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Hey, good morning, everybody. Scott Luton and special guest host Ben Harris with right here on supply chain. Now welcome to today's episode, Ben, how you doing?
I'm doing very well. Scott's going to be back
Great to have you back. One of our longest running guest hosts. Uh, we miss being in person. We'll be back there soon enough, but you have built quite the episode here, Ben.
Yes, we do have quite an episode coming up. I don't want to steal your thunder stuff, but we've got, uh, some various team folks from the Atlanta ecosystem here that said we're very happy to feature yourself.
Well, we're going to dive in then. So, so what we have here, this is a special installment of our, one of our longest running series. Our hashtag supply chain city series right here on supply chain. Now, now we've been featuring for a long time. So in the movers and shakers, the big business leaders that are based here in Atlanta, but, um, we're ever you're tuned in from wherever you're listening from. You're going to have a wonderful experience learning from these business leaders and learning a lot of universal lessons, insights, and a lot more to increase your supply chain Accu. So, uh, Ben's a pretty modest and humble guy. Ben Harris with Metro Atlanta chamber, doing big things to continue to push industry forward. And we appreciate his leadership there. All right, Ben, I'm going to introduce these two guests. Are you ready?
Let's do it. Let's jump right in.
All right. We love jumping right in. So up up first we have Stacey Key president and CEO with the Georgia minority supplier development council. Stacey, how are you doing? I'm doing well,
Scott, thanks for having me kudos to you and Ben
Well, and you know, the other big part about who Stacey Key is, is she is one of the world's biggest Atlanta Falcons fans. Is that right? Absolutely.
Them. So we'll touch on that momentarily. As we get into football season for real here in September and then joining Stacy is George Richter, senior vice president supply chain management with Cox communications, George, how you doing? I'm good. Scott.
Be here. Now I've got to ask, would that backdrop, are you on the ground with us or are you, uh, flying over the friendly skies right now?
Just getting ready to take off, uh, that's what I figured this interview is going to do, right? Set me off into this guy.
I love it. All right. So we're going to, we're going to talk more about George's passion for not only supply chain, but also aviation momentarily, but been up front. We like to kind of get a better sense of, of where these leaders are from as well as some of their passions and their anecdotes of their upbringing around their upbringing. So, Stacy, I want to start with you tell us a little about yourself, especially and where you grew up and you got to touch on what made your upbringing so special.
Thank you, Scott. Thank you. I am actually a native of Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the great state of Minnesota. I've been in Atlanta many years. In fact, call it. My second home, grew up in the, in the cold. The snow love it. Love it, love it, obviously, but happy to get away from it. Uh, being here in, uh, in the south in Atlanta, additionally, one of the things that being from Minneapolis, ice cream has been one of the passions and things that I love. And so when I got to Atlanta, we opened up a family ice cream business. Um, you guys familiar with Brewster's ice cream? Yeah. Yeah. You used to have Bruce's at the Falcons games. That was us, uh, at the Hawks games. Um, we w we were the Brewsters franchisees servicing this great state
And the best, some of the best ice cream, you're putting your mouth. And I got to ask you, so I've been to Minneapolis just once and that's not, not, not enough at all. The people up there are great. The weather is much different than what we have here, which is good and welcome. And the food, believe it or not is delicious up there. Yeah. Um, what's the burger they're known for the, um, a burger named Susie or something where it's like Cheesman middle. Oh, it's delicious.
Um, not, not, no, no, no, no, no. I've been in a, you know, I'm a, I'm a Georgia peach now. So, you know, um, I'm the varsity, you know, someone, Georgia pizza I've transitioned that.
Sorry. So let me ask you, uh, one more thing for bringing George back in and growing up in Minnesota in the snow and, and, and, you know, there's stretches where snow's on the ground for quite some time. Have you mastered the skill of driving with precipitation, whether it's rain or snow or whatever else can you teach the rest of us here in Georgia? Just how to do that?
You know, I've not mastered that because I haven't had much practice being here in the south, but yes, I remember growing up telling my friends, I can't wait till I'm old enough to move from Minneapolis to get away, get out of the snow because I was so tired of the snow, but no, I have not mastered, had a little practice and love the fact that I've had a little private
Love it. I spent, uh, two years out in Wichita, Texas, uh, Wichita, Kansas, sorry. And it was the only place I've ever lived, where snow would stick around for several weeks. And I learned just painfully how bad I was at driving in the snow, but Hey, there's all types of other things we can be good at. So Stacy welcome. And I'm so delighted to be able to interview here today. And I'll tell you, here's a buzz you bring to the, to the, uh, the conversation Stacy. And that always makes things even better. So George, your backdrop, you're already kind of giving up some, some information on who you are, but tell us, where did you grow up and give us a few anecdotes about your upbringing as well.
All right, Scott, I will. And in fact, it's funny with Stacey's introduction. I always knew Stacy and I were soulmates, but, uh, I think this conversation is going to confirm it so first, uh, I'm originally from Montreal, Canada. Uh, and so I can compete with Stacy on, on the whole snow front, uh, that was, uh, Canada Montreal in particular, uh, had some very long winters. Um, and, uh, and then the other thing that I think is fascinating about Stacy's introduction, uh, and how it connects to me is I also, uh, opened one of the very first Ben and Jerry's franchises in Montreal. And I will tell you that was not one of my best ideas. It was not one of my best ideas. Um, but it was probably one of the experiences just from a business learnings perspective that I learned the most from, uh, learned a lot about myself. Uh, but ultimately did not keep the store open, uh, as a, as it's a long, cold winter in Montreal. And that leaves you a very short season to be selling ice cream.
So what you're saying, George and Stacey is we could talk, uh, uh, ice cream supply chain, uh, as needed, maybe on a future episode.
Absolutely. We might be a future franchisee.
Yeah. Brewster's and, and, uh, uh, Ben and Jerry's, which, by the way, cheery Garcia, one of my favorite things as well. So, all right. So George grow, uh, how long did you live in Montreal? Uh, when, when did you come to George? I guess?
