Relive the Pitch Contest – recording & chat log coming soon!

Pitch Contest

Part of the WRMSDC Expo Series

Thursday, August 27, 2020 – 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. PT
Contact Us
Pitch Contest Agenda
Diverse Suppliers Digital Directory

10 Diverse Suppliers will pitch live in front of a virtual audience. Come cheer them on and vote for the winners! This event will also feature two micro trainings for diverse suppliers: “Make Your Digital Pivot” and “Virtual Selling: Get Customers to Swipe Right on You.”

Who can Attend: everyone!
Who will Pitch: 10 pre-chosen diverse suppliers
Winners will win cash prizes and scholarships

Pitch Contestants

Competition Group #1


Competing for: (1) $1,000 Cash Prize from and (1) scholarship to the Business Growth Accelerator Program at St. Mary’s College of CA, provided by
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Winner!
Marlon McWilson
Company Profile: Cal Cleaning Solutions Inc., is a full service Bio-Risk mitigation company. We offer dry fogging disinfecting and UV lighting sterilization to kill pathogens that can cause COVID-19 and other diseases. Industry applications: Government/Corporate Facilities; Warehouses; Restaurants/Gyms; Schools/Universities; All Vessels of Transportation and Fleets; Homes; Hospital.
Rahul Deedwania
Co-Founder
Company Profile:Since 2016, BreakoutIQ has designed in-person and virtual shared, common experiences that are not only fun and memorable, but also help teams stay connected, establish stronger relationships, and work better together. Headquartered in San Francisco, BreakoutIQ has extensive experience working with corporate clients across the world, and we believe that cultivating and investing in team culture is more critical than it’s ever been for maintaining high functioning teams during difficult times.
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Runner-up!
Shaundell Newsome
Visionary and Founder
Company profile: Shaundell Newsome, a two-time SBA Award winner is the Founder & Visionary of Sumnu Marketing, a firm focused on small business branding and marketing. He has been in the industry since 1982 while attending the H.S. Of Graphic Communication Art, interning for printing shops and starting his own graphics company.

Shaundell’s marketing highlights include playing a major role in developing the Station Casinos Boarding Pass Program, a premier loyalty program throughout the world. And he created The Twelve Steps of Marketing, A Perfect Guide to Branding as a roadmap to assist entrepreneurs with attracting and retaining loyal customers.

Website: www.sumnumarketing.com
Fun Fact: Sumnu Marketing is a third generation family-owned business!
Gerald Johnson
Principal of Sabacon Consulting
Company profile: Gerald Johnson is the Principal of Sabacon Consulting, a management consulting firm, whose focus is management, marketing and sales strategy. His company creates business opportunities by assisting leaders to make better decisions and execute those decisions more effectively.

In addition to his consulting efforts, Gerald is also involved in the community and numerous networking organizations. He is the President of the Brentwood Chamber of Commerce, CFO of the Industry Council for Small Business Development, Secretary of WRMSDC’s MBEIC, a Board Member of the Institute of Management Consultants NorCal Chapter, and a Director Consultant for the BNI SF Region.

Competition Group #2


Competing for: (1) $1,000 Cash Prize from
Imelda Alejandrino
CEO + Creative Director
Company Profile: Founder and chief evangelist of AP42, Imelda leads a top-quality team driven by a successful combination of quality creative, strategic focus, and client services. AP42 lives and breathes creativity: finds creative solutions to problems, new ideas to familiar programs, and celebrate the unique and colorful people with whom they work.

AP42 maintains strong relations with a veritable Who’s Who of leading brands including: PG&E, Accenture, Teletech, NetApp, and Silicon Valley Bank. Imelda has an affinity for nonprofit organizations and has helped numerous nonprofits with marketing, which has positively impacted their community, such as the Sentinels of Freedom and OpenHeart Kitchen.

AP42 Fun Fact: AP42 provides pro bono marketing support to an annual summer comedy benefit called Comedy Uncorked. The shows occur among vineyards at a winery in Livermore, and proceeds support the nonprofit OpenHeart Kitchen.
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Winner!
Rahul Kuruvilla
President and Founder
Company Profile:I moved from India to US in 1998 to chase my American dream. After completing an MS in CS -I worked for Peoplesoft and in 2005 started Triune Infomatics. Our goal was to take my experience as a Consultant and create a company which treats Clients and Employees with honesty and Integrity.

Our Motto is People, Quality, Cost and Delivery. We have grown every year since 2005 and were on the Inc 5000 list for 4 years straight. We are a Full Service IT Services company -doing Product, Consulting and Staffing. We also work with students with disability as our way of giving back.

I have been married for 16 years and have 2 kids. I believe the world would be a lot nicer if everyone treated the other person with love and respect. Each person is entitled to their view and we should try and live in harmony.
Regina Jones
President
Company Profile:Regina Jones, BSN, RN, President of Accurate, has over fifteen (15) years of experience in the area of screening and testing. Ms. Jones’ experience ranges from clinical nursing, clinical research to business. Prior to starting this company, Regina managed clinical research trials for major biotech and medical device companies in the bay area. In this position, Ms. Jones worked closely with addiction specialists and substance abuse professionals. Regina is a strong advocate for local youth and is committed to ensuring her staff volunteers, while getting paid, in the local underserved community it is located in and represents.

