WPEO Announces Award Winning Done Deals™ Completed This Year With Women Business Enterprises

WASHINGTON, Dec. 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- A total of 5,989 contracts worth over $240 million, completed with certified women's business enterprises (WBEs) in the DC region, were announced at the Breakthrough Breakfast today by the Women Presidents' Educational Organization (WPEO). This annual event showcases winners of the Done Deals^™ challenge (representing deals completed from April 2017 through March 2018) and helps measure the impact WPEO has achieved in increasing business opportunities and contracting activity --between WBEs doing business with each other, as well as with WBEs and WPEO's Corporate Members.

Being officially certified as a woman-owned diverse supplier can result in opportunities previously inaccessible to women's business enterprises. WPEO provides WBENC certification, the most widely-recognized and respected third-party national certification for WBEs in the U.S. WPEO serves two northeast regions: WPEO-DC (Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia) and WPEO-NY (New York State, Northern and Central New Jersey -- through Trenton -- and counties on the Southern Connecticut shoreline – including Fairfield, New Haven, Middlesex and New London).

WPEO corporate members who received this year's awards underscored the importance of supply chain diversity in their business strategies.

"The Supplier Diversity Program we have at AstraZeneca and at MedImmune, our global biologics research and development arm, enables us to build a more sustainable future by enriching our supply chain with the innovative and entrepreneurial thinking driven by small, women and other minority-owned businesses. It allows us to better serve the local communities in which we operate by creating jobs and building closer relationships with patients and healthcare providers. Receiving WPEO Corporate Champion Award of the Year is an acknowledgement of our continuous efforts to develop and support women-owned businesses. Our success is the result of collective efforts of our procurement team and business stakeholders, and I am honored to be part of this journey. I also want to recognize the significant role that WPEO plays in developing women-owned businesses in the DC region and expanding their access to business opportunities with companies such as ours," said Anna Hakobyan, Government Compliance & Supplier Diversity Lead, AstraZeneca/MedImmune.

WPEO Board Chair Eliseo Rojas, CEO, ETR Business Solutions, Inc., said, "The theme of this year's Breakthrough Breakfast is about strategies for success and looking beyond the trends to achieve sustainable growth. And while it is tempting to jump on what is predicted to be the next big thing, diverse women-owned companies need to balance short-term innovation with investing in solid, long-term relationships that will enable them to achieve growth objectives for their businesses."

The 2018 WPEO-DC Done Deals Award Winners are:

• Corporate Champion Award - AstraZeneca/MedImmune
• Corporate Opportunity Award - Pepco Holdings Inc., an Exelon Company
• WBE Champion Award - Soft Stuff Distributors
• WBE Connection Award - 12PointFive, LLC

Dr. Marsha Firestone, WPEO President and Founder, said, "This year we are seeing continued growth in the number of contracts executed with certified women business enterprises – a 7.2% increase over last year. While these WBEs are embracing marketplace changes, their success is anchored in long-term relationship building. The increase in the dollar amount is validating, as is the total dollar value of the WBE contracts," she said.

Sandra Eberhard, Executive Director, WPEO-DC said, "I am excited to once again authenticate the contracting activity among the local women business owners and the local Corporations in Washington, DC; Virginia and Maryland.  Knowing our published success is only a subset of the actual contracting activity, which culminates in hiring over 40,000 employees in the territory, is very satisfying.  This economic impact is why we will continue to source, support, develop and connect certified women owned businesses."

WPEO gratefully acknowledges the support of the following companies in support of the Breakthrough Breakfast: Dominion Energy; Capital One; Ampcus; Avis Budget Group; Hilton Worldwide; Microsoft Corporation; Wells Fargo; New Kent Coatings; The Hamilton Group; Strategy and Management Services, Inc.; MCAPDNET; M. Davis & Sons, Inc; Exhibit Edge; The Sutter Group.

About The Women Presidents' Educational Organization:
The Women Presidents' Educational Organization (WPEO) is a regional affiliate of the Women's Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC), the nation's premier third-party certification organization for women-owned businesses. The mission of the WPEO is to create increased access to business opportunities for WBEs. Its programs develop skills and knowledge for WBEs, advocate in the public and private sectors, foster relationships between WBEs, corporations and the government, and provide certification services.

WPEO provides full service third-party certification to women entrepreneurs in the New York, Northern New Jersey, Southern Connecticut and the Washington, DC, Maryland, and Virginia areas.  WPEO is incorporated in the state of New York and is recognized as a 501(c) (3) organization. For more information please visit www.wpeo.us. Follow us on Twitter@WPEONYDC; like us on Facebook@TheWPEO.

SOURCE Women Presidents' Educational Organization

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