Oh, well, let's see. I moved to the United States in 1996, and I'm not good enough at math to figure out how old I was, but I was, you know, I was in my career by, by that time. Uh, and then, uh, I moved, I originally, when I first moved to the states, I moved to New York. Uh, I was actually living in long island, um, and, uh, which is a very unique place to live in. And we could have a whole episode on what it's like to live in long island spent about five years there. And then the company that I, uh, relocated to the states to join a company by the name of arrow electronics, um, actually, uh, moved their head office from Melville New York to, uh, Denver, Colorado. So I had the opportunity to move to Denver and spent about 10 years living in Denver and spectacular, just a great lifestyle state.
Uh, you spend a lot of time outdoors in Denver. Um, so I got into climbing mountains, they have 54 peaks, so there are 14,000 feet or above when I lived there, I climbed 26 of the 54 uniquely, um, and thought I was just going to keep working my way through all of them. And then all of a sudden I got this call and next thing you know, um, joining Cox communications, uh, didn't know anything about the cable business, um, was never expecting to move to Atlanta, Georgia. And that was about 13 years ago. So I've been in Atlanta now for about 13 years.
Well, so I've got to ask you one more follow-up question. There's so much between what you and Stacy have already shared, and we could spend several hours on y'all's background, your journey, but so clearly you have a passion for flying. So tell us a little bit about your preferred aircraft and maybe an activity or two that you've been doing in the plane.
Sure. Well, maybe I'll take a minute just to get you a sense of how I got into flying. Um, this wasn't one of those lifelong passions for me, in fact, I wasn't even, I don't think as a kid, I was one of those kids that dreamed of becoming a pilot. It really wasn't something that I thought about, um, a couple of years ago, I guess probably three, four years ago. Um, my son was halfway through his, um, a, um, aerospace engineering program at Georgia tech. And he came home at the beginning of summer and he said, you know, dad, I'm going to have a lifetime of internships and jobs. And I said, yes on, I hope so. And he said, but that's not what I want to do this summer. I think we should get our pilot's license. And I'm pretty sure the, we was, he wanted my credit card.
And so, um, so that got me into it. I took a discovery flight with my, with my son a couple of weeks after he, uh, announced that and discovery, flights are crazy thing. They literally let you get in the plane. In the pilot side, you have, uh, a flight instructor with you as a copilot. Um, and they let you fly the plane. You've never even been inside one before and they let you fly the plane. And if I was going to be completely honest, that scared the crap out of me. Um, and it's only because I'm competitive and I, wasn't going to let my son do this, uh, you know, and, and, and, and, and bail out, uh, that I, that I stuck with it. Uh, and so I got my private pilot's license. I got my instrument rating, and then I got a commercial pilots license.
Uh, and then along the way, um, I'm actually on my third plane. Uh, and what I'm currently flying is, uh, is a Piper Malibu matrix, a PA 46, 3 50 T. Uh, and it's a six seater single engine plane, uh, has a ceiling of altitude ceiling of about 25,000 feet and all glass cockpit. Uh, so it's, uh, she's a really, she's a really pretty, uh, and, and fast, relatively speaking, fast plane. Um, and so in terms of recent flying, uh, of course, hurricane Ida, uh, just, just blew through Louisiana, uh, as almost everybody that I'm sure watches this will, will have heard about and read about. Uh, and Louisiana is a big market for Cox. We are very big in Baton Rouge and new Orleans. And so I had the opportunity to sign up with two organizations. There's a group called aerobridge that organizes getting supplies like water, cleaning supplies, diapers, just the basic necessities that people aren't going to have access to.
Um, and, uh, so I flew from Atlanta to Pensacola to pick up supplies, uh, from arrow bridge, and then I delivered them to gal in Louisiana. Uh, and then the second organization I was able to, to, to support was, uh, a group called operation airdrop. And what they focus on after natural disasters is barbecue. And apparently you cannot recover from a natural disaster unless you get some barbecue. So I flew from gout to Hammond, and there's an organization, a volunteer organization that cooks barbecue in massive quantities. Uh, I was able to bring six containers that weighed about 45, 50 pounds a piece in my plane, and I dropped it off in Houma. You can't say Houma, which is how it's spelled. You got to say Houma. Uh, and so Houma Louisiana, uh, which was a very hard hit area and also happens to be a Cox market. Uh, and I had the privilege of delivering the barbecue to the Cajun Navy. Uh, they were organizing, uh, food for local residents, and we believe we brought enough food to feed about 1300 people.
Wow, that is, uh, is tremendous. And, you know, of course there's a lot more efforts like that going into place to take care of these folks that continue to hurt. And it's going to be, unfortunately, it's a long-term process, right? It's very complex, the different levels of, of needs and whatnot. So appreciate what you were you and, and all of your colleagues there have done George, um, and look forward to learning a lot more in the weeks ahead. So, Ben, as I mentioned, we could spend all day, I think, talking with Stacy and George thus far, but where are we going next?
Just fascinating, George, first of all, I'm Stacy. I know so much about your background, but obviously about the franchising piece, just amazing there. So it's crazy that you guys have that in common, but let's talk about a little more about your kind of understanding your roles and your organizations. Um, Stacy, let's start with you, you know, what is GMs DC? You know, what does it stand for? And then, you know, could you tell us a little more about what its core mission really is?
Absolutely. Ben, thank you. And so the Georgia minority supplier development council GMs DC is a 46 year old organization, a not-for-profit organization that was founded by corporations. In fact, Cox enterprises was one of our founders and that's a connection that George and I have, um, Cox, the Coca-Cola company, west rock, a Southern company, some to name a few of the companies that came together and decided that they wanted to open up their supply chain to minority businesses. And so they formed this organization to support their efforts and, uh, 46 years ago. And so GMs DCS. So mission is to connect minority businesses, to corporations like Cox, to do business. That's what we do all day. And we do that under some pillars. We certify, we certify that you are a ethnic minority business. We develop making sure we develop you because they come in all sizes and shapes businesses.
