Saken Khokhar is the supplier diversity manager at Boston Scientific. She has many successes that include increasing diverse spend by 17 percent in one year (2017-2018). Under her leadership, Boston Scientific became a founding member of the LGBT Chamber of Commerce in Massachusetts and established a supplier diversity council with senior leaders from across all business units. Khokhar has also focused on increasing investments in mentorship diverse vendors. She drives progress through her constant advocacy for the supplier diversity program and engages numerous groups that include employee resource groups and representatives from various business units.
Khokhar started a Diverse Vendor Showcase day to highlight existing diverse suppliers to the company. To keep advancing supplier diversity, Khokhar works with category managers to set spend increase targets. Each sourcing manager is now required to include a diverse vendor in every RFP or obtain an exception from her. She attributes much of the progress to date to developing open relationships with key decision-makers in each business unit and creating changes in sourcing practices.