Executive Speeches

Remarks of Eugene W. Zeltmann, president & chief executive officer of the New York Power Authority, at the Upstate Purchasing Exchange, Buffalo, New York

October 1, 2003

Thanks very much.  I’m delighted to join Chairman Ciminelli in welcoming all of you today.

The Chairman—with just a touch of hometown pride—told us Buffalo would be an ideal site for this event, and it looks as if his confidence was more than justified.

Today’s excellent attendance confirms both the enormous potential to do business with minority- and women-owned firms and the importance of events like this in helping to encourage and strengthen supplier diversity.

The Power Authority has played host to such exchanges for 13 years in the downstate area—mostly in our White Plains office building. The first upstate version—last October in Utica—was so successful that we decided to have another one this year.

We’ve found over the years that these exchanges are great for face-to-face networking.  First, of course, between the minority- and women-owned firms and possible future customers.  But also among the firms themselves, who often know about opportunities that may be out there.

So my advice for this afternoon is to keep on talking. You never know who might be listening.

These exchanges are an essential part of the Power Authority’s overall Supplier Diversity Program.  But we do plenty of other things to reach out to minority- and women-owned businesses and to make them part of our purchasing process.

For example, we advertise our proposed contracts in the New York State Contract Reporter—an excellent source of information.

In identifying prospective bidders and awarding our contracts, we carefully examine the lists of minority- and women-owned businesses certified by New York State.

We require our main contractors to meet specified goals for hiring minority- and women-owned firms as subcontractors and to report on the status of those efforts.

We promote our Supplier Diversity Program at trade shows, conferences and seminars; through advertising; and by working with appropriate business associations and purchasing councils.

Within the Power Authority, we periodically make presentations on the program to staff members responsible for purchasing at our projects and headquarters offices.  This gives us the chance to emphasize our overall slogan for the program: “Diversity: A Power Resource.” 

Since we began our formal program in the 1980s, the Authority has done about $355 million worth of business with minority- and women-owned companies in areas ranging from energy efficiency to printing and office supplies and environmental services. 

Each year we set specific goals for purchases from such companies—and we generally exceed them.

The Power Authority has been honored to receive a number of awards for its efforts to promote supplier diversity—most recently the Corporate Advocate Award from the Association of Minority Contractors of New York.

I can assure you that we intend to remain a strong advocate for minority- and women-owned businesses and to build on our past successes.

Thanks for joining us today—and for helping us to achieve these vital goals.