They can show you have the capacity, the competency, and the capability we connect. It's difficult for a small business to get on the radar of a Cox enterprises or a Coca-Cola or a Southern company. We make those connections for you. And then lastly, we advocate on behalf for a minority and small businesses and all that we do making sure the policies, the procedures, the practices are small business, minority business friendly. That's what we do every single day. And I will tell you, I joined this organization, uh, 14 years ago and I wake up every single day excited about the fact that we bring, you know, think about the jobs in the billions of dollars in the impact we've had on communities of color. It doesn't get any better, every single.
Wow. And it's great to have you, of course, one of the best divisions here in Georgia, it's just phenomenal what you've done for us as a state. And we really, really appreciate that support George taking it over to you, you know, tell us a little more about pretend our audience as, as they are not all Georgians who tell us about cots communications and kind of, you know, how does cuts communications fit into the larger Cox enterprises that they're obviously a huge multi million dollar company in India and you kind of control one piece of that, right?
Well, actually for supply chain, uh, my organization managers and support supply chain for the entire enterprise, uh, that's fantastic. Yeah, that's a change that we made. It was just a little bit before the pandemic hit. In fact, we were busy having conversations with our employees, talking about bringing three separate teams together. There was a Cox communication supply chain team, a Cox automotive supply chain team, a Cox enterprise supply chain team. And we were going to bring everybody together. And then next thing you know, COVID hit and we were all working remotely and, and, uh, bringing new teammates on board and even new people to the company who have never set foot inside of box office yet. And just, uh, just an very interesting time, but in terms of Cox communications, actually, um, it's not, it's not unusual for people that even live in Atlanta to not know anything about Cox communications.
Uh, we are the third largest cable company in the United States. We have about six and a half million residential customers. We have over a million business customers. Um, and we just deliver, um, incredible products, probably one of the most important. And again, sort of in the context of the world that we now live in with the pandemic, uh, we have, uh, uh, just an absolutely fabulous network, uh, that allows us to deliver high speed broadband connections to our customers. We also offer video products. We've got home security, home automation. I mean, we've got a whole, you know, telephone, we've got a whole host of products, but our network and our ability to connect America in this environment where everybody had to suddenly changed the way they worked was, uh, was, was really a big deal. Uh, so that's a very significant part of the overall Cox enterprise business portfolio.
Um, Cox enterprises is also in very significant player in the automotive industry. Uh, there is a good chance that if you buy a new car or a used car in the United States somewhere, somehow you are touching some product, uh, that, that is part of Cox automotive. There's two, well, two big pieces. There's there's Manheim auto auction. Manheim auto auction is the largest, uh, auction company in north America. And then there is, uh, a whole portfolio of, of, uh, platforms and software products, uh, that CoxAuto, uh, uh, uh, builds, uh, develops deploys and supports customers with a couple that you might be familiar with. Autotrader. Uh, Autotrader was, was really a revolutionary transition from, from back when they used to list cars, you know, and newspaper classifieds, or in, in, in printed books, you'd go to the supermarket to pick up the book, to take a look at all the cars that you might want to buy out there. Uh, Autotrader was really the first push into putting that online and leveraging the internet and just changing the way that people thought about buying and selling used cars. Um, and then they have a whole host of, of software products where they support dealers, uh, marketing cars, selling cars, managing the transactions related to cars, all of that are sort of products that, uh, that Cox automotive delivers to their customers.
Yeah. Back before Autotrader was pushed online and became that a trailblazer. If you were interested in that 1982 Buick Riviera in LaGrange, Georgia, you had to fax, fax it or your interests to the owner, right. Uh, so they sped up, they overhauled all of that making transactions a lot, a lot more efficient.
They really did. And just, just getting, getting visibility to more people, you know, making it possible for individuals to market their cars, making it possible for dealerships to think about how they market their cars. I mean, you can literally, as if you wanted to open a cute used car lot in, in Atlanta, Georgia, you could subscribe to a whole host of services from Cox automotive that would tell you what cars people want to buy in this, you know, in the, in this part of the world, uh, they would, they would facilitate how you could buy them through the auctions. They would help you finance the cars on your lot. They would let you market the cars, uh, to customers. I mean, it really isn't incredible suite of products. And then we've got Cox enterprises. I, I do want to just touch on Cox enterprises for a minute.
First of all, it's the connection back to the family. Uh, Cox is still a family on 100% family owned business. Um, Alex Taylor, who is, I think the great, great grandson of governor James Cox, who founded Cox, um, is, is the CEO of Cox enterprise. And it's just, just incredible to have a family run business. And they, uh, the values that they believe in and make sure that they pushed through the whole organization that all of their employees subscribe to. Um, and how important the communities that we operate in are to Cox. And it, it all comes from the connection back to the family. So Cox enterprises, um, also has a portfolio of businesses. And one of the areas that they're very focused on is, is green tech. Um, and so they are making all kinds of investments in green tech companies. Uh, and just to give you an example, there's a company that they recently finished the acquisition in called bright farms.
And what bright farms does is they do a sustainable farming in greenhouses close to the communities where they sell the products. Uh, and that is a huge change to the way that produce gets produced in most of the projects that gets consumed is, is, is, is grown in areas like California and then shipped all across the country. It's incredibly inefficient. Um, it it's, it's got risk associated to it in terms of how product can get contaminated. It's got a tremendous amount of waste. And so this is just a revolutionary way to change how that whole supply chain works. And the Cox enterprise has a huge commitment to the, uh, to the environment.
Well, as we all know that it also has a shelf life, right? It's not like a, uh, a box of tissues that can, you know, if there's a mishap. No worries. It's not going to spoil that produce market is fascinating. This produce supply chain as is the flour, uh, supply chain, which we learned a little more about earlier. Okay. So there's so much uncover here. Ben, I want to stick with Stacy. I'm gonna go back to Stacy here, four to six years of a legacy of, of moving the needle, truly moving the needle. And gosh, who doesn't believe Stacy, when she says she jumps out of bed every morning, delighted to do what she does. Uh, Hey, you've got us hooked. I believe you let's talk about the key benefits of gain of becoming G M S D C certified. Can you, can you walk us through that a bit?
