Pinnacle President and CEO Addresses TriState Minority Supplier Development Council (TSMSDC) Conference

Terry Turner speaks to small business support, diverse suppliers and the entrepreneurial spirit

From the TriState Minority Supplier Development Council:

The TriState Minority Supplier Development Council (TSMSDC) held its 2023 Virtual Business Marketplace of Opportunities on Thursday, August 24, 2023, heralding the theme, No Limits …Just Opportunities.

The conference, with a blend of valuable content, brought together certified business owners seeking to grow their business, and corporations who want to identify capable suppliers to diversify and enhance their supply chains.

Terry Turner, President, CEO and Co-Founder of Pinnacle Financial Partners, was the keynote speaker from the banking industry. Pinnacle Bank, headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, is a mid-size regional bank with more than $46 billion in assets and 125 locations, and has been recognized  as one of the nation’s best workplaces seven years in a row by FORTUNE magazine and Great Place to Work.

 

For more than 30 years, the Council has presented in-depth programs to better equip minority suppliers to gain access to business opportunities with major corporate buyers and procurement officers. This year was no exception. A distinguished collection of corporations … Avantor, ASM Global, Dollar General, Volkswagen, Pinnacle Financial Partners, Messer Construction and Trane Technologies -- guided discussions on contacts within their supply chains, with pending procurement opportunities, now and on the horizon, and shared helpful hints on how to conduct business with their respective corporations.

Jaclyn R. Mothupi, the Wond’ry Innovation Center at Vanderbilt University Director of Social Innovation, presented on the topic, “What Does the Triple Bottom Line Mean and Why it Matters to Your Business Now”. She discussed the importance of sustainable business practices on the 3 Ps: People, Planet, and Profit, and why it matters to large and small businesses now more than ever.

Culminating the conference activities, representatives from 10 major corporations scheduled meetings with a range of certified minority business suppliers during a virtual matchmaker with specific business opportunities. Participating corporations were Dollar General, HCA Healthcare, Louisville Water Co., Messer, Louisville/Jefferson County Metro Sewer District (MSD), Nissan, Toyota, Trane Technologies, the University of Kentucky, and the University of Louisville. During the meeting sessions, over 57 matches were conducted.

The TriState Council is one of 23 regional affiliate councils of the Nashville Minority Supplier Development Council (NSMDC). It has access to more than 1,750 corporate members, including most of America’s largest publicly-owned, privately-owned, and foreign owned companies, as well as universities, hospitals and other buying institutions. Collectively, it certifies and matches over 16,000 minority-owned businesses with member corporations that seek to purchase goods and services.