The Airports Minority Advisory Council (AMAC) annual Business Diversity Conference in Chicago was a great opportunity to connect with business leaders, partners, and friends. Among many highlights was receiving the Catalyst Award for Inclusive Leadership.
This award honors a business or corporation that has demonstrated diversity and inclusion within its corporate structure of procurement and employment, specifically in the areas of supplier diversity and fostering business capacity with diverse partners.
AMAC Catalyst Award winners were honored during the AMAC Catalyst Awards and AMAC Foundation Scholarship Awards luncheon. Amy Benson, URW Vice President of Marketing – Airports and Executive Director of URW’s Advance Network, accepted the award on behalf of the team.
“We are honored to be recognized for our commitment to lowering the barriers of entry for minority, women, and disadvantaged businesses to help our partners succeed,” Benson said. “As we work towards ambitious goals, we are grateful for our partnership with AMAC, whose leadership is a guiding force for the entire industry.”
Through our Advance Network, we continue to grow diverse participation and representation at all levels of our airport business. We strive to not only help people enter the airport business, but, just as importantly, to succeed once they arrive. We are changing the approach and model for how business is done at the airport and working to lower the barriers of entry that many ACDBE companies face. Earlier this year, we launched our Supplier Diversity Network to help build our pipeline of disadvantaged businesses and connect businesses and entrepreneurs with networking and bidding opportunities.
At LAX, URW has consistently exceeded its ACDBE program goals for the last three years amounting to ~30% of total sales across the program. Recently, URW worked with our partner Greg Plummer and Los Angeles World Airports to see Concord Collective be the first minority-owned company to successfully take over the entire portfolio of a major LAX food and beverage concessions operator.