And so, you know, certification is a process because we're validating that you are, uh, the company is owned, managed and controlled by a, a ethnic minority business owner, but, but the true benefit, it's not the process. The process is just an investment. The true benefit is that you get connections to companies like POCs. You get connections to companies like Delta airlines and helping you open that door and sharing your story with, um, with the companies that the iconic companies that we have here, we have over 400 companies, global brands that, you know, in LA that are part of a family that we can introduce and share your story to. It is difficult for someone to get that kind of access. And so the real benefit is that you get access to corporations, you get some training and development, you make build some relationships and ultimately you grow your business because that's what this is about is growing minority businesses and creating wealth in communities of color.
I love that Stacy relationships matter, um, perhaps more so than ever before. And as we all know, you know, if you don't have that access to founders, entrepreneurs, business leaders don't have that access to, to tap into those relationships. They are oftentimes not at the table and, and missing out. So I love that a big benefit of, of, uh, getting involved in GMs DC. So let's talk about definitions. It sounds like when it comes to, it sounds like your organization focuses on as you put it, the ethnic minorities, right. There's all kinds of
Business in a minority business enterprise.
Gotcha. Okay. So let's talk about how you define small business. And let's talk about what your views are on when it comes to small, uh, supply chain for, for small business versus supply chain for, for bigger organizations, speak to us about that a bit.
So there's several sort of certifications. And then George is very, very familiar. You've got women owned certification, you've got veteran owned, you've got small disadvantaged business. So there's several certifications. And based on your business and your business model, you decide what's best for you and how help you with your strategy of growing the business. I encourage people to, to do the research, to understand what's best for you, and you get many times people, companies get multiples because I can leverage it from multiple directions, uh, in terms of my business. And so we encourage that all the time, look at multiple certifications to grow your business. It's gotta be part of your core strategy and who you are and government certifications as well. Uh, DBE certifications or veterans. I encourage, we encourage that, that part of the certification process as well.
So if you do your homework, there's, there's something for everybody out there and you gotta make sure it's an important part of, of your overall strategy. Yeah, absolutely. So, any other thoughts when it comes to supply chain and opportunities for folks that may be involved in supply chain businesses?
And so from a supply chain perspective, we don't, we don't, we look at all of them as equal. You know, George has a supply chain as large as it is. He has one other companies, depending on sizes. We look at them equal. We're trying to bring suppliers to him. My job is to make George successful. That's what I do. I bring him suppliers to achieve his goals and to help build a Cox enterprise. Yeah, that's,
That's a great point. And I think it's oftentimes overlooked because while you, what I'm hearing here and correct me, if I'm wrong as my dear wife, Amanda reminds me daily, that happens all the time. Uh, probably hourly, but Stacy clearly you're the advocate of the MBAs and, and helping to bring them into conversations and opportunities. However, as you just pointed out, what is oftentimes overlooked is that the bigger organizations can benefit immensely new ideas, new innovations, absolutely right. Speak to that a little bit.
Okay. So Scott, technically I worked for George GMs. DC is a corporate member organization, their members, they choose to be a part of this family in this ecosystem. And so my job every day and my staff and my team is to help every corporation be successful. So George has a need. George says, Stacy, I need assistance. My job is to help all the corporations be successful while bringing minority suppliers to the table to help them achieve the missions of the organization. That's what I do all day, every day. And that's our soul. Everything is centered around helping our corporations be successful.
Wow. I love that. Okay. So George own that note. Talk to us, you've kind of laid out the organizational structure a little bit, but talk a little more about supply chain operations at Cox communications and also touch on, gosh, we all know 20, 20 and 2021 have changed just personally. They've changed professionally. They've changed organizationally. Speak to some of the changes after you kind of shed a little more light on what supply chain looks like at Cox.
Sure. Um, and maybe I'll just a brief comment on, on what Stacy was talking about. I think pretty much everybody, including all of us on this call actually were per Stacy. Um, the one thing that Stacy didn't call out, uh, that, that is a big part from my perspective, big part of what she does and what the GMs D set the GMs DC does is, is making sure to hold us accountable. And what did I say us? It is the large companies out there. Uh, the people that have these big supply chains, uh, and as Stacy says, she finds us those opportunities. Where are those suppliers? Where are those people that are going to come in and make our business better and more successful and more competitive. And in order to do that, we really have to focus on it. It doesn't happen organically. And there's a whole bunch of reasons why, um, that we could talk about, but it doesn't happen organically.
And it's so important to make sure that we are figuring out why that's the case and how do we break those barriers down. And, uh, there's a big part of, from my perspective, what Stacy does is she holds me accountable. She makes sure that we've got programs and policies in place that we have a focus on it that we have back it up with real action. And I just think that that's incredibly important part of the role that she plays. And so just to comment on, on, uh, on what she's, what she's doing, and I'm pretty sure I worked for Stacy.
I did the work for Stacy, uh, from what I've seen this far, I'm happy. And I look forward to our first employee, uh, boss mill, uh, Stacy, and some Brewster's
Get some barbecue and some ice cream you'll be set right now in terms of the supply chain and Cox it's, uh, it's fascinating. Uh, as I mentioned in the introduction, uh, we recently put the organizations together. So even though my team is technically based in Cox communications and Cox communications is my employer. Uh, our job is to support the entire enterprise. And so that's fun because that means every day is, is a different opportunity, a different challenge, uh, stakeholders across all of these businesses need stuff. And my organization's job is to figure out how to do that, how to get them the best possible, uh, suppliers, how to negotiate the best deals, uh, make sure that our contracts that are in place and, you know, that are robust and that offer great protection, not just for us, but for our suppliers. We really, you know, Cox because of the culture that we have, we really value relationships.
