Speakers
Terrence Clark
President and CEO – New York and New Jersey Minority Supplier Development Council
Terrence Clark leads the way forward for staff and members of The Council community by providing oversight and guidance in relation to The Council’s goals and objectives. Prior to this position, he served as the Vice President of Entrepreneurship and Business Development for the National Urban League, where he was responsible for the management of all small business and entrepreneurship programs. Mr. Clark also served as the Senior Vice President of Knowledge Sharing for the Opportunity Finance Network, where he was responsible for community development for financial institutions nationwide.
In addition to serving on The Council’s board, Mr. Clark is proud to sit as a board member for TruFund Financial Services and the Supplier Diversity Development Council of New Jersey. He also sits on the Economic Impact Committee of Stonehenge Capital and on the Minority and Women Business Enterprise Advisory Councils for the NYC Comptroller and the NYS Governor. In 2021, he was named as one of the Notable Black Leaders and Executives by Crain’s New York.
Michelle Buonfiglio
Executive Director, Middle Market Banking, J.P. Morgan Chase
Michelle Buonfiglio leads J.P. Morgan Commercial Banking’s work in the Northeast United States to support Diverse-, Women- and Veteran-owned Businesses. Michelle works with individual entrepreneurs to understand their specific needs and goals, and then connects them to resources inside and outside the firm – from banking expertise, to educational programming, to networking and connectivity – establishing an ecosystem that enables their businesses growth. Michelle joined J.P. Morgan in 2004 and has been working with Middle Market companies since 2016. Michelle earned her M.B.A. from Fordham University’s Gabelli School of Business in 2017.
Jumoke “Joy” Fagbayi-Butts
Vice President, Senior Business Consultant, Chase Bank
Joy has over 12 years of experience at Chase and 16 years in financial services. Advocate, Strategist, Collaborator, Influencer, Mentor & Innovator with impeccable people skills. She is solutions-driven with a 360-degree approach of delivering evidenced based feedback.
Dedicated to developing the functional expertise of others, she has impacted thousands of business owners over the last decade. She served on JPMorgan’s National Advisory Board & Seton Hall Universities Customer Experience Program. She is an active board member with the SBA’s development center. As a speaker, panelist, thought leader amongst her peers and mentor she is excited to support JPMorgan’s Racial Equity Commitment.
I’ll work with you to help achieve your goals by making your business banking as simple as possible. I can provide you access to the broader team of experts in areas such as cash management, credit solutions, and other business services. We’re committed to helping your business:
• Gain access to educational resources on financial health and tips to grow your business.
• Take advantage of business networking programs to expand presence in your community.
• Use online and mobile tools to access your business accounts and telephone banking options for added convenience.
Patrice Gordon-Poyser
Supplier Diversity Manager, Mount Sinai Health System
Patrice A. Gordon-Poyser is Supplier Diversity Manager for Mount Sinai Health System in New York City. In this role, Patrice is responsible for the development, implementation, management, and strategic growth of Mount Sinai’s supplier diversity program. Her experience includes more than nine years of various responsibilities in healthcare supply chain, including contract management, procurement of products and services, as well as materials management, warehousing, and transportation logistics.
Patrice is a proud Jamaican who immigrated to the Bronx, New York in her early teens. Her passion for diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging is inspired by her lived experiences and her awareness of the difference that opportunities and support, along with hard work, can make for people and business owners from underrepresented groups to change the outcome for current and future generations. Patrice’s intentional, lifelong advocacy is guided by the work of many great leaders and is summarized by two of her favorite quotes: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and President Lyndon B. Johnson’s statement that “You do not take a person who, for years, has been hobbled by chains and liberate him, bring him up to the starting line of a race and then say, ‘you are free to compete with all the others,’ and still justly believe that you have been completely fair. Thus it is not enough just to open the gates of opportunity. All our citizens must have the ability to walk through those gates.” These values help to inform Patrice’s goal for supplier diversity to be so ingrained in procurement that solicitations will be inclusive enough to achieve exponential growth and socioeconomic impact in underrepresented communities.
