2011 Done Deals™ Announced
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 22, 2011
Contact: Lisa Nevitt, Astra Women’s Business Alliance 971-204-0220 lisa[@]astrawba.org
Corporations Honored for Economic Development and Job Creation Through Using Women-Owned Firms in Their Supply Chains
Astra Women's Business Alliance (Astra) recognizes AMGEN, Brocade and Robert Half International for providing contracts to women business owners located in the Pacific Northwest and Northern California which help drive growth in local communities.
San Francisco, California. – Astra Women’s Business Alliance (Astra), a regional non-profit dedicated to providing WBENC third-party certification and procurement and growth training for women business owners, recently honored AMGEN, Brocade and Robert Half International with the Astra Done Deals™ award for providing contracts to Astra women business enterprises.
The Astra Done Deals™ program strives to highlight the companies who have supplier diversity initiatives to redirect a portion of their corporate spend each year to qualified women and minority companies. The firms who receive the Done Deals™ award have provided at least 3 contracts during a year to Astra women business owners. Earlier this year, Microsoft & AT&T received this recognition for Done Deals™
“Women-owned businesses serve as one of the major engines of our country for economic growth and job creation. In the Astra region alone, women contribute over $5 Billion dollars to our economy and employ more than 19,000 employees who then support their local communities with their employee spend for consumer goods and services” says Astra co-founder and President/CEO, Diane McClelland.
Additionally, Astra women business owners were recognized for their efforts to outsource to other women business owners and build strategic alliances among other women for capacity-building. Suchi Gupta, Pure Design Solutions received the Astra WBE Done Deals™ Award and Karen Hebert Gordon, The Oya Group and Laura Bergerson, The Bergerson Group received the inaugural Astra Strategic Alliance award.
Astra Women’s Business Alliance Astra Women’s Business Alliance was founded in 2000. Astra's mission is to work proactively and cooperatively toward the elimination of marketplace barriers, such that women-owned businesses receive access to and fair consideration of programs and projects that fund business growth. Astra provides business skills training, team development and linkage to contract opportunities to women owned businesses throughout the northwest. (www.astrawba.org)
Brocade. Founded in 1995, Brocade is an industry leader in providing reliable, high-performance network solutions that help the world’s leading organizations transition smoothly to a virtualized world where applications and information reside anywhere. .Headquartered in San Jose, California, the company has approximately 4700 employees worldwide and serves a wide range of industries and customers in more than 160 countries. The Brocade Supplier Diversity program was created to ensure that small and certified diverse companies have an equitable opportunity to compete for the products and services Brocade purchases in the U.S. Through our Supplier Diversity efforts, Brocade will work to increase the participation of small and certified diverse businesses that contribute to our overall U.S. supply chain. (www.brocade.com)
Robert Half International. Founded in 1948, Robert Half International, the world’s first and largest specialized staffing firm, is committed to developing successful relationships with minority, women, veteran and disabled veteran-owned businesses to meet the needs of our customers. A recognized leader in professional consulting and staffing services, Robert Half International also in the parent company of Protiviti ® a global consulting and internal audit firm, Accountemps®,Robert Half® Finance & Accounting, Robert Half® Management Resources, Office Team®, Robert Half® Technology, Robert Half® Legal, and The Creative Group® (www.rhi.com)
Amgen discovers, develops, manufactures and delivers innovative human therapeutics. A biotechnology pioneer since 1980, Amgen was one of the first companies to realize the new science’s promise by bringing safe and effective medicines from lab, to manufacturing plant, to patient. Amgen therapeutics have changed the practice of medicine, helping millions of people around the world in the fight against cancer, kidney disease, rheumatoid arthritis, bone disease and other serious illnesses. With a deep and broad pipeline of potential new medicines, Amgen remains committed to advancing science to dramatically improve people’s lives. (www.amgen.com)
