UHC honors University of Mississippi Health Care with Supplier Diversity Leadership Award

For the first time, UHC has honored a member organization for the development and implementation of an outstanding supplier diversity program. Roberta Graham, UHC executive vice president, and Jake Groenewold, UHC senior vice president, Supply Chain, presented the Supplier Diversity Leadership Award to University of Mississippi Health Care at the UHC Annual Conference 2011 in Chicago on September 22.  

The award is based on several criteria:

• Structure and strength of the organization's supplier diversity program
• New programs or techniques that facilitated the growth of diverse businesses in 2010
• Utilization of diversity contracts, especially from Novation, UHC's supply contracting company
• Community involvement and outreach to minority-, women-, and veteran-owned businesses
• Senior leaders' involvement in supplier diversity development

"At UHC, we support strong supplier diversity programs because we believe that they are essential to fostering economic growth in members' communities and encourage competition and best practices," said Groenewold.