And so we have some tremendous partnerships with suppliers and we know that they're a vital part of, uh, helping to keep our business going. If I break it into pieces, it starts with sourcing. We source, uh, three or $4 billion worth of goods and services every single year. And of course sourcing is, is the doorway in. And so back to the GMs, DC, uh, how do I get that pipeline of, of, of entrepreneurs who happened to be minority owned? Um, and, and how do I get that pipeline and how do I facilitate, um, bringing those opportunities to those businesses and finding the ones that are the right fit for Cox, um, after sourcing, uh, then we actually have to buy stuff. Um, and there's a tremendous amount of investment that Cox has been making, particularly Cox communications. We've been investing in the network, literally billions of dollars per year to upgrade our network, to be able to keep increasing seeds, to making sure that we don't have congestion.
Um, and then you touched a little bit on COVID. So I'm mixing this all together for you, but when COVID hit the growth in our network, in terms of traffic, um, was exponential, what we would have normally projected to be growth over multiple years, turned out to happen over months. And the reason for that growth was because everybody had to move online. Uh, this is a great example, you know, you were talking, uh, before we started this call that this used to be a format that you would have done live and in person, and we would have done it in your studio and here we are doing it on zoom. Uh, and so all of this video going back and forth across the internet that consumes a tremendous amount of bandwidth. And the interesting thing about video is that you've got downstream capacity. How fast can this, can this information get to you in your location, your home or your office, but now there's also this huge upstream requirement because we're pushing all this video back across the internet.
Um, and so that, that, that put a tremendous amount of pressure on our network. Now, luckily it is so well engineered and we'd been making such large investments that we were up to the task and that we, uh, were able to maintain quality service to our customers. They weren't bogged down with congestion. Uh, we were actually able to increase speeds. I mean, there was a tremendous amount of work that Cox did to, to deliver to their customers and particularly through COVID, um, and supply chain was, uh, uh, a huge part of that. We had to buy all of this material. We had to make sure that our construction folks could continue to go out there and upgrade the network, continue to add capacity, um, even add new connections and new areas that we hadn't served in the past. All of that construction, uh, requires materials.
And so we've got to bind them materials and we've got to bring it in. We've got to put them in warehouses, we've butted distribute them to our employees, to our contractors. Uh, so it's a pretty, pretty cool supply chain. And then the, uh, the other thing that happens is I'm not sure why, um, every once in a while we have a customer that leaves us now, I can't imagine why anybody would leave a cable company period, and particularly why anybody would leave Cox communications, because we love our customers. And most of our customers love us, but it does happen. I'm going to, I'm going to chalk it up to maybe somebody moves and they moved out of footprint. And so they, they had no, exactly. So when, when a customer does leave, though, now we've got this equipment, uh, that we're going to take back from our customers, and we've got to do something with that equipment.
And so we've got a whole reverse logistics capability that we also have in place. We take, um, uh, what we call consumer premise equipment or CPE. We bring that material back in. We've gotta be able to test that material. We've got to be able to repair it, refer back, um, refresh it, given that there are software upgrades and whatnot, package it up and get it ready for the next customer. So not only do I have sort of your normal forward logistics, but I also have a whole reverse logistics track that we manage as well. So pretty exciting.
Well, and Ben, as you know,
Yeah, please, if I may ask one question, Scott, real quick, George, um, you mentioned, uh, and materials, obviously over and over again, what does that make up look like as far as the actual stuff? Like, what are those skews that you primarily are moving in your supply chain?
Well, you know, there's, there's, there's a lot of different parts as you would imagine, but some of the big ones that you could, you could sort of connect with, when you think about cable, we talk about plant, first of all, we divided up into a couple of buckets. So we have sort of what we call inside plant. And these would be, uh, equipment going into things that we call, for example, MTCs or head ends, where we are generating, you know, the start of our ability to deliver a connection to a customer. So we have these facilities and we have gear in there that allows us to, um, uh, there's something called the CMTS, which is, which is basically cable, uh, uh, cable modem termination system. Uh, and it is the start of how we deliver internet to our customers. So we've got a lot of gear that's going into these head-end locations, and then we've got something we call plant.
And that is literally the physical plant that runs from the head end across all the roads, through all the neighborhoods, to all of the businesses where we make the connection. So that, that, as you would imagine, is either going to be co-ax cable, literally miles and miles and miles of co-ax cable, or it's going to be fiber. We've been investing a huge amount in fiber and, and the way most cable companies operate is, is, um, is, is, uh, an HFC plant, which is a hybrid fiber co-ax plant. So some of our client has co-ax cable. Uh, there's been tremendous innovations that have happened over the last decades, frankly, but recently in particular that make, uh, delivering high-speed internet over co-ax cable, very efficient and allow us to have tremendous capacity. Uh, but then we're also deploying a tremendous amount of fiber, um, and making sure that, you know, that that gives us even more opportunities and, and, and even more speed.
So you've got all the outside plant construction that has to take place to lay all of that cable. It can be underground in some locations, or it can be above ground, you know, just depending on what type of market it is. And then finally you have the equipment that goes into the business or customer residential customer's home. So, uh, one of the big ones is, is, is a gateway. You need a gateway, right? They, that co-ax cable connection plugs into the gateway. And now you've got a connection going all the way back to our MTC or head end, where we can generate signals. We can push information across to your gateway. And then you're going to have stuff that you're pushing back into the gateway that goes all the way back to our head end. Um, and so all of that equipment is material that we're buying. So Ben, before
You take the Baton here and start on this next segment, Stacy, I'll tell you what George just laid out there, man. So many opportunities for MBEs and business leaders, right?
Yes, absolutely. Yeah. Lots of opportunities. And so that's what we do. George George has, has, uh, you know, he understands completely obviously their supply chain and they're sharing that with us, you know, what they need in terms of suppliers, we know what are the categories. And then again, my job kicks in to say, let's bring the right folks to the table to help Cox be successful.
