Last week, during its annual Business Opportunity Conference held in Richmond, VA, Carolina’s Virginia Minority Supplier Development Council (CVMSC) named Clemson University ‘Corporation of the Year.’
Council President and CEO Dominique Milton cited the University’s remarkable growth in all areas over the past five years and its proud partnership with Clemson in its Men of Color National Summit to introduce entrepreneurship as a career path to its participants.
“As a corporate member of CVMSDC, it was such an honor to be nominated and selected by industry partners and member businesses for this prestigious award,” said Jerry Knighton, Clemson’s associate vice president for access and equity and executive director of supplier diversity. “Our affiliation with CVMSDC has been key to the growth and maturity of our program. As a result, I am proud to announce a partnership between CVMSDC and our Men of Color National Summit to provide a new entrepreneurship track for student participants. We look forward to working on this and other initiatives in the future.”
Clemson’s director of procurement, Mike Nebesky, agrees with Knighton. “Clemson continues to grow and evolve our supplier diversity initiative as a University. The support CVMSDC has provided over the years has been invaluable in helping us get where we are today. It is an honor to be recognized for all the hard work our team has put into our program and we look forward to continuing to work with and be an active member of the CVMSDC organization.”
CVMSDC is a private, non-profit 501(c)(3) organization and is one of 23 regional affiliate councils of the National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC). The CVMSDC is a membership organization of major corporations, financial institutions, government agencies and universities that operate within the North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia footprint. Its mission is to promote and facilitate business relationships between the public/private sector and certified minority-owned businesses.