Champions of Diversity

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CHAMPIONS OF DIVERSITY newsletter 7 6
“D is a tremendous leader on the Diversity Team! They are shining examples of WWT’s core values
at work; making a difference in the communities in which our employees work and live. Their sup-
port of the various Supplier Diversity, Diversity and Inclusion and Charitable organizations has
allowed us to have a voice in important conversations that impact communities of color. In addi-
tion to the personal enrichment they receive by supporting these organizations, their involvement
opens doors to relationships with key representatives from our customers who have similar initia-
tives. This has proven to be invaluable to our sales teams across the globe.” – Dave Steward,
co-founder and chairman, World Wide Technology
#theEditor’sCornerwith Madison Gunter III
It is no secret that technology can drive a
company’s success.
Award-winning, certified minority-owned Cisco Gold Certified
Partner World Wide Technology understands this principle
well. Founded in 1990, WWT has grown to be a reported $10.4billion
company with more than 4700 employees. It does not rely solely
on its successes in providing customers with advanced technology
solutions, it also attracts and retains new customers with their own
supplier diversity initiatives and exceeds their expectations.
World Wide Technology “gets” business diversity and officially
started weaving business diversity into its corporate fabric over 10
years ago. Dicran Arnold, director of business development, West-
ern Region, WWT, shared with us the company’s secret sauce for
success and how it all began.
MG3: Can you give an overview of how long you’ve been with WWT
and how you came to create the diversity overlay positions for
WWT?
DA: After leaving my previous job as director of procurement, I
started as an account manager at World Wide Technology in 2004,
thirteen and a half years ago. Today, I amdirector of business devel-
opment for the West region and part of that leadership team. The
biggest part of my role still focuses on supplier diversity, but be-
cause it has expanded into other areas, I decided to drop “diversity”
frommy title.
You’ve heard of the Bible story about Solomon, the baby, and two
women who claimed to be the baby’s mother. Like Solomon, my
manager Dan Walters used his wisdom to make a decision that led
to the framework of the diversity business development position. I
had just moved to the Bay Area to start the process of building out
our team. A couple of months later, we hired several new account
managers, including Monica Moore, from competitors. She and I
both were calling on Kaiser, and neither wanted to share control
of the account. Playing to both our strengths and backgrounds,
metaphorically, Dan split the baby and gave me responsibility for
the supplier diversity and procurement relationships and Monica
responsibility for the OEM and IT relationships, and it worked! After
we successfully pursued Kaiser, Dan and I discussed how themodel
might offer value to other account managers in the region that may
not have strong procurement or diversity backgrounds, and he em-
powered me to provide it.
MG3: What are the responsibilities of these positions?
DA: Since then, I have had great teammates like Malcolm Goodwin,
David Keen, Brian Sharpless, and Shay Gillespie that have helped
shape the role as we know it today. While each region operates a
little differently, our role continues to evolve from the early days,
and I have learned a lot from each of them. Today, Brian, Shay and
I continue to bring new ideas to the table to make our roles more
valuable to the company, our partners, and our customers. Within
our respective regions, we lead or support many of WWT’s diversity
initiatives and STEM outreach at events and with different organiza-
tions. We also sit on several of the Minority Business Enterprise in-
put committees and on the board of directors for several of the Na-
tional Minority Supplier Development Council’s regional affiliates.
MG3: What have you contributed to the development of these posi-
tions to make this initiative successful?
DA:Being the first one is always the hardest. You are on an island by
yourself with plenty of support, but no one to turn to for guidance
on how to make the role successful. My greatest accomplishment
was proving that this position has tremendous value and that the
company should invest in additional resources. Also, I realized that
no one does anything on their own and, in order to be successful, I
would need a village to help me. I started building a foundation of
support that started at the top with Dave Steward, WWT’s founder
and chairman, and Ann Marr, WWT’s VP of HR and supplier diversity.
To this day, Dave and Ann are very active with the team and con-
tinue to ask how they can help us be successful.
MG3: What is the biggest obstacle that you faced or are facing?
DA: Whether it is a potential supplier, a customer, an account man-
ager, a council, or a partner organization, there is always something
on my plate. Internally, the position caught on fast, but externally
is where I have faced—and we still face—some of the biggest chal-
lenges. Today, because most MBEs aren’t the size of WWT, people
always want the owner of the company. They don’t realize that we
are empowered to make decisions. In many cases, we are not ex-
tended the same respect as the smaller MBE owners, even though
our effect could be equal or greater.
MG3: What has been the impact on WWT, its customers, and its
stakeholders?
DA: Our role has allowed each of us to be an ambassador for WWT
at different charitable, social, political, and diversity events. Many
of our customers have diversity and STEM initiatives, and they real-
ize that they made the right choice by partnering with a company
that is very active in these communities.
Internally, this position has also become a feeder position for future
account managers. Today, Malcolm Goodwin and David Keen have
moved on from their diversity business development roles and
have become successful account managers in our sales organiza-
tion.
MG3: How does WWT’s leadership view these positions? What has
been the impact to WWT?
DA: Dave feels that WWT, as one of the largest MBEs, should be
an inspiration for smaller MBEs. Too often, you don’t see the more
successful MBEs at diversity events anymore. If the WWT story has
helped or encouraged one MBE, then we have made a difference
in this world. I am only here today because others have helped me
and, to this day, they continue to help me. I am truly blessed!
continued on next page
WWT Diversity Team at 2017 NMSDC BOE
WorldWideTechnology's SecretSauce
BUSINESS BUSINESS
DIVERSITY DEVELOPMENT ! is
Stan Sena, president/CEO, Mountain Plains NMSDC and
Dicran Arnold, WWT