diversity Archives - Page 4 of 4

Nelson Mullins and City of Atlanta Department of Procurement

March 8, 2016 by angishields

Midtown Business Radio

Nelson Mullins and City of Atlanta Department of Procurement

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Nelson Mullins and City of Atlanta Department of Procurement

We talked about important business considerations regarding ACA requirements this year, along with the opportunities to do business with the City of Atlanta through the Department of Procurement. I was joined in the studio by Ann Murray, attorney with Nelson, Mullins, Riley, and Scarborough, and Chief Procurement Officer for the City of Atlanta, Adam Smith.

The ACA business mandates have begun to be implemented on larger scales over the past two years. As we know, some of the requirements have been pushed back a couple of times, delaying their impact. But those times are behind us and business owners need to be spending time with legal experts such as those at Nelson Mullins, to assess what their obligations will be regarding providing health insurance benefits to some or all of their employees.

Ann explained the basics of some of these requirements around health benefits for the small business. She also discussed new reporting requirements that business owners must compile from multiple sources to be in full compliance with the law.

Murray talked about the fact that many business operators mistakenly think they’re exempt from the law’s requirements, failing to see that being a small unit that is part of a larger whole, as in the case of some multi-site businesses, potentially exposes them to have to offer benefits. Failure to comply can result in significant financial penalties that could literally threaten the business’s viability.

Atlanta’s Chief Procurement Officer, Adam Smith stopped by to share information about the upcoming Business Expo at the Georgia World Congress Center March 31st. This free-to-the-public event will feature a wealth of information about the numerous needs the city has for a wide variety of goods and services to operate the city’s 15 departments, including the Atlanta airport.

The expo will have sessions where small business owners can learn what is required to be able to bid on these opportunities, as well as how to fully complete the necessary documents contained in a bid to have their bid received and considered.

Adam explained that the city’s needs range from culinary services at the airport, to commodity supplies such as paper, pens, cleaning supplies, etc. Additionally, the city is looking for engineering services, cleaning services, construction, and numerous others as well.

Smith also talked about certifications available to disadvantaged business enterprises that once obtained, provides these businesses with access to opportunities ear-marked for diversity suppliers. He went on to distinguish these certifications businesses may obtain from county or state governments, as well as other certification bodies such as GMSDC.

Register for the upcoming Business Expo, hosted by Atlanta’s Department of Procurement at the Georgia World Congress Center, MARCH 31st HERE

Special Guests:

Ann Murray, Attorney with Nelson Mullins

JD, LL.M. Tax, Tax Law, University of San Diego School of Law
Author, numerous published articles on business law topics
Rated “AV Preeminent” by Martindale-Hubbell
Recognized as “Georgia’s Legal Elite” by Georgia Trend magazine

Adam Smith, Chief Procurement Officer at City of Atlanta

MARTA and Disadvantaged Business Enterprises

April 1, 2015 by angishields

Midtown Business Radio

MARTA and Disadvantaged Business Enterprises

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MARTA and Disadvantaged Business Enterprises

This week, Lara Hodgson, CEO and Founder of NOWaccount came by and brought experts from Atlanta’s mass transit authority and a WBE who’s worked with them to talk about MARTA and Disadvantaged Business Enterprises. Ferdinand Risco is the Executive Director for Marta’s Diversity and Equal Opportunity platform. This arm of MARTA focuses on engaging Atlanta’s disadvantaged business enterprises to provide them with opportunities to vie for contracts and sub-contracts to work with federally-funded projects around the community.

Ferdinand shared that their goal for DBE participation is 30% of contracts awarded to this demographic of Atlanta’s business community. He talked about the fact that there are business opportunities on a broad spectrum of needs from basic office supplies to construction, planning, and other services. We talked about the online resources MARTA makes available to allow local business owners to easily review current and upcoming projects they could potentially participate in.

We also talked about the fact that business owners need to go through the effort to establish credit and corporate structuring to position themselves to be able to meet certification requirements for DBE status. Through partnerships with GMSDC and SBA, MARTA helps business owners have access to these often-free education and mentoring resources, as well as access to necessary resources such as working capital.