Let me ask you one follow-up question and been, I promise I'll, I'll, I'll pass the Baton your way I, I jumped in on
Fair, Scott. I think, you know, if you're a business leader, you know, in the fortune 1000 or fortune 5,000, you name it and you've got the best of intentions, right? Uh, providing folks opportunities that, that have not been included in some of these discussions and sourcing conversations, you name it. If you had to advise that business leader, just, just one thing, maybe you see it time and time again, whether, whether it's the best practice or if it's a mistake, right. And let's say maybe they're not based in Georgia, right? Maybe they're based, uh, another part of the world, even what's, what's one piece of advice you give that business leader that really wants to take action and move the needle and give folks opportunities.
Yeah. That's, that's a tough one. There's several things. But let me say, let me say this. I am part of a network of organizations. I'm part of the national minority supplier development council. And so there are 23 affiliates across the country. If you're not in Georgia, that's fine. But if you're at wherever you are, there's somebody close that will service. You get connected to that organization. George is, George is a board member of the national minority supplier development council. We're run nationwide, we've got global presence. So I encourage you to get connected to an organization that can help you, that can share best practices that can help you on the journey. You don't. There's no reason to go this alone. There are professionals that, that know the space that know what they're doing, uh, that can help you navigate and help you have impact in bringing opportunities to
Communities of color. So what I hear there is beyond the best of intentions, uh, there, there are, there are resources that can help integrate that into your, your infrastructure in your, in your leadership and your operation. So I love that. Uh, and it's a good shout out to the, uh, N M S D C, which we'll touch on here in a minute. Okay. So Ben
Maybe pylon for a minute, just because of the way that you set that up. Um, I think for, for companies that should have supplier diversity programs, best of intentions is just not good enough. You got to start by having a goal. If you don't have a goal, um, then you don't even have a program, uh, at Cox, um, particularly in this, in this last year and a half, there's been so much, so much a challenge out there in the world, not just as it relates to COVID, but then also social unrest. Uh, and, and as an organization, we brought together, uh, all of our leaders and really, um, uh, spent a lot of time talking about what do we need to be doing as a company. Now, the good news is Cox was already doing a lot in Cox, had a huge commitment to diversity to start with.
But even with that, given everything that's going on in this country, um, we, we felt that we needed to do more. So we put this action seeks committee together, and there's a lot of focus areas for action speaks. There are investments that we're making or contributions that we're making to organizations that are, you know, fighting the good fight. And there was obviously employee diversity is hugely important. If your own employee makeup doesn't reflect the diversity, you know, of, of the country and of the markets we serve, there's a problem. But then there's supplier diversity. And we set a goal that we're going to get to a billion dollars. We think a billion dollars in supplier diversity spend is a, is a, is a cool number. It's a big number, a meaningful number. So we're going to get to a billion dollars. And so back to your question, you know, best intentions, not good enough, you got to be making a commitment and it starts with a goal.
And then once you have a goal, then you've gotta be able to measure the goal. And so that's where things like the GMs DC matter, because those certifications are how we can identify that we really are doing business with genuine minority owned businesses. And as a result, we use those certifications to be able to measure the results. So we got a goal. Now we got to measure it. We got to understand how, how far from the goal are we, and then what programs do we put in place? And even the programs there's opportunities for, for companies like Cox to work with Stacey and work with the GMs CC and say, I've got a goal, I've got a gap I need help. And what are you going to do to, to, to help me close my gap?
Yeah, you got to turn to those credible third party, um, agencies that can validate and really vet cause there's a look as a veteran and, and having surveyed that the, uh, the veteran services organization space for, you know, going on 20 years now, lots of ranger games was facing a lot of reindeer games that go on in that space, right. Shell game, in some cases, not the, not the, the pickle, anybody, but that's where, that's where organizations, uh, with what Stacey does and the GMs DC come into play to make sure that we're operating in defined legit terms and helping the folks that I have gone through. And Amanda have been vetted. Right. Stacy, would you agree with that?
Yeah. I agree with you a hundred, a hundred percent. And let me tie it a little bit to what Georgia said every year. We do, we do a economic impact this year. We took another step and we did, uh, a look at the state of minority business in Georgia. And what we found was if we continue on the path that we're doing right now, it will take us 100 years to get to economic parody. But if each corporation commits to increasing their spend, by 1% annually, I'm meeting you where you are. If you were at one, you go to two, if you had two to three, three to four, we will get there in 15 years. And so we're going to be, you're going to see some things coming out about taking, taking the pledge, making the 1% commitment we can get there in 15 years versus a hundred
Stacy. I've got some sports teams we need to bring y'all into and see if you can't help their performance, uh, cut down and shorten that path to championships, but we'll save that discussion. All right, Ben,
That is the perfect segue. I mean, it's just, we've talked so much about in and around, you know, how companies can do this, how it needs to be measured and so forth to George's point. But you know, we get down to brass tacks, you know, what are some of those ways that you guys have worked together? You know, how are you leveraging each other? Are there any tangible examples that are, that our listeners can kind of sink into to understand, you know, where there might be opportunity for them?
Um, you know, you know, one of the, one of the things, let me, just by the time this airs, this would have happened for the state of Georgia, our governor, our cities and counties have declared minority business opportunity week, which will be September the 20th to the 24th. As part of that jury fishy October 20th to the 24th September, it was September 20th through the 24th. Oh, I thought it was October it's, September it's, September the 20th through the 24th is minority business opportunity week. And so Cox Cox, uh, took the lead in pulling together a consortium of some of the iconic brands, the Coca-Cola company, Delta ups, all working together, doing that week to put together a forum with our suppliers, with their prime suppliers, bringing their prime suppliers to the table, not just the company that the big audacious companies that they do business with bringing them to the table for them to bring opportunities to minority businesses.
And so those are the kinds of things, but, but again, that's part of the history and who Cox is, as George talked about the DNA of the company that makes us again, when I think about them as a founder and they, it just, you have no idea. I'm truly appreciative of the support and the guidance and their leadership in this space. But those are the kinds of things that they do. They don't have to do this, but they do. And they set the bar high and how they do it, a, a billion dollars. They're going to be in the BDR. I'm going to do everything I can to help him get there and he will get there.
