Relying on more than 30 years of experience in supply chain and supplier diversity management, Lawrence Wooten uses his role as corporate supplier diversity senior manager at American Water Works Inc. to promote economic inclusion of diverse suppliers. Wooten's past experience includes holding the former position of chairman of the Greater New England Minority Supplier Development Council’s board of directors, to building supplier diversity programs from the ground up providing leadership and management of annual spend of $5 billion while ensuring diverse suppliers had fair opportunities to compete for contracts.
Wooten is a change agent who questions the status quo. He shares his subject matter expertise with internal and external stakeholders. His list of best practices begin with understanding company values and determining how supplier diversity can impact and support those values. Wooten regularly articulates the value of supplier diversity to the procurement organization. He tirelessly works to build a strong enterprise-wide network of champions for supplier diversity and mentors those who are aligned to become the next generation of supplier diversity professionals.