Lissa Miller With Truist

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. Another episode of GWBC Open For Business, and today we have a great guest, Lissa Miller with Truist. Welcome.

Lissa Miller: [00:00:29] Hi, Lee. Thank you. And thank you for welcoming me. Glad to be here.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:33] Well, I’m glad you’re here as well. For the two people out there who don’t know, tell us about Truist and tell us about your work as Chief Supplier Diversity Officer.

Lissa Miller: [00:00:42] Sure. Truist is a super regional bank based in Charlotte, North Carolina, and we have a myriad of banking products to serve people in those communities where we operate. And our purpose is to inspire and build better lives and communities. And one of the ways that we do that is through our Supplier Diversity and Sustainability Program, which I lead as Chief Supplier Diversity Officer.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:12] So, can you talk a little bit about, from an enterprise organization like Truist, why is having a chief supplier diversity officer important and what kind of work are you doing on a day-to-day basis to help in that area?

Lissa Miller: [00:01:26] Well, I don’t know if my role is so important, more important than our initiative, but our initiative is really to make sure that we’re reaching out into the community and including diverse and small businesses to be a part of our overall supply chain. And so, what that means is we’re intentionally working with organizations like the Greater Women’s Business Council and WBENC, The National Organization, as well as others to make sure that we understand those certified diverse businesses that are out there that could be potential supplier partners for Truist and providing us with products and services, and also making sure that we also give back to these businesses by helping them develop and become greater and obtain more capacity to do business with other clients, whether they’re in the financial services sector or other sectors of this great American economy.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:22] And that’s an important thing for the small business folks out there to understand that Truist might be in banking and finance, but they have needs across the board in lots of areas that aren’t banking and finance.

Lissa Miller: [00:02:35] We do. We do. We actually utilize a myriad of diverse businesses in the areas of technology, staffing, legal, marketing, construction, real estate, general and administrative. So, you know, it’s endless, really, of the types of products and services that we need, not only for our operations and our teammates, but also in the communities where we operate. And then, from that perspective, we also have our strategic suppliers who may have subcontracting opportunities to utilize these diverse businesses as well.

Lissa Miller: [00:03:13] So, annually we actually host our tier two Supplier Diversity Business Summit, which we hosted in-person for the first time this year in Charlotte, in our headquarter city, and we had over 250 who attended that. We had workshops, training, networking sessions, leadership came and spoke. And so, it was a really great event and it really enabled us to deepen those engagements with diverse suppliers who we may have been talking with on the phone or via email, or just connecting them with our strategic suppliers to learn of any upcoming opportunities with them or with our sourcing team at Truist.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:54] Now, what drew you to a career in supplier diversity? How did you find out about it and how did you pursue it?

Lissa Miller: [00:04:02] Well, it actually happened several years ago when I was at another organization and I was not in supplier diversity. I was serving on the diversity council representing my business unit. I was actually in sales. And we had a supplier diversity project because the company had not stood up a supplier diversity program before. They were looking at it, wondering what it was, why do it, what’s the business case. And so, I was on that project team, and as a result, gained a lot of knowledge and insight about actually what supplier diversity was.

Lissa Miller: [00:04:39] And I became quite interested in it. It really made a lot of sense to me for corporations like Truist and others, large corporations, to be able to have programs of this type and to be intentional because many people do not know that there are a lot of very capable businesses out there who are smaller, maybe, that they can potentially do business with.

Lissa Miller: [00:05:03] And so, you have to be intentional about actually finding out where they are, because they may not pop up on advertisements on your radio or T.V. or in social media, but they’re out there. And you really need to understand which organizations have done their due diligence to vet these suppliers, to make sure that they are who they say they are, and then join those organizations and avail yourselves to the network of certified and capable, diverse suppliers that you could potentially be doing business with in your organization.

Lissa Miller: [00:05:37] And that just gives you more innovation, more diversity of thought to some of the some of the services that you may be offering or products that you may be offering, definitely the cost benefit is low as far as the benefit is really high. The cost is low in most cases. And so, you know, I think supplier diversity professionals really have to debunk that myth that doing business with a smaller company may cost more because that is not the case. Actually, we’ve achieved cost savings, but we’ve also achieved innovation and just new ways of thinking about certain things that we may be looking to do or certain programs or products that we may be wanting to offer.

Lee Kantor: [00:06:23] Now, is there any story you could share about kind of the impact it makes when an organization like Truist partners with a smaller firm, a diverse firm. Is there anything that stands out to you when you look back at your career and say, “Hey, this really made a difference to that organization that we partner with?” But, also the ripple effect of, you know, their family, their community, it can really make a world of difference for these smaller companies.

