Kate Kleyman
McKinstry | Vendor Diversity Manager
Speaker
Track D: Thriving in the Clean Energy Transition
Session D3: Facilitating an Equitable Energy Transition
May 2, 2024 | 3:00 pm - 3:30 pm
Utilizing Vendor Diversity as a Tool to Drive ESG Initiatives
Less than 10% of construction professional are women and only 31% are Hispanic, LatinX, 6.2% are black and 2% are Asian. Despite best efforts, our industry has failed to increase diversity within our workforce. New approaches are needed, especially those that integrate formal Vendor Diversity requirements within stated ESG initiatives.
Vendor Diversity is the proactive approach to sourcing and partnering with minority-owned, women-owned, LGBTQ-owned, veteran-owned, disadvantaged-owned and other diverse businesses. Corporations establish these programs to ensure that the procurement process is equitable and inclusive. In addition to supporting local communities, Vendor Diversity is a business practice that enhances and drives ESG programs. In the construction and energy sector, MWDBE inclusion programming focuses on proactively engaging with diverse businesses. MWDBE partners are not only provided opportunities but also are mentored with the goal of collaborative partnerships throughout the lifecycle of a project.
This session reviews the latest vendor diversity program models that leverage stated ESG initiatives to ensure accountability and impact. McKinstry will serve as a real-world case study, detailing how the integration of vendor diversity within our five-year Action for Impact strategy evolved program efforts and led to an increase of 31% increase in spend with diverse-owned businesses since 2020.
Speaker Bio
Kate Kleyman joined McKinstry in August of 2021 and is the Vendor Diversity Program and Building Good Manager. She is focused on building a best-in-class Vendor Diversity Program for McKinstry. She is also responsible for driving initiatives that foster inclusion of MWBDEs across the company and developing approaches to develop and grow diverse business enterprises. Kate is the Vice Chair of the Board of Directors for the Northwest Mountain Minority Supplier Development Council (NWM MSDC) and a Board of Directors member of the Association of Women and Minority Businesses and the Women’s Business Enterprise Council – West. McKinstry was recognized in 2023 with the Regional Corporation of the Year and Kate was recognized with the Advocate of the Year Award by the NWM MSDC.
Prior to McKinstry, Kate launched and led Guggenheim Partners’ first Vendor Diversity Program. She developed processes for proactive inclusion in the sourcing and procurement process globally for Guggenheim and launched initiatives such as the Financial Services Symposium on Supplier Diversity and Guggenheim’s Vendor Diversity Advisory Council. Under Kate’s management, Guggenheim was recognized in 2017 by the NYNJ Minority Supplier Development Council with the Regional Corporation of the Year Award as well as the Advocate of the Year Award. In 2017 Kate received the 2017 Women President’s Educational Organization President’s Award. Prior to joining Guggenheim, Kate has worked with several non-profits including Human Rights Watch and the Save Darfur Coalition. Kate received her Bachelor’s degree from Brandeis University. She is fluent in Russian and Spanish.