GLBT Business Summit in Dallas, Texas

WASHINGTON -- Today the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC) released the agenda for the 2006 Mountain and Southwestern LGBT Business Summit. The event will take place March 10-12, 2006 at the Adolphus Hotel in downtown Dallas and will be hosted by the North Texas GLBT Chamber of Commerce (NTGLBTCC). The conference will bring together representatives of the NGLCC’s affiliate chambers throughout the mountain and southwest states as well as LGBT business owners and corporate allies for three days of workshops, plenary sessions and networking events designed to increase the business development opportunities in the region’s LGBT business community. “This Summit creates a phenomenal opportunity for both organizations and businesses to learn best practices from a wealth of professionals,” said NTGLBTCC president Leo Cusimano.

A series of events designed to educate LGBT-owned businesses about certification under the NGLCC’s Diversity Development and Procurement Initiative (DDPI) will take center stage during the conference. Attendees will learn how they can compete for millions of dollars in contracts spent by top corporations utilizing certified LGBT businesses as a part of their diverse supply chain. “Corporate America has stated its desire to contract with LGBT businesses. However, before the inception of our program there lacked a third party certifying body that focused on certification for the LGBT community like the National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC) and Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC) do for minority and women-owned firms,” said NGLCC co-founder and president Justin Nelson.

The NGLCC DDPI was founded in partnership with First Founding Member IBM as well as Wells Fargo, Cendant, JPMorgan Chase, Motorola, Intel, Wyndham International, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, American Express, Kodak, and Cisco Systems and is modeled after NMSDC and WBENC and their missions to create business development opportunities between Corporate America and minority and women-owned firms respectively. Conference participants will have access to supplier diversity decision makers from America’s top corporations during the event. “It is our commitment to make every opportunity available to build relationships for our certified businesses throughout the year, but there is no substitute for making personal connections during events like this conference,” added Nelson.

Attendees will also take part in workshops on access to capital to start or grow their enterprise and how to utilize NGLCC member benefits in that process. Seminars on LGBT financial planning, sales and marketing, risk management, and several networking options will round out the agenda for business attendees.

There will also be programming specific for the leadership of state and local LGBT chambers and business organizations during the event lead by NGLCC Mountain and Southwestern Regional Chair, Coy Tow, who is also the Executive Director of the Houston GLBT Chamber of Commerce. “Business = Power will be a fantastic way for GLBT and allied resources and professionals to come together to share and collaborate in ways that will make us better as individuals and organizations,” said Tow.

For more information, go to the Bgay.com Calendar.