All right. So Ben man, uh, everyone needs to hear that, uh, the passion, the intent focus on a real action, connecting people for meaningful, meaningful purpose to help grow their business in ways that, um, they haven't had the opportunity to in, in, in recent decades, even however you want to go, however far, you want to go back and doing it, not in a hundred years been, but do it in 15 years or perhaps less Stacy who knows don't don't sleep on Stacy, or it will blink. And, uh, they'll cut that goal in half. I don't know, but Ben, and there's a couple of just a final questions we've got for Stacy and George before I make sure folks know how to connect with them. What else we want to ask this esteem
And George Allen, uh, to get your thoughts also on, you know, some recent opportunities, you know, working with Stacy, going back to those tangible opportunities where, uh, where there specific RFIDs or RFPs or things of that nature, where you guys were looking for specific services or suppliers or whatever that may be where we're Stacy was able to jump in and assist you guys.
Yeah. I mean, there's, there's one very specific one, which is we, we participate in the mentor protege program that the GMs DC sponsors. So that's where, um, Stacy will, and I'm not sure you and Stacy, you may want to speak to the process that you use to select the businesses on your side. Um, but you know, when we get to, when we get to be a mentor to a minority owned business, then we really, uh, two things happen. I think from that, the first is you get to make a real, really deep connection. So it's beyond just, Hey, can you respond to the RFP? And I'm going to hold you at arms length and sort of evaluate you compared to everybody else. If you're going to have a mentoring relationship, you've got to really break down those barriers and start having conversations and treating each other like people.
Um, so, uh, so that, that part of the program is cool, but the other is it's sort of a multiplier effect. So if I can not just have that connection with a business, from a mentoring relationship, such that that business might be more successful with me as Cox representing Cox, but can I help that business to be more successful in general so that, you know, they're going to go out there and not just get my business, but get other companies businesses. So we liked that program with, with, uh, that the GMs DC offers, uh, we actually have a program that we call the SBLI small business leadership academy, and that's where we've actually partnered with organizations, uh, universities in our markets. So we've done this in places like Las Vegas, for example, where we have partnered with universities and they've developed a business curriculum for small businesses.
And then what we do is we nominate our suppliers. Sometimes we also nominate some of our small businesses that are customers. So we actually look at both sides of it, but we nominate our small businesses and we give them scholarships to participate in the SBLI. And again, it sort of has that multiplier effect. We want these businesses to be successful. We want these businesses to grow. I mean, one of the reasons that we're in this and we think it's so important is that there's a huge wealth gap in this country. There's a huge gap in terms of quality and how that wealth is distributed. And one of the reasons that that gap exists is because business ownership, as you know, has been, has lagged for minorities and, and business ownership is one of the ways that you can build generational wealth. And we really want to support that.
So anything that we can do, not just to make sure that our own dollars are flowing into those businesses, but that we're finding other ways to make those businesses successful. So when, when, um, Stacy talked about the, um, I think we, we called it the, uh, the value chain voyage. This is where we are getting our prime suppliers. And I apologize for correcting you on the date, Stacy. I had it wrong. I just happened to have a note here. So it's definitely my fault. Um, but that's what we're trying to bring in our prime suppliers and say, there are reasons why these prime suppliers might still have to be the direct connection to Cox and that they are getting, you know, our business directly. But then we want to encourage those suppliers to find minority owned businesses that they can then rely on to help deliver the services, the goods or services that they're ultimately delivering the Cox.
So we think tier two is another example of how we can amplify the effect we have in you to continue to make sure that it flows through to these minority minority owned businesses. Now, as a practical matter yet, we are always eager to share the, the calendar, if you will, of what RFP categories are coming up. When, um, I talked to you about how much we were investing in our network before COVID, and then when COVID hit, we had to ample increase that dramatically. Well guess what all of that activity that we have to have out there in the network, all that construction activity, those are all, those are huge opportunities for minority owned businesses. We, you know, we can't get enough of those businesses, uh, right now we need those services. Um, and so we are always eager to work with organizations like the GMs DC, uh, share those, um, those, the calendar, if you will, the different categories, when are we going to be, you know, when are we going to be running RFPs for this particular area, for these services, for these goods. And then, um, uh, you know, Stacey will help figure out across her, uh, member base, who are the members that are most likely to be successful and that can really help us.
So, uh, on that note, uh, I know we, we have mentioned, and I appreciate you laying it out, George, and, and, uh, as much as I appreciate your passion, I even more appreciate, uh, the, the rural action and, uh, opportunities that clearly the Cox communications team, the Cox team is, um, is committed to. So we've got some, a little celebration. Now I hear some recognitions and accolades, and I know you probably have a big trophy case. Uh, Stacy, I know it just send us a snapshot. I can only imagine, uh, I feel like you can move mountains here. Um, but Ben, I believe the NMSDC, which we've mentioned earlier has a bestowed a pretty big honor here fairly recently to Stacy and the team, right?
That's right. She MSTC, I believe Stacy, I'm gonna let her talk about it because you guys were recognized as in S the NMSDC counsel of the year, a few years ago. So I guess my question to you is, you know, what makes the Georgia, the GMs TC, uh, so special compared to other chapters?
You know what I will tell you, I will, I can tell you the GMs DC, and it's really the staff, and it's really our corporate and our MBEs. That's really what makes the difference. I've got the committed corporate partners like Cox. I've got some phenomenal minority business organizations and, and really the, the, the magic sauce all comes together with my staff. They're the ones day-to-day the maintenance happened. And so I will tell you, it's that it's the whole GMs DC family that really makes this council one of the best in this network. Um, the commitment, the passion that get it done, the impact, all of that role together is what really makes this, what, what, you know, makes the impact on what we do every single day. We couldn't, again, I will stand up my corporate members and I tell the people in the network, I'll set up my corporate members, my staff, and my MBS against any in this country. I'm telling you, there are big, bad and audacious.