Lissa Miller: [00:06:52] Yeah. I’m glad you spoke to that, because I think over my career I have seen that in action. I have known diverse supplier companies that had started out, basically, at ground zero and saw the passion and the hard work that they put in to really building their business. And that’s what America is all about, right? You come in, you have a dream, you have a vision, you may be scared but you step out and you do it, and you don’t know what tomorrow may bring, but you just keep going at it.

Lissa Miller: [00:07:27] And I think from my career, I have seen that and I’ve seen these companies grow exponentially, but it was not without sacrifice, it wasn’t without hard work. But the one thing I noticed with a lot of these businesses that they were able to really hire from the communities that they’re located in. They have very loyal employees that are really like family to them. And so, I think when you look at that and you think of all the families that they were able to support, it really says a lot about these business owners. And so, I really tip my hat to them.

Lissa Miller: [00:08:05] You know, I’ve been a serial entrepreneur for some of my life as well, and dibbed and dabbed in certain adventures and entrepreneurial exploits, and it’s hard work. It is not easy. It’s not for the faint of heart, I can tell you. And so, I’m impressed by these businesses who were able to bootstrap themselves and get to the point where they can support hundreds of families and lives, and kids going to college and kids getting married, and all of that just because of the dream of the vision that they had to start their business and the passion and the hard work that they put into it over the years.

Lee Kantor: [00:08:47] Now, why was it important to you to not only become part of GWBC but also to join the board and take a leadership role?

Lissa Miller: [00:08:57] Well, I always like to get behind organizations that I think are doing really great work. And that was definitely the impetus for me to join the Greater Women’s Business Council. I mean, Roz and her team are just fantastic. Roz is the ultimate leader from my standpoint, and so being able to support her and the team and just the board of directors who are really a great group of people who have, you know, the passion of helping women-owned businesses at the core of their heart.

Lissa Miller: [00:09:28] And I think it’s something where if you want to make an impact to an organization, you really have to get actively engaged. And that means, you know, join a committee, join the board, join something where you can provide some of the key working for corporate America to these nonprofits because they need your help. And not because they’re not capable, it’s just that there’s a lot of work to do.

Lissa Miller: [00:09:51] And so, I actually serve as the Chair of the Mentor Protege Committee. I don’t even know how many number of years it’s been now. But I gained so much pleasure in helping that committee to identify women-owned businesses to be able to be mentored by either corporations or larger women-owned businesses. And so, you know, I’m all for giving and making sure that I’m using all of my talents that I can to help others. And that’s a good way for me to do that by serving on the board and being a part of that committee.

Lee Kantor: [00:10:28] Now, if you were going to pitch maybe some women-owned businesses right now that aren’t members of GWBC, what would you say would be kind of the top, maybe, one or two reasons why they should really consider getting certified and getting involved?

Lissa Miller: [00:10:48] Well, certification has its benefits. It’s not the only arrow in your toolbox to be able to help you really target a client and land a contract, but it is one of the major arrows that you can use. And I think getting certified really helps you have a good conversation with a company who is really interested in increasing their spend with certified women-owned businesses.

Lissa Miller: [00:11:24] I can tell you that I have had instances over the last several years where we thought we were doing business with a certified woman-owned company, and at the end of the day, found out that they were not certified, so we were very disappointed and had to not identify that company as a certified women-owned business.

Lissa Miller: [00:11:46] And for supply diversity professionals, that’s really at the core of what we do as far as making sure that our data is correct, that we’re presenting certified diverse businesses to our internal business units or stakeholders. And when we don’t have that comfort feeling, we’re not really advised to share because, you know, we’re not sure if there is some fictitious information going forth or if someone is really trying to get under the wire as a certified company and is not certified. And so, I think it just makes supplier diversity programs in general more comfortable, feeling that the businesses that they’re dealing with are authentic, that they have integrity, and that there’s nothing to hide from that aspect of the ownership part of it.

Lissa Miller: [00:12:37] So, I think certification for Truist and other companies that are really trying to be intentional about working with diverse businesses, that is the way to go so that you can make sure that your company can be marketed to these entities and be brought into programs like supplier diversity initiatives that really focus on engaging with you, developing you, expanding your capabilities, and making sure that they’re utilizing you or they’re at least having those conversations.

Lissa Miller: [00:13:11] And what people don’t seem to realize as well is this is a small community sometimes, and so when we hear about a good supplier, certified diverse supplier, we oftentimes share that information with other peers who are looking for similar services. And so, especially in the financial services space, we have a lot of best practice sharing that goes along. And we oftentimes ask each other, “Well, can you give me a referral to a good certified diverse business that does a certain thing?” And so, it’s not uncommon for us to do that just because, you know, financial services is such a very regulated industry. And there’s a lot of risk mitigation that takes place as far as when we look at any supplier.

