Importance of Strategic Partnership With Minority Vendors
This webinar was recorded on December, 16th 2009
- Understanding a strategic partnership vs. just a business relationship.
- Having a depth of knowledge about each other’s business.
- Transparency about what’s working and not working, so that each business has the opportunity to grow.
Eric Watson joined Food Lion as Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion in October 2003. He is responsible for the development and implementation of Food Lion’s diversity and inclusion business strategy. He is also responsible for leadership and associate development, and measuring progress in the areas of culture and environment, diverse supplier development, minority recruitment and retention, education and training, and assisting in growing and sustaining a diverse market presence.
In 2007, Watson accepted additional responsibilities for Talent Acquisition for Food Lion, LLC, which includes, strategic sourcing, recruitment, managing strategy, and measuring processes and resources. Also, in June 2007, Watson was selected to become a member of Food Lion, LLC’s Executive Committee.
Watson brings 29 years of experience in operations management, with more than 16 of those years in the field of diversity. Watson has developed strategies to impact business success by creating a vision to manage diversity, designing leadership mentoring programs to promote diversity and establishing an accountability system for business diversity.
Immediately prior to joining Food Lion, Watson was the Executive Director of Diversity and Workforce Capability at the Williams Companies Inc. From 1994 to 2000, he served as Vice President of Global Diversity for the St. Paul Companies Inc.
He is a member of the Board of Directors of: PFLAG National, the Executive Leadership Council (ELC), the MultiCultural Development Center (MCDC), and the Next Generation Network (NGN). He is a member of the Conference Board Council on Work Force Diversity. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the University of North Carolina-Center for International Understanding, and the Urban League of Central Carolinas in Charlotte, where he also chairs the Urban Youth Empowerment Program (UYEP). He is a member of the Board of Visitors for Johnson C. Smith University, member of the Leadership Team of the Community Building Initiative (CBI) in Charlotte, and is on the North Carolina NAACP Youth & College Division Advisory Board.
Watson holds a bachelor’s degree in English literature from Livingstone College in Salisbury, N.C.
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