BellSouth Supplier Diversity Manager Deberah Stone Named NMSDC's Minority Business Enterprise Coordinator of the Year

    ATLANTA, Oct. 21 -- BellSouth Corporation is proud to announce that Deberah Stone, corporate supplier diversity manager, was honored as the National Minority Supplier Development Council's (NMSDC) Minority Business Enterprise Coordinator of the Year. The award, presented last night at NMSDC's Annual Conference and Awards Banquet in Washington, DC, cited Stone for exemplary dedication and service to minority business development. Stone has led BellSouth's supplier diversity program since 1997. She is the chair of the Georgia Minority Supplier Development Council (GMSDC, an NMSDC affiliate) and was also just elected as a vice chair of NMSDC's Chairpersons' Committee. "We are very proud of Debbie Stone's accomplishments," said Tim Houghton, BellSouth vice president and chief procurement executive. "It is a privilege to work with someone who is so sincerely dedicated to expanding opportunities for minority entrepreneurs. NMSDC is the nation's flagship organization for minority business development and I regard its MBE Coordinator of the Year award as the single highest professional honor in the field of corporate supplier diversity."
     BellSouth has an active supplier diversity program, spending more than $2 billion with diverse suppliers over the past four years alone, and works constantly to expand participation by minority-, woman-, and disabled veteran- owned firms. Earlier this year, BellSouth announced that it met -- and exceeded -- the 1999 SUPERCOMM Supplier Diversity Challenge. The SUPERCOMM Challenge had set a goal for the telecommunications industry to increase its business with diversity suppliers to at least 10 percent of total procurement by 2003.
"Entrepreneurship is an important avenue to greater prosperity in our communities," said Valencia Adams, BellSouth vice president and chief diversity officer. "The work that NMSDC is doing in partnership with corporations like BellSouth is helping to ensure that our minority communities share in the benefits of economic growth. That is a positive outcome at both the local and national levels, and is good for our business as well. Our commitment to minority business development is strong and enduring."
     The company is consistently recognized in its region as a champion of minority business development. In 2004, BellSouth was named Corporation of the Year by both the South Regions Minority Business Council (SRMBC) and the Florida Regional Minority Business Council (FRMBC). The SRMBC also honored BellSouth with its Crystal Award in 2003. The GMSDC has given BellSouth its prestigious Crystal Award twice in the last three years. These organizations have also given numerous individual awards to members of BellSouth's supplier diversity and procurement departments.
Nationally, BellSouth has been named for the past two years to DiversityBusiness.com's Div 50 listing of top corporations for multicultural business opportunities. For five consecutive years, BellSouth has ranked first on the NAACP's telecommunications industry report card, with supplier diversity performance being an increasingly significant differentiating factor.

About BellSouth Corporation

     BellSouth Corporation is a Fortune 100 communications company headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia and a parent company of Cingular Wireless, the nation's second largest wireless voice and data provider.
Backed by award winning customer service, BellSouth offers the most comprehensive and innovative package of voice and data services available in the market. Through BellSouth Answers(R), residential and small business customers can bundle their local and long distance service with dial up and high speed DSL Internet access, satellite television and Cingular(R) Wireless service. For businesses, BellSouth provides secure, reliable local and long distance voice and data networking solutions. BellSouth also offers online and directory advertising through BellSouth(R) RealPages.com(R) and The Real Yellow Pages(R).
More information about BellSouth can be found at http://www.bellsouth.com/ .
About the NMSDC
     Providing a direct link between corporate America and minority-owned businesses is the primary objective of the National Minority Supplier Development Council, one of the country's leading business membership organizations. It was chartered in 1972 to provide increased procurement and business opportunities for minority businesses of all sizes.

Source: PRNewswire