The Wisconsin Iowa and Central Illinois Minority Supplier Development Council presented Union Pacific Railroad with the Award of Excellence at the 2012 Iowa Minority Business Exchange in Des Moines, Iowa, the company announced. Union Pacific was recognized for its ongoing efforts to purchase from minority- and women-owned businesses.
"Union Pacific strives to grow our diversity supplier base by extending opportunities for minority- and women-owned businesses," said Jacqueline R. White, Union Pacific assistant vice president, strategic sourcing. "Our program affects Union Pacific's entire organization, impacting purchases of fuel, engineering services, railroad maintenance and construction, rolling stock maintenance, and technology."
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Union Pacific became the first large U.S. railroad to implement a supplier diversity program in 1982, and was the first among the Class I railroads to establish a companywide Minority and Woman Owned Business Enterprise (M/WBE) purchasing program. This program seeks to provide the highest quality materials and services at the lowest cost while developing, cultivating, and promoting minority- and women-owned businesses, encouraging economic growth and development.
Union Pacific's supplier diversity program offers competitive opportunities, business guidance, increased business networks, and educational opportunities to M/WBEs.
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It was 150 years ago that Abraham Lincoln signed the Pacific Railway Act of July 1, 1862, creating the original Union Pacific. One of America's iconic companies, today Union Pacific Railroad is the principal operating company of Union Pacific Corp., linking 23 states in the western two-thirds of the country by rail and providing freight solutions and logistics expertise to the global supply chain.
