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OBOX’s Tim and Thom DeWitt are making a difference 

  Tim and Thom DeWitt, Co-Founders and Co-Owners of OBOX Solutions Inc OBOX Solutions is the brainchild of married couple and co-owners Tim and Thom DeWitt whose philosophy maintains that lasting relationships are accomplished by having an out-of-the-box mentality toward both staffing and life. What OBOX offers are streamlined, full-service staffing solutions that
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Nationwide’s Kirt Walker puts people first

For Kirt Walker, president and chief operating officer of Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co.’s financial services business, people come first. “My management philosophy comes down to what I call the four Ps,” he said. “The first P is always people. Then, it’s planning, performance and partnerships.” Putting people first is what Nationwide does too, committing significant
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HomeStreet Bank makes first SBA loan through NGLCC/SBA’s LGBT Business Builder initiative

By Brenda Matamoros  Mark Mason, chairman, president and CEO of HomeStreet Bank, along with his wife Tracy and daughter Chloe, joined more than 90 HomeStreet employees who marched in the recent Seattle Pride parade to show their support of the LGBT community.   The lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community has had much to
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SBA and NGLCC unite to foster LGBTBE growth and opportunities

Recognizing the business imperative to embrace diversity, the U.S. Small Business Administration  and National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce launched the first initiative of its kind focused on LGBT business owners. LGBT Business Builder will bring together expertise and resources from staff at SBA district and regional offices, NGLCC’s 38 U.S.-based affiliate chambers and
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Affinity Inc Magazine presents its 2015 Top Corporations for LGBT Economic Empowerment

LEAD STORY At Affinity Inc Magazine, we are dedicated to the growth and prosperity of LGBT businesses and employees. Our mission is also focused on the companies in corporate America that are fostering diverse and inclusive workplaces and supply chains. Once a year, we honor those companies that are cultivating economic stability in the LGBT
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Nationwide’s Andrew D. Walker leads the way in supplier diversity and inclusion

By Melissa Lowery, Photos by Shellee Fisher Photography & Design Andrew D. Walker The diversity of our associates — and by extension our external suppliers — is an absolute strength,” said Andrew D. Walker, senior vice president, IT chief financial officer and chief procurement officer at Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. “The more points we engage, the more we can accomplish together.” This people-first philosophy guides him as he leads the company’s sourcing and procurement operations — including its supplier diversity organization — to award-winning heights. Born in Jamaica, Walker moved to New York in 1984. He graduated from City University of New York with a degree in accounting in 1990 and took a position as head of accounting for trade shows for the National Marine Manufacturers Association in Chicago. In 1995, he became an accountant at Shore Bank in Chicago, working his way up the ranks until he was appointed senior vice president and director of operations in 2006. According to him, for more than a decade, he honed his leadership style, developing “a triple bottom-line approach, equally prioritizing profits and business’ impact on people and the community, along with the impact of a project on the environment.”
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By |December 7th, 2014|Equality News, News Around The Network|0 Comments

TV Producer Neal Baer and Athlete Jason Collins join Point Foundation’s honorary board

Baer-Collins Los Angeles, December 2, 2014 – Point Foundation, the nation’s largest scholarship-granting organization for LGBTQ students of merit, today announced that Dr. Neal Baer and Jason Collins will join the Foundation’s honorary board. Exemplary role models in the LGBTQ community, Baer and Collins will serve with other LGBTQ leaders and advocates in
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Largest Class of Entrepreneurs Attend NGLCC Strategic Growth & Development Institute

Largest Class of Entrepreneurs Attend NGLCC Strategic Growth & Development Institute, Signaling Strength of LGBT Community’s Business Interest Contact: Adam Shapiro   Institute Takes Place at NGLCC Supplier Innovation Center, ‘Powered by Wells Fargo’   WASHINGTON, D.C.—Nov. 19, 2014—The founders of the first national lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender greeting card company, who exemplify how
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By |November 20th, 2014|Equality News|0 Comments

LGBT-Certified Businesses Win Historic Opportunity to Supply the Super Bowl

LGBT-Certified Businesses Win Historic Opportunity to Supply the Super Bowl For the First Time, NFL Includes LGBT-Certified Businesses in Diversity Initiative Team NGLCC   WASHINGTON, D.C.—Nov. 10, 2014—When the NFL teams take the field during Super Bowl 50 in Feb. 2016, there will be more than one winner in the stadium. Diversity will
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By |November 10th, 2014|Equality News, News Around The Network|0 Comments

SCHOLARSHIP – Point Foundation partners with professionals and corporations to empower LGBTQ students

By Eugene J. Patron, communications & marketing director, Point Foundation  @PointFoundation Jorge Valencia, executive director and CEO of Point Foundation (left), accepts a check from Peter Lichtenthal, president of Bumble and bumble, a division of The Estee Lauder Companies. Today, it is easy for people to name celebrities and sports players who have publicly come out as being gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender. However, every year during the in-person interviews with finalists for Point Foundation’s LGBTQ higher education scholarships, there are young people who say to the review panel, “This is the first time I have met a group of openly gay professionals.” Many of these bright young people from communities around the country have never been introduced to a gay doctor, a lesbian lawyer, a transgender entrepreneur —
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