All right. So two quick followup questions. And now I promise that we'll, we'll bring out to a close I'm sure y'all got about a thousand things going on. Um, so for MBEs, that, that aren't a member that want to join. Is it a pretty simple process today? They, they start by going to your website and applying, how does that work, Stacy? Yep.
They, they, they go to our website and start the process that gets certification. It's never been defined as simple, so 11. Let's just totally transparent here as we get going.
But Stacy probably nor should it be right? Cause you're, you're correct.
And you know what? It's got, you know what? I got a spot for you on my team.
I see potential here, but no, you go to our website@wwwdotgmsdc.org, and it says get certified. And it tells you everything you need. We host recertification briefings every single month to help you through the process. We want peace. We want companies to be successful. Uh, companies like Cox, uh, have supported our disaster relief fund from, from the COVID where we were, we're paying for companies to get certified. We're supporting them. And so, because, you know, again, we're in interesting times. And so as a result, we do some things differently. So again, if you're interested in getting certified, go to our website, see what you need, and we'll, we'll work with your taking it from there.
And the website again was
Www dot G M S D C, that O R D.
Wonderful. And we're going to have that in links to show notes, one click away from, from easily starting the process. At least that seems to be pretty easy. And then one quick followup, I know this isn't your forte, but yeah, there's been an explosion of veteran entrepreneurs, uh, in recent years, which is a wonderful thing. And there's also plenty of resources as you pointed out earlier, is there an organization that comes to mind that for folks that want to get certified as a veteran owned business, would you point those folks anywhere?
I would. And you know, when, when you said it, there's, there's an organization that just certifies veterans. If somebody is interested in that they can contact me via our website and I will connect them. And I, I see, I, I see his face, but I can't tell you his name off the top. And so then I will connect them if somebody is interested from a veteran,
Well, you know what, I wouldn't dare send anyone around you stay. So they're going to benefit from you being a part of their network and you'll probably brighten their day along the way. So we'll make that happen. Really. I really appreciate, um, you know, uh, it's a blessing to rub elbows with, with leaders that get it. They can't be about lip service leadership has got to be, it's gotta be results, uh, for all parties. Uh, so admire, uh, both y'all's approach your list. So I think we've got to be in, I think we know how to connect with Stacy, G M S D c.org. There'll be in the show notes. Uh, George, how can folks connect with you in the Cox team? Well,
Any, any minority owned business, uh, can just go on our website@cox.com, uh, and they can, they can, there, there is a section that we have for suppliers and specifically for diverse suppliers to fill out an initial form, introductory form, just, just giving us the basic contact information. Uh, and that, uh, is always an interesting, uh, way to get started, uh, because the initial or the immediate reaction that I'll get, luckily, not from Stacy, but that I'll get from most MDs are most minority owned or diverse owned businesses is that's not going to work. That's a black hole. I never get an answer. And we pride ourselves in making sure that anybody that registers with us we'll get contacted. Um, you know, it's always a challenge to figure out if the goods and services that somebody happens to offer is a fit for Cox, happens to be what we need when we need it.
And so we can't guarantee that that's going to be the case, but anybody that goes in registers, uh, we will make sure that we make contact with we, we are highly motivated to do that. Um, in addition, people can reach out to me directly. I'm pretty straightforward, George dot richter@cox.com. Um, and, uh, you know, I have, I have, uh, I'm not much of a social media type, so I don't, I don't post an awful lot out there in the world. Uh, so usually just direct communication is, uh, is kind of the best, best answer as far as,
And they flag you down from, as from 25,000 feet, uh,
Absolutely. Or meet me at an airport anytime.
Okay. Uh, George Richter, senior vice president supply chain management, Cox communications, Stacy key, president CEO, fearless CEO of the Georgia minority supplier development council. Hey, really quick, before we say goodbye, Ben, appreciate you bringing this conversation together. Appreciate your efforts, uh, and the Chamber's efforts at, at furthering. Uh, not just the Atlanta ecosystem. Of course it's where y'all's focus is, but what's good for Atlanta is certainly good for industry in Atlanta is a, um, is a beacon for how things should work in many ways, uh, globally. So Ben, how can folks connect with you in the high-flying Metro Atlanta chamber team?
I say to your point earlier, Atlanta affects everything. I've seen that shirt on a couple of people here in Atlanta. So, and I firmly believe in that, but if you do want to get in touch with me, I'm very active on LinkedIn at slash Benjamin J here was one on LinkedIn. Uh, I'm not as active on Twitter as I used to be at, took a break. I liked the break. I'm going to stay on break. And I think, uh, but yeah, if you want to get in touch with me, obviously on a personal scale to, Instagram's always fun at Benjamin J. Harris. Um, but yeah, email's great too. That's always my most to, to George's point. Love direct communication is just bHarris@macocdotcomisinbharrisatmetroatlantachamberofcommerce.com.
Wonderful. And we'll have that information posted appreciate what you do been, uh, been here. It's a pleasure to co-host these series, one of our longest running series here at supply chain. Now all about supply chain, city folks. If you do love Atlanta, uh, in your business in Atlanta and you love further ecosystem here, make sure you use hashtag supply chain city. Uh, this is the supply chain capital of the known universe, at least, uh, at this point in time. So Ben, thank you so much. Ben Harris for the Metro Atlanta chamber chamber against Stacey key with GM SDC and George Richter with Cox communications with that said folks, hopefully you've enjoyed this conversation as much as I have. I've gotten a kick out of this. I've learned a lot and we all have our blind spots and, and sometimes you feel that in just by what you do. And other times you kind of deliberately fill that in. I've learned a ton. I feel like I've got a certification now after the last hour. Uh, hopefully you've enjoyed it as much as we have here. Most importantly, Hey, be like George, be like Stacy. It'd be like Ben challenged you to do good. Give forward, be the change that's needed to take action today. And on that note, we'll see you next time, right back here on spot you now. Thanks for buying.
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