Overture Promotions, Waukegan, Illinois, announced that its parent company, Westbridge Capital, has been certified minority-owned by the Canadian Aboriginal and Minority Supplier Council (CAMSC), which is affiliated with the National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC) in the U.S.
Last month, Overture launched its Diverse Supplier Portal to help increase its Tier 2 spend, reaching out to 500 diverse-owned businesses with an invitation to sign up in the portal and give Overture sales reps information on their product offerings. In the first month after launch, over 30 new suppliers signed up. Overture’s 2022 goal is to increase spend with diverse suppliers by 30%.
“Overture is focused on walking our diversity talk,” said Jo Gilley, CEO. “We are dedicated to creating a more diverse workforce—half of our new hires in 2022 have been diverse employees, including two bilingual senior operations managers. We are training our staff to work toward inclusivity, we are celebrating our diversity, and we are creating space for important, awkward conversations.”
Overture’s employee-led Diversity & Inclusion Advisory Council (DIAC) created a mission statement for its work: “Overture is an involved, informed and inclusive organization that accepts, celebrates and showcases the uniqueness of our workforce. Weird is cool. Different is ideal. Identity is ever-evolving. Diversity is how we grow.”
In the past year, DIAC’s initiatives have included:
• All people and process managers at Overture participated in Diversity, Equity & Inclusion training by an outside trainer, with the rest of the employees receiving a condensed training. One employee said, “I think this is a difficult process, as things are changing so quickly and often. But it will be helpful to have colleagues who have learned the same things and are striving to ensure we have an inclusive workplace at Overture. Reminding others, sharing best practices and things you’ve learned or come across will continue to help our culture.”
• Overture established a hiring and training program for disabled veterans with Chicago’s Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center, which provides health care for veterans, active-duty military and their families, and military retirees.
• Overture employs special needs young adults in its distribution center, with customized kitting workstations and access to onsite coaching and expanded training.
• The distributor’s newest initiative is an online private resource group for parents of special needs kids to share resources and wisdom.
The preceding press release was provided by a company unaffiliated with Promo Marketing. The views expressed within do not directly reflect the thoughts or opinions of Promo Marketing.