Lissa Miller: [00:13:58] And so, you know, if you’re working for one of the financial services companies, we love it and we love to hear how you’ve been able to impact that company positively, because then we can have more confidence knowing that if we brought you in to help us with the particular project, you’d do the same thing.

Lissa Miller: [00:14:19] So, certification is great, and I think any company that meets the criteria to be a certified business, especially a certified women-owned business, should take the effort or make the effort and apply to get certified and go through that process because it can only help you.

Lissa Miller: [00:14:36] I think, you know, becoming a part of the GWBC and just getting engaged is another way for you to get your business and your products or services in front of anyone who’s engaged with the GWBC. But it’s not only coming to events and participating, I mean, that’s good as well, but people do business with people that they trust. And so, if you’re in an environment where you’re working or you’re volunteering or you’re on a committee or you’re on the board, it really gets people to get to know you better and have those conversations with you and trust you because they know that (A) you’re dependable, (B) you’re authentic, (C) you have a common purpose. And so, it’s a win-win situation – win-win-win situation actually because I think it just gets you exposed to more people that can talk about you to others than you know of.

Lee Kantor: [00:15:39] Yeah. GWBC offers so much in terms of making connections, being that bridge between the smaller organizations to the enterprise as well as creating opportunities to collaborate amongst the WBEs so they can work together, join forces.

Lissa Miller: [00:15:59] I see a lot of that happen also. I mean, it’s great. You know, a lot of times business owners, they’re very lonely, right? They’re working on their business a lot, they don’t have time to network and socialize, and it creates a silo. And I think, you know, joining an organization like the GWBC kind of breaks down that silo and helps you be able to collaborate, even partner with companies that may be doing similar things of what your company is doing. There are a lot of playbooks out there for how companies can team up on different contracting opportunities, so that is not unusual either.

Lissa Miller: [00:16:39] I think, you know, companies really need to look more to do that type of thing to increase their capabilities, to do business with larger organizations. But this is the avenue and this is a place where you can do it at the GWBC to meet other like-minded women-owned businesses with whom you can partner with.

Lee Kantor: [00:16:57] Now, if you were giving advice to a peer maybe that works in another organization, how would you pitch the GWBC board opportunity to them if they were looking to join a board?

Lissa Miller: [00:17:10] I would say that they should consider joining the GWBC because it’s a great way to enhance their professional development. And I always talk about this to everyone about any board, and I serve on a number of boards, but I think serving on a board gives you a very good perspective of the organization that you’re supporting. It gives you that inside view of the organization and lets you understand what those opportunities are, what those challenges are, what are those areas that you can potentially bring your skillsets to, to help the organization to advance.

Lissa Miller: [00:17:55] And so, I think it’s great to be able to have that insight, but also the camaraderie that you build while you’re on the board with board members and understanding who they are, getting that opportunity to network and just share. You know, sometimes it might be a griping session, who knows? But just sharing some of the things that you may be going through, asking questions. A lot of times board members will ping each other and ask questions about how did you do X, Y, Z. So, it’s just a great atmosphere to be able to serve with like-minded, passionate board members who are all about promoting the organization, and so it makes you feel like you’re part of a team, which you are.

Lissa Miller: [00:18:42] And, also, I think having a role or taking on responsibility also helps with your professional development. I know over the years it’s helped me a great deal. Sometimes you don’t get that professional development at your place of work or you may not have time to get it at your place of work, but if you’re serving on a board, you will definitely be asked to do a bunch of stuff. So, that may take you out of your comfort zone, but it’s something that definitely will help you in your professional development and your experience.

Lissa Miller: [00:19:14] A lot of times, you know, what I’ve been doing is sharing best practices across organizations. I see one organization does something special or get something well done on this side and they may have another opportunity on the other side, I’m sharing that, not the name of the organization, but just some of those best practices just to understand that just because you’re on one board doesn’t mean you can’t share best practices across the boards that you’re on or across the committees that you’re on to make all of these organizations better. So, I just think it’s a great avenue that people should consider. And especially with the GWBC, we are looking for potential board members, so please reach out to us and let us know if you’re interested and available. We would love to have you.

Lee Kantor: [00:19:59] Looking forward to 2024, is there any events or programs or trends you’re seeing in the marketplace for GWBC?

Lissa Miller: [00:20:11] Well, I am super excited, of course, that the GWBC will be moving into their new office space pretty soon in the next few months. And so, that’s going to be super exciting. I’m really looking forward to that. A whole new model being added on to the organization as far as that space is concerned. Also, a whole new model with how we engage with women-owned businesses.

Lissa Miller: [00:20:38] So, a lot of super exciting, great things are coming in 2024. I don’t want to let all of the cats out of the bag right now, but I just think 2024 is going to be a great very impactful year for the GWBC. And so, I’m really looking forward to all that will unfold and all the new programs and things that will be offered.

