Despite the tough times the airlines industry currently faces, Richard Moore, manager of supplier diversity at Southwest Airlines, is encouraged by the fact that Southwest continues to see an upward trend in its spend with diverse suppliers by percentage in all categories. To him, Southwest demonstrates its determination to offer excellent customer service by proactively engaging with the best suppliers it can find.

When Southwest discovered that many diverse business owners do not fill out their own supplier profile, preferring instead to delegate the task to an administrative function, it increased its efforts to reach out to them. By incentivizing potential suppliers by periodically entering completed profiles in a drawing, supplier diversity began to see a significant increase in completed profiles. As a result, Southwest is able to interact with a greater variety of small and diverse suppliers.

Currently, Southwest is working on the Love Field modernization program, with millions of dollars in contracting opportunities available across all diverse categories over the next five years.

Favorite Quote

Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan “Press On” has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race. - Calvin Coolidge

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