Patrice has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University at Buffalo with double majors in Sociology and Health and Human Services as well as a Master of Business Administration in Healthcare Management from Western Governors University.
Rose Hatcher
Director, Supplier Diversity, Paramount
Rose Hatcher, is the Director of Supplier Diversity at Paramount, home to the leading portfolio of global, multi-platform entertainment brands. Through television, film, digital content, live events, streaming, merchandise, studio production and more. We connect with billions of people in nearly every country in the world. Rose has oversight of Paramount’s Supplier Diversity Program where she is responsible for driving strategies that increase supply chain inclusion and business relationships with diverse-owned businesses across the Paramount portfolio of brands. As an award-winning leader and recognized ambassador for diversity in talent and supply chain, Rose is excited to bring together non-profit advocate organization resources to support the full spectrum of supply chain management services at Paramount.
Prior to joining Paramount (formerly ViacomCBS), Ms. Hatcher held various leadership roles with Aetna, Prudential Healthcare, Ricoh Corporation and Wackenhut Investigations. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Bloomfield College, an MBA from Fairleigh Dickinson University, and a Project Management Certification from Boston University. Ms. Hatcher recently achieved a Certificate in Diversity & Inclusion for HR from Cornell University. She is an active corporate member of the National Minority Supplier Development Council® (NMSDC), Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC), National LGBT Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC), Disability: IN and serves on the board for two regional councils supporting diverse supplier opportunities and development.
Paula Machado Jackler
Founder, Ozzie
Paula Machado Jackler is the founder of Ozzie, an AI-powered financial assistant that uses psychology to help people get their money and life together – for good. She is passionate about using technology for the greater good, especially to improve people’s access to mental health and financial services. A former Organizational Psychologist turned Marketing leader, Paula has been scaling high-growth startups for almost ten years. After completing a Master’s degree in Psychology in her native Brazil, she returned to school in the United States where she earned an MBA degree, specializing in Entrepreneurship Studies. In her free time, you can find Paula traveling the world with her husband, mentoring younger women of color in tech, and running road races in the NYC metro area.
Reginald K. Layton
Managing Partner of Strategetics – Ralph G. Moore Associates (RGMA)
Reginald Layton serves as Chief Technology Officer for the RGMA Digital Suite. He recently retired from Johnson Controls International (JCI) where he served as Vice President of Supplier Diversity & Supply Chain Sustainability. In this position, he was responsible for overseeing all diverse purchasing activities and supply chain sustainability initiatives.
He joined JCI in 1997 where the company spent more than $22 billion with diverse firms since 1993. JCI was named Corporation of the Year in 2008 and 2003 by the National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC). Mr. Layton was named Minority Supplier Development Leader of the Year in 2013 and 2008, and Minority Business Enterprise Advocate of the Year in 2003 by NMSDC. He was also recognized with the 2021 Robert M. Stuart Award. This award is named for the founding chairman of the Board of the Directors of NMSDC and is presented to a leader who has invested their time, energy, and passion to advancing opportunities for Minority Business Enterprises in Corporate America.
He received both his bachelor’s in management science in 1986 and master’s in economics in 1989 from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. He served as a board member for NMSDC for ten years; board chair for the Southwest Minority Supplier Development Council (SMSDC) for eight years; and vice chair of the Billion Dollar Roundtable for four years. He also served for more than fifteen years on the advisory board for the Tuck School’s Minority Business Executive Program at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire.
Cheryl McCants
MBEIC Chair
Founder and CEO, Impact Consulting Enterprises
Cheryl McCants, founder and CEO of Impact Consulting Enterprises, currently serves as the chairperson of NY & NJ MBE Input Committee. Impact is a full-service marketing communication agency that helps clients connect with diverse audiences in respectful, memorable, and meaningful ways. As a bilingual (fluent in Spanish)public relations guru, digital communication strategist, diversity expert and project manager, Cheryl imparts her unique combination of straight, no-chaser insight, and ability to produce innovative programs into everything she does, while maintaining an exceptional customer experience of on-time, on-budget and high-quality service.