Lara shared information about NOWaccount’s recent partnering with MARTA to make their innovative capital solution available to the B2B community. This solution gives business owners access to their AR capital within 5 days or less for 2.5% of the total AR sold. In this way, NOWaccount gives B2B’s quick access to the capital they’ve already earned so they can add new staff, take larger orders, or purchase in bulk on discounts they wouldn’t be able to get otherwise.

Lara also introduced us to Heather Alhadeff, President of Center Forward, a transportation and land use planning firm based in Atlanta. Heather is so committed to the value of mass transit, she hasn’t owned a car in years. In addition to avoiding headaches associated with driving with Atlanta traffic, she also has gained first-hand experience of what users of our mass transit system experience. This affords her with insight to be able to recommend options that would improve on the experience and/or allows her to effectively engage community residents when discussing developments (growth or retraction) of mass transit, road systems, or urban land development.

We talked about why transportation is such a key element of urban or city planning, discussing examples of how mass transit availability can have unexpected impacts on such facets of our lives as healthcare delivery and other important functions.

Special Guests:

Ferdinand Risco, Executive Director of Diversity and Equal Opportunity, MARTA

MBA, University of New Haven
Recipient, 2014 GMSDC The Ambassador Award
Former Bradley Platoon Leader, US Army
Previous Inclusion and Diversity Manager, MTA Metro-North Railroad

Heather Alhadeff, President, Center Forward

BS Planning & Economic Development, Georgia State University
MBA, City Planning, Georgia Institute of Technology
Published Author
Part-time instructor, Georgia Institute of Technology

Lara O’Connor-Hodgson, CEO of Nowaccount Network Corporation

MBA Harvard Business School
Former Adjunct Professor of Finance, Georgia Institute of Technology
Board of Directors, Georgia Regional Transportation Authority
Owner, Insomnia Group
Chairman of the Board, Atlanta Heights Charter School
Second Language–Japanese

Some backing music provided by: www.pacdv.com/sounds/

Lloyd Jarrell and Myra L. Reeves with The Home Depot discuss Workforce Diversity Programs

January 16, 2013 by angishields

Performance Difference Radio

Lloyd Jarrell and Myra L. Reeves with The Home Depot discuss Workforce Diversity Programs

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Lloyd Jarrell

Lloyd Jarrell is currently Director of Talent Management, Diversity at The Home Depot. He has been in the home improvement industry for the last 21 years and with the Home Depot since 2008. During this time, Lloyd has had many assignments in several regions including the Mid-West, Mid-Atlantic/Deep South and Gulf Coast. He was a store manager for 6 years and a district manager for 10 years. The home improvement business has been a passion of Lloyd’s for a long time. Lloyd is married with three beautiful children and is a graduate of West Virginia State University, a Historically Black College and University (HBCU).

Myra L. Reeves

Myra is the Manager of Diversity and Inclusion at The Home Depot and is responsible for managing a variety of programs and projects that drive associate engagement for more than 300,000 associates. Specifically, Myra is responsible for overseeing assigned aspects of short and long range Diversity and Inclusion strategies targeting recruitment, retention and development of diverse talent. In addition to managing the day to day operations of seven Associate Resources groups, she interfaces with key community leaders and external diversity partners to enhance the Company’s presence and engagement in the community.

Myra joined The Home Depot in April 1999 as a Learning Specialist and Facilitator for the Learning Department. As a Learning Specialist, she was responsible creating and implementing store operations training programs for associates.

Prior to joining The Home Depot, Myra spent 10 years with Verizon Wireless (formerly GTE Wireless) serving in wide range of roles focused on customer service as well as Training and Development. She has also served in the capacity of Public Information Manager for the City of Atlanta under the administration of former Mayor Shirley Franklin.

Born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, Myra is a graduate of Georgia State University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism.

In addition to her active membership and involvement with the youth and women of Antioch Baptist Church North, she is also very active in numerous organizations including the Westlake High School PTSA and board of directors of the Urban League of Greater Atlanta.

Myra is married to Jeffrey C. Reeves and they have one daughter, Jasmin Joi and a son, Jebril Bryant.