Fun Fact: We think is “fun” and important to be committed to advocating and work with our local congressional officer representative to assist with spreading the word in our community about legislation that may adversely impact our people and businesses.

Competition Group #3


Competing for: (1) $1,000 Cash Prize from
Mario Stadtlander
President
Company Profile: Eagle Promotions is a diversity-owned Top 50 promotional products distributor. Eagle stands out with our in-house sourcing team, award winning graphics department, trend and fashion forecasting, screen printing, embroidery, kitting, fulfillment and logistics all under one roof. Companies from small to Fortune 500 companies rely on Eagle promotions daily. Our financial strength gives our partner security knowing we will be here tomorrow.
Karl Walter Kamb Jr.
Managing Partner And Owner
Company Profile: As the owner of C3, Karl has forged into this enterprise his combined experience of over 30 years in the consumer products, technology and consumer marketing space to create an innovative and admired company in the gaming marketing and strategic consulting business. From his early roots in the consumer music industry working for companies like CBS Records and Toshiba America, Karl spent over ten years in Japan and Asia developing segments of what is today some of the foundational technologies that most consumers use every day, such as short messaging and carrier-based text messaging and web services, to high definition widescreen HDTV display devices. Karl pioneered the early use of these technologies in casinos around the US. Karl has held top executive positions with Wal-Mart Stores INC, Compaq Computer and Hewlett Packard Corporation as well as owing his own enterprises for well over a decade.

Today, Karl is focused on his many gaming clients and develops hundreds of leading campaigns and incentive programs that consistently deliver superior results to drive elevated player satisfaction and visitation; resulting in longer time on device and higher carded-play percentages. Karl holds a BS in Management from the University of Phoenix and a MS in International Marketing from the University of Texas, at Austin.
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Winner!
Valarie Barnett
Sr. Vice President of Global Accounts
Company profile: SBM is a minority-owned facilities management company with 38 years of experience delivering workplace support services to a dynamic customer base. Our soft services include custodial, GMP and cleanroom sanitizing, vendor management, pest control, landscaping, sustainability and waste-management, light building maintenance, and more. SBM employs a skilled workforce of 11,000 providing the highest level of service across national and international portfolios, corporate HQs, manufacturing, high-tech, life science, and medical facilities, and multi-tenant buildings.

Speakers

Cecil Plummer
President & CEO
Cecil Plummer is the president and a member of the Board of Directors for the Western Regional Minority Supplier Development Council. Plummer formerly worked with Robert Half for 17 years and left his most recent position as the Director of CSS Strategic Solutions to join the Council. Plummer has over 13 years of executive leadership experience and possesses a solid background in strategic sourcing, change management, performance and process improvement, Supplier Diversity, strategic planning, and risk management.

Training topic: Virtual Selling: Get Customers to Swipe Right on You
Speaker sponsored by
Headline Series Sponsor
Antione Bennett
Director of Enterprise Supplier Diversity
Antione is responsible for leading Cardinal Health’s national supplier diversity initiatives which are designed to enhance its purchasing activities and long-term relationship with small, minority, veteran, woman and LGBT-owned businesses. Prior to joining Cardinal Health, Antione served on the board of Northern Ohio Minority Business Council, an affiliate of the National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC) which offers programs and services that help member organizations identify and build relationships with minority-owned businesses. He currently serves on the board of the Healthcare Supplier Diversity Alliance (HSDA). Antione also led the Supplier Diversity program and Strategic Sourcing and Procurement group at Nationwide Insurance. Prior to that he led all of U.S. Procurement at JP Morgan Chase. Antione earned a bachelors degree in economics from Cleveland State University and an MBA from Ohio Dominican University.
Pitch Contest Sponsor
Joan Kerr
Director, Supply Chain Responsibility
Joan Namahana Kerr is PG&E’s Director of Supplier Chain Responsibility (Supplier Diversity, Sustainability and Ethics). Under her leadership PG&E has more than tripled its annual spend with diverse business enterprises, exceeding $2 billion and 40 percent of total procurement since 2013. During her tenure, PG&E has garnered many supplier diversity recognitions, including those given by the National Minority Supplier Development Council, Women’s Business Enterprise National Council, the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce and the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. PG&E is a member of the Billion Dollar Roundtable, an elite group of corporations that annually spend $1 billion or more with certified diverse suppliers.
Sydni Craig-Hart
CEO
Sydni Craig-Hart is CEO of Smart Simple Marketing and a 4th generation entrepreneur. Since 2006, her team, having worked with over 10,200 small businesses in 79 different industries, has been helping companies to drive engagement with small, minority- and women-owned businesses. If you want to increase the value of existing-customer spend, recapture marketing investments, grow customer lifetime value or reduce churn , speak with Sydni to discover how her team is doing this for companies like Facebook, Google, Instagram, Oracle and more. Be sure to ask about a copy of their best practices case study.

Training topic: Make Your Digital Pivot
Speaker sponsored by

Registration