Breaking Barriers, Building a Hire Ground – Episode 136: Leveraging Supplier Diversity for Job Creation with Vickie Irwin at Southern Company

“We have to keep that cycle of money going through our small and diverse business communities because they’re the ones creating jobs.” – Vickie Irwin

Vickie Irwin is the General Manager of Supplier Sustainability and Equity at Southern Company, one of the largest energy providers in the country. Southern Company owns various electric utilities, natural gas distribution utilities, fiber optics, and wireless communications across multiple states. As General Manager, Vickie is responsible for building relationships that support the growth and development of small, diverse businesses. She is also a CPA and Project Management Professional who specializes in helping diverse companies partner with corporations.

Vickie joins us today to share how Southern Company promotes supplier diversity and discusses its supplier sustainability practices. She describes her role as General Manager of Supplier Sustainability and Equity. She explains how small businesses are driving half the jobs created in the US. She discusses the different cores that make up supplier sustainability and equity. Vickie also divulges the company’s ESG goals and what’s in store for Southern Company.

This week on Breaking Barriers:

• Who Vickie is and what it means to have sustainability and equity at Southern Company
• The company’s ESG goals and how supplier diversity can support them
• Where Vickie went to learn about sustainability
• The importance of supplier sustainability in small and diverse businesses
• Why small and diverse businesses are critical for jobs creation
• The different areas of supplier sustainability and equity
• Other areas of growth the company can still expand on
• The most prominent creators of job growth in the industry today
• Examples of diverse companies that champion supplier sustainability and equity 

Resources Mentioned:

• Milhouse Engineering & Construction

Connect with Vickie Irwin:

• Southern Company on Linkedin
• Vickie Irvin on LinkedIn

This podcast is brought to you by Hire Ground

Hire Ground is a technology company whose mission is to bridge the wealth gap through access to procurement opportunities. Hire Ground is making the enterprise ecosystem more viable, profitable, and competitive by clearing the path for minority-led, women-led, LGBT-led, and veteran-led small businesses to contribute to the global economy as suppliers to enterprise organizations.

For more information on getting started please visit us @ hireground.io today!

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