REDMOND, Wash. — July 17, 2006 — Microsoft Corp. today announced that Fernando Hernandez has been named supplier diversity director. In this position, Hernandez will drive the program’s strategic direction and support top business leaders at Microsoft, helping them achieve their goals in supplier diversity. He will also share responsibility for Microsoft’s supplier diversity outreach efforts, and will lead the company’s national team of supplier diversity advocates based out of Microsoft’s Redmond, Wash., corporate offices.
Previously, Hernandez served as the executive director of supplier diversity at AT&T, where he focused on providing strategic direction to AT&T’s supplier management and business unit clients and was part of the team that brought AT&T to over $1 billion in spending with diverse firms.
Before joining Microsoft, Hernandez was senior vice president of multicultural and diversity strategy for Washington Mutual Inc. in Seattle, responsible for translating and transforming the multicultural markets strategies into profitable initiatives for the bank’s business units.
“I look forward to the opportunities and challenges of being the supplier diversity director at Microsoft,” Hernandez said. “I have an amazing team, and together we are ready to drive Microsoft’s supplier diversity efforts and help our vendors realize their full potential.”
About Microsoft’s Supplier Diversity Program
Microsoft is committed to providing opportunities to minority, women-owned and service-disabled-veteran-owned businesses. Over the past two years, Microsoft has spent over $1.2 billion directly with nearly 1,800 minority and/or woman-owned businesses in the U.S. Nearly 500 of these suppliers are in the Pacific Northwest alone. Microsoft is a member of the National Minority-Supplier Development Council (NMSDC) Inc. and the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC) and is active on numerous local councils of these organizations. Microsoft is also a contributor to the NMSDC’s Business Consortium Fund (BCF) Inc., having extended a $3 million nonrecourse loan to the BCF in 2003.
About Microsoft
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