we have prior to me coming.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:42] Right. So, the impact is real. Like this is not kind of this hypothetical, I wish this could happen. This is something you’re seeing it happen. You’re seeing the results, and then the impact you’re making is real. Now, as you’re moving forward, why why was it important to partner with GWBC?

Randy Brown: [00:03:58] Well, previously, Emory was members of the Georgia Supplier Development Council, but I felt that expanding our reach into other areas and other councils. So, the first was Greater Women’s Business Council. Then, this year, we expanded the Georgia Hispanic Chamber, and then OUT Georgia. The more that we’re able to expand our reach and engagement, it allows us to get more diverse vendors in, because we can’t reach them.

Lee Kantor: [00:04:22] Right. You don’t know everybody.

Randy Brown: [00:04:23] We don’t. I try my best, though. I’ve been here a lot. But yeah, that’s basically the goal, is to try to at least be able to reach out to those that we don’t know or get the word out.

Lee Kantor: [00:04:32] So, now, if there’s somebody that wants to partner with Emory, do you have a directory? Is there a way to kind of let them know they exist and to get on your radar?

Randy Brown: [00:04:41] So, one thing I would suggest is going Google, in the sense of Emory Supplier Diversity Program. We’re revamping the site, so at some point by August, we hope to have it changed. But you can email supplier.diversity@emory.edu. Again, supplier.diversity@emory.edu. Send us your capability statement. I always ask that they include at least 2 to 3 things that they feel they can do for Emory. The reason I say that is my background originally was working with an MBE, but also worked in various other positions.

Randy Brown: [00:05:18] But from a sales standpoint, you should already know the customer you’re trying to get and you should know some information about them. You also leverage the fact of Emery’s name being a very prominent figure in the metro area. However, I also recommend to vendors that come in, don’t try to eat a whale. They assume when they see Emory, they’re like, oh, it’s huge, we’ve got the Oxford campus, our research, everything else. Focus on what you do. So, we’ve had companies that say they do light bulbs, but they do other—that’s it. Focus on the lightbulbs.

Lee Kantor: [00:05:49] Lightbulbs, right.

Randy Brown: [00:05:50] Stay in your lane.

Lee Kantor: [00:05:51] Start small, dream big.

Randy Brown: [00:05:52] And that’s it, because we understand that. And the other thing is don’t look at it as your pipeline for all your business. Focus on continuing to do it, because the advantage for us is the fact that we’re willing to increase and do this work in the last year-and-a-half. And the other piece is, as mistakes happen, things happen, we want to make sure that we are addressing that through a process so that people don’t get a bad taste in their mouth.

Randy Brown: [00:06:16] Average employee at Emory is around 15 years. We’ve got people on staff that have been there 30 years. So, you imagine them in these cycles of being used to working in the same way, some complacent maybe in the sense of, I’m doing my job, habit-forming, so we started a new acronym that we use called PREP. So, PREP is something I brought along that basically means pause, reflect, evaluate, proceed. Pause before any engagement, reflect on what you’ve done in the past, and then go ahead and evaluate it from a standpoint if there’s an opportunity for a diverse vendor or sole source.

Randy Brown: [00:06:54] We do, do a lot of scientific, so that would mean that we do. And then, the other one is proceed. We don’t want to delay the pipeline of work that needs to be done. And in our case, we’re also decentralized. Because we’re such a big university, some business units that have their own procurement department. So, I try to focus a lot of that through central procurement, but I also do a road show.

Lee Kantor: [00:07:13] Right. So, you have to go around to introduce these vendors to maybe different groups that wouldn’t have been aware, because they have their own system internally. So, now, it was great advice, I think, for folks out there that are listening when it comes to when you’re selling yourself to an enterprise level of organization, start small, do a great job, prove yourself, make everybody comfortable, learn how to work together. And then, over time, you can expand, but don’t try to rush into things and try to do 14 different things for somebody, even though that you know you could.

Randy Brown: [00:07:45] Yeah, I agree with that. I think that I look at it from a standpoint of when we bought a house that had a fireplace, it was a traditional fireplace, not a gas logs or gas starter. So, I kept having problems trying to build this fireplace—I mean, build the fire. And so, I looked it up, Googled it, and then looked on YouTube. So, look at it from a standpoint of igniting your business, right? So, in other words, when you’re doing it, do you need fuel heating air?