The holder of four college degrees and dozens of certifications, Cheryl is an award-winning professional communicator, DEI expert, and business strategist who delights in telling fresh and compelling stories that enhance her clients’ reputations and increase their bottom lines. Or, as Cheryl likes to say, “We tell award-winning stories that inspire smiles, trust and confidence.” Her expertise spans both the private and public sectors while crossing multiple industries and countries. This mompreneur also loves to garden.
Ralph G. Moore
President – Ralph G. Moore Associates (RGMA)
Ralph G. Moore, CPA, is one of the foremost thought leaders in supplier diversity and the creator of the RGMA 5-Levels of Supplier Diversity, which industry experts recognize as the benchmarking gold standard. Upon leaving Arthur Andersen, he worked in the private equity industry, focused on minority businesses which resulted in interaction with Congressman Parren Mitchell (D-MD) and Reginald Lewis. Their influence inspired him to start RGMA in 1979.
Career Milestones include:
- RGMA created the first minority certification program for the Illinois Department of Central Management Services in 1985.
- He played a vital role in the NMSDC missions that introduced Supplier Diversity to the business sector of South Africa in 1995/1996, shortly after Nelson Mandela became president.
- In 1997 the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC) retained RGMA to develop their initial strategic plan, which framed the growth of the leading women’s advocacy organization.
- RGMA created the award-winning supplier diversity program for Major League Baseball, including its thirty teams.
- RGMA has advised over 100 corporations, including half of the members of the Billion Dollar Roundtable
- RGMA has also advised over 1500 minority businesses through local, state, and federal contracts, including assisting 1000+ minority and women businesses to obtain their DBE certifications.
RGMA was the primary training consultant for NMSDC for 24 years and has trained more supplier diversity professionals than anyone worldwide. In recognition of his many contributions, he has been awarded the NMSDC Leadership Award and the NMSDC Harriet R. Michel Chairman’s Award.
Suma Kumaraswamy
Barclays’ Head of Global Experimentation, Patents & Innovation
Suma is a cross functional product & technology leader and inventor with several years of experience in banking, cards, payments and fin-tech. Suma who has 4 approved patents is currently the Head of experimentation, patents & innovation as part of the Group Innovation at Barclays. Prior to this she was head of the digital experience for the Barclays USCB product team. Under her leadership the US cards mobile app store rating went from 2.1 to 4.8/5; the app made it to the top 10 US credit card apps on pymts.com for the very first time and was also nominated for the Barclays CEO awards in 2021. Suma is a firm believer in collaborative human-centric design thinking to build products that can solve business problems, bring customer delight and add incremental value across multiple lines of business
Sheri Shafir
Director, Supplier Diversity, AMC Networks
Sheri A. Shafir is the Director of Supplier Diversity at AMC Networks. In her current role, Sheri champions Supplier Diversity to drive innovation, value, and social & economic justice within supply chain. Sheri develops strategy & KPI’s, educates, relationship builds, mentors and coaches as well as introduces qualified diverse and/or sustainable suppliers to AMC Networks’ decision makers and influencers. She serves on the NY & NJ Minority Supplier Development Council Board as the Executive Board Secretary since Jan 2023.
Prior to the AMC Networks’ role, Sheri was the Supplier Diversity and Sustainability Manager, Procurement at New York University, supporting the Office of Global Inclusion, Research, Sponsorships & Grants, and the Office of Sustainability. Prior to NYU, Sheri was Head of Supplier Diversity for Novartis for 20 years, including 2 years as a Senior Procurement Specialist for Marketing Services and Patient Recruitment. While at Novartis and NYU, Sheri was a founding Diversity Alliance for Science board member and active for 15 years. Sheri also worked at McGraw-Hill Publishing for a decade as an Advertising/Production Manager in the College Textbook division and five years at McBee/Deluxe, a checks & forms manufacturer, as the Director of Advertising and Communications.
Sheri earned a B.S. in Marketing and International Business from New York University’s Stern School of Business.
Trung Tieu
Supplier Diversity Program Manager, Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.