Lee Kantor: [00:21:00] And then, is there anything that you can share about what’s happening in your career? Any exciting news?

Lissa Miller: [00:21:08] Not right now. We are at the end of the year, really trying to look at how do we go into 2024 with more gusto. We’ve had a very challenging year this year as far as all the conversations going on about supplier diversity. And so, we’re doing a reset right now. We’re trying to really just see how we can increase our impact in 2024, look at those areas of opportunity that we weren’t able to attack this year and really go after the next year.

Lissa Miller: [00:21:42] We’ve already got our conference schedule in mind, looking at all the major conferences that are coming up. Of course, we will be at the WBENC Conference in Denver in March, and so we’re really looking forward to being at the conference and participating, exhibiting and meeting all the the WBEs out there. We have lots of things going on in Q1.

Lissa Miller: [00:22:09] I think we’re just focused on really wrapping up this year, making sure that we have all our analytics process that we’ll be implementing next year to really understand how well we did. And then, just really galvanizing to go into 2024 with gusto and with energy and really trying to get some things accomplished that we may have not been able to accomplish this year due to time constraints. So, it’s just really at this time of year, it’s more reflective and planning strategically for how we’re going to go and approach the new year, and I think we’re on the right path there.

Lee Kantor: [00:22:49] And I can’t emphasize enough that if you’re a minority or a woman-owned, veteran-owned, disabled-owned, any type of diverse underserved group that wants to work with these enterprise level organizations, it’s so important to get certified to be vetted so that they can really go and partner with you because they want to. This is not something that that they’re just begrudgingly doing. They want to do this. And you have to be certified in order to really get a seat at the table there, I think.

Lissa Miller: [00:23:25] Well, yeah, I mean, it’s really important. We were talking about this the other day, not every small business is certified as a diverse business, but there are a lot of diverse businesses out there that have not gotten certification. And so, the issue is when these supplier diversity and sustainability teams try to find these businesses, they’re very hard to find, and so that’s why we’re members of the national organizations like the National Minority Supplier Development Council, the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council, the National Gay and Lesbian – National LGBTQ Chamber of Commerce – they changed their name – the U.S. Pan Asian American Chamber of Commerce.

Lissa Miller: [00:24:08] So, that’s why we’re a part of these organizations, the veterans organizations, we’re we’re a part of them or we’re partnering with them because we want to understand who their network of certified diverse businesses are so that we can make sure that we reach out to them when an opportunity comes up. If they’re not certified and they’re not in those databases, then we’re not able to find them, so it’s very critical.

Lissa Miller: [00:24:36] And I know I’m speaking to the choir right now, Lee, because I know you know it and I know it, but to others who don’t know it and who may be tuned into this channel, please know that getting certified is very important for corporations like Truist and probably to the Fortune 1000. And so, like I said before, it’s not the only tool that you use.

Lissa Miller: [00:24:57] And I always tell people this, these diverse businesses, I say, don’t lead with your certification when you contact us, but let us know in that conversation that you are certified. Because what we’re evaluating you on is your service, your capability. Are you a supplier that we need right now in our supply chain? What are your core capabilities? What do you do best? How do you do it? Who do you work with? We want to know that upfront. And then, after that discussion, we want to know if you’re a certified diverse business.

Lissa Miller: [00:25:32] So, please do that. It helps make our jobs a lot easier. And we’re able to understand and communicate with you what our sourcing process is so you can know if there’s opportunity upcoming or not or how to get in that process and see in the next year or so if opportunities will be available for you to participate.

Lissa Miller: [00:25:55] And just know that not every company can use every single diverse supplier that’s out there. There are limitations because we may not have adequate spend or need for so many diverse businesses in a category, but there are other peers that we speak to all the time that we can refer you to who may have opportunities. So, keep that in mind. We would love to do business with everyone, but unfortunately that’s not possible. But we would love to refer you to those peers that we’re in contact with all the time to make sure that your company and your capabilities are in front of them as well.

Lee Kantor: [00:26:34] So, if somebody wants to connect with you at Truist, or learn more about your supplier diversity programs there, or maybe just want to learn more about GWBC through you, is there a way to connect with you or LinkedIn or email?

Lissa Miller: [00:26:53] Yes. You can email me directly. You can email directly at lissa, L-I-S-S-A, .miller, M-I-L-L-E-R, @truist, T-R-U-I-S-T, .com.

Lee Kantor: [00:27:06] And if anybody wants to learn more about Truist, truist.com is probably the best place to do that. Lissa, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you.

Lissa Miller: [00:27:18] Well, thank you so much, Lee. I really enjoyed the conversation.

Lee Kantor: [00:27:21] All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you next time on GWBC Open for Business.