Randy Brown: [00:08:08] The fuel is usually the newspaper. The heat is the kindling, which is new wood, thin, and you stack it close together, and then spread it out to allow air to come in. That creates a flame. And that’s kind of how you want to look at it from the standpoint coming into Emory. The advantage is as you continue to do that, at some point, you find a log that will push you other places, because I am not that person that’s authorized to do that. All I could do is be an advocate. And so, in doing so, you know that if you put a new piece of log on to cook, it’s getting cooked.

Lee Kantor: [00:08:41] You’re not going to heat anything.

Randy Brown: [00:08:42] Didn’t need to heat anything.

Lee Kantor: [00:08:43] You’ll just be frustrated.

Randy Brown: [00:08:43] But it has to be something weathered. It’s been through some things. The advantages, you get someone with the wisdom that’s been at Emory that is your advocate that, now, can basically say, hey, we’re going to push this forward. And I think that’s where you develop your relationship.

Lee Kantor: [00:08:58] Right. You have to be patient and let it evolve, and you earn your way up the ladder.

Randy Brown: [00:09:02] Yeah, that’s definitely true. And the one thing I’ll say is that, also, continue to do your research on whoever you’re working with. So, if we’re not in the news, find out where you can find news about us. Use the student paper, use the Emory Report, which is our university paper, but engage with areas of Emory to try to do that. However, I will say, continue to work with the supplier diversity manager, because they are your advocate. So many times, we developed a relationship, and then months later, I’m hearing, oh, well, we’re having a problem, I wasn’t on the email, I didn’t know about it.

Lee Kantor: [00:09:39] Right. You couldn’t help.

Randy Brown: [00:09:40] I couldn’t help. The other thing is having developed those processes in the background that we want to do, quarterly meetings, making sure that we’re doing what we need to do on our part, but also doing the same for the vendor.

Lee Kantor: [00:09:51] Right. The communication is important. I mean, you’ve got to check all these boxes, and that’s why you can’t fast-forward these things even though you’d like to. You just got to let it play out. It’s going to take as long as it takes. Do the best you can, earn your way up the ladder, and do a great job, and then you’ll see it evolve and you’re going to have more opportunities.

Randy Brown: [00:10:11] I think about it from the standpoint of the pandemic. The pandemic put the country on pause for about two years. However, prior to that, everything was microwaved. We’re coming out of the pandemic, now, you’re trying to accelerate that microwave, because you’re like, oh, I’ve had two years.

Lee Kantor: [00:10:26] Right. I’ve been waiting.

Randy Brown: [00:10:26] But instead of basically going back, to steal the PREP analysis, pausing, so you can basically make sure, because things have changed and evolved, technology has changed, however, the opportunities are going to be there if you’re willing to wait, but also be patient and consistent in your communication.

Lee Kantor: [00:10:43] Well, Randy, if somebody wants to learn more about the program, what’s the best way again?

Randy Brown: [00:10:46] Again, Google it. It’s under Emory Supplier Diversity, but also be able to send an email to supplier.diversity@emory.edu. And we ask that you send your capability statement. If you don’t know what that is, get with Greater Women’s Business Council, they’ll be happy with that.

Lee Kantor: [00:11:04] Right. They’ll be happy with that.

Randy Brown: [00:11:05] The other one is that you also need to make sure that you are a certified minority vendor. We definitely ask that. The other one is that as you do that, make sure you give us one or two items that you feel you can provide for Emory, but stay in a smaller-

Lee Kantor: [00:11:18] Right. The super power, the thing you do best.

Randy Brown: [00:11:22] Yes.

Lee Kantor: [00:11:22] Well, thank you again for sharing your story. You’re doing important work and we appreciate you.

Randy Brown: [00:11:26] Thank you.

Lee Kantor: [00:11:27] This is Lee Kantor. We’ll be back in a few. Broadcasting live from WBENC’s 2022 National Conference inside the GWBC booth.