Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia partnered with the Eastern Minority Supplier Development Council to host its first matchmaker event targeted toward construction, facilities and building trades. The virtual event offered attendees the opportunity to learn more about CHOP, its supplier diversity program, future bid opportunities, and to meet with the hospital’s senior leaders, facilities and construction teams.
The hospital also partnered with Philadelphia Anchors for Growth and Equity, a group that provides grant funding to help small businesses address challenges and constraints of bidding on large projects and advise them on any issues that arise during the project.
Historically, suppliers had opportunities to meet with procurement buyers; however, during this matchmaker event they had the opportunity to hear first-hand from both Donald Moore, senior vice president of real estate, facilities and operations at CHOP and Joni Rittler, vice president of supply chain management at CHOP, as well as various hospital leaders, project managers and category managers.
Senior leaders, project and purchasing managers from Gilbane, as well as leaders from Turner Construction and Target Construction also talked about their work with CHOP, and shared upcoming bid opportunities with the local diverse vendors.
More than 100 people attended the virtual event. During matched sessions, vendors had 13 minutes to provide a high-level overview of their capabilities and value-add to CHOP leaders. Suppliers who weren’t matched for scheduled meetings met with a rotating group of several construction firms during the session networked and shared upcoming opportunities.
Learn more about the Supplier Diversity Program and working with CHOP.