Trung Tieu is a passionate champion of diversity, equity & inclusion and an advocate for diverse-owned business enterprises. He joined Wells Fargo & Company as a Supplier Diversity Manager in 2022 and works closely with sourcing to align suppliers to categories. In addition, he works to advance supplier development/accelerator programs, certification validation, inclusion of diverse suppliers for end-to-end sourcing engagements, drive diverse growth spend, as well as to be a relationship manager for lines of businesses including: Consumer Lending; Corporate & Investment Banking; Wells Fargo Technology and Enterprise Operations. In his most recent role, he drove economic inclusion by increasing the development and utilization of diverse-owned business enterprises as a Supplier Diversity Manager at PepsiCo. He began his career in the Quaker Foods & Snacks division where he monitored innovation launches and designed product development tracking processes.
He currently serves on the board of the NYNJ Minority Supplier Development Council (NYNJ MSDC) and is co-chair of the NGLCC (National LGBT Chamber of Commerce) Procurement Council. He has previously served as co-chair of the National Minority Supplier Development Council’s (NMSDC) Consumer Products Working Group and as co-chair of the NGLCC Corporate Advisory Council. Beyond supplier diversity, he has served on the board of the LGBT Community Center of Milwaukee and as the Chair of the Board of Directors of the Windy City Performing Arts.
Trung holds both a B.A. and M.A. in Communication from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee where his research focused on “coming out” and identity construction. Trung is also a proud graduate of the UCLA Anderson School of Business LGBT Leadership Institute.
Dawn Wells
Assistant Vice President, Supply Chain, Northwell Health
Dawn Wells is a supply chain professional with a public health heart. She currently serves as Assistant Vice President of Supply Chain at Northwell Health, New York’s largest healthcare provider, serving NYC, Long Island, and Westchester. In this role she leads supply chain operations for the Health Systems’ Ambulatory Care Network comprising more than 830 physician practices and outpatient facilities. In addition to these responsibilities, Dawn takes an active role in championing and facilitating programs that impact all levels of the organization. She has been a consistent champion of diversity; representing the supply chain as a member of the diversity and health equity council and corporate social responsibility committee. In 2019, she chartered the health systems supplier diversity council that is charged with creating a cross functional action plan, ensuring that there is a system wide commitment to maintaining the diversity of the Health System’s suppliers, putting in place standardized processes for measuring goals and success, and partnering with external agencies to educate and deliver information to diverse suppliers within the communities served.
Dawn joined Northwell Health in 2003 as a member of the project implementation team that established a framework for integrating finance, supply chain, and human resources under a shared-services umbrella. Over the years she has defined and redefined her position and responsibilities in response to the organization’s rapid growth. She currently serves on the board of the NY&NJ Minority Supplier Development Council and holds a B.S. in Business and a Master of Public Health from Adelphi University.
Roland Williams
Chairman & CEO, Brown Diamond Holdings
Roland has a long history of high performance and transformational impact as a professional athlete, humanitarian, and entrepreneur. A graduate of Syracuse University, he went on to play in the National Football League for an accomplished eight-year career and was best known for being an integral part of the legendary St. Louis Rams’ “Greatest Show on Turf” offensive unit, breaking numerous records en route to a Super Bowl victory.
Following his professional football career, Roland has continued to enjoy success with his blueprint of discipline, teamwork and strategy. Whether as a sports analyst, a two-time Tedx speaker, or as an entrepreneur successfully launching and scaling multiple startups, Roland’s ability to develop effective teams, raise capital and strategically go to market have been a catalyst for exponential growth.
As Chairman & CEO of Brown Diamond Holdings (BDH), Roland has successfully become a transformational catalyst for economic equity and empowerment. With a portfolio of assets that include healthcare, manufacturing, consulting, technology and real estate companies, Roland’s unique ability to identify opportunities and create effective go-to-market strategies has been a winning formula for exponential growth. One of his largest investments, J2 Medical Supply, recently made news by becoming the largest African-American owned MBE manufacturer of disposable gloves in the United States.