All across America and around the world, this is Veterans Radio.
This is Veterans Radio.
Welcome to Veterans Radio.
I am Jim Fossone.
I'm the officer of the deck today.
We've got some great programs for you.
We always want to remind you you can find more about Veterans Radio at its Facebook
site or at the web veteransradio.org where we're on the web 24-7.
You can find a lot of our podcasts there as well.
We post new ones every Tuesday so you can get a new story, a new interview, something
you didn't know before by going to veteransradio.org.
And before we get started we want to thank our sponsors.
Next up we want to thank National Veteran Business Development Council, NVBDC.org.
It was established to certify both service disabled and veteran owned businesses.
You'll find out how they can help your business by going to NVBDC.org.
We want to thank Legal Help for Veterans.
Legal Help for Veterans fights for veterans disability rights all across the nation.
You can reach them at 800-693-4800 or on the web at legalhelpforveterans.com.
And finally, PuroClean.
PuroClean is the paramedics of property damage.
It provides water damage remediation, flood water removal, fire and smoke damage remediation,
mold removal, biohazard cleanup.
It also has a focus on veteran franchisees.
You can learn more about them by going to puroclean.com.
Welcome I am Jim Fosso and this is a Veterans Radio Spotlight on the National Veterans Business
Development Council, better known as NVBDC.org.
We have a partnership with NVBDC which is the nation's leading third party authority
for certification of veteran-owned businesses, really of all sizes.
This 501C3 has been in business doing its good work for over 10 years now and it addresses
the growing need to identify and certify both service disabled and veteran-owned businesses
for commercial or corporate and marketplace as well as the government.
It provides a rigorous certification process designed to withstand the scrutiny of corporate
entities seeking to utilize certified veteran-owned businesses.
We want to welcome to the program today Annette Stevenson, an Army veteran.
Annette, welcome.
Thank you.
I am grateful for the opportunity.
Well, you are a 10-year Army veteran and we will get to that in a little bit but let's
start with as president of Stevenson Consulting Group and you have a long business history
in supplier diversity.
What did you get involved with NVBDC?
Well, when I came off of active duty trying to figure out what my next step was, I wound
up working for the state of North Carolina for about seven years in contracts and grants
and some minor purchasing and then had the opportunity to go to corporate America.
So I wound up working at SAS Institute for 18 years, got credentialed as a procurement
analyst and then was working actually for a retired Army warrant officer in procurement
and he gave me the opportunity to stand up and manage our supplier diversity program.
So a couple years into that, when veterans were coming to the forefront of business opportunities
in corporate America, it's where I met Keith.
He didn't believe I was a veteran at first.
Keith, this is the always question.
Because I had actually served in the National Guard and reserves in college before I came
on active duty and got my RA.
So we talked and see how we could help veterans in the corporate space.
I helped them build some relationships through the industry groups and was able to reach
out to Apple, Oracle, Dell, all those big corporations, AT&T and Google, when they were
looking at the different certifications for veterans that were coming online, aside from
the VA CVE, because there was so much fraud, a lot of corporations did not want to take
the CVE verification.
So when Keith stood this up and became gold standard and really understand what it takes
to be a vet according to the public law, reading the 214s, we just drove it.
Now I serve as a board member for the NVBDC.
And my own consulting company is NVBDC certified also.
And I believe you're also the vice president of North Carolina Veterans Business Association.
Well, I was.
I was.
But as my business started to grow, I did.
Yeah, pick and choose.
So we're still going.
We all learned we can't do it all.
But this was obviously an important thing.
You were just at the National Convention for NVBDC in Detroit, Michigan.
Why is it important if you're a veteran owned business to get certified?
And that can you give us your vast experience as to why is this important?
Yes.
So thank you for that question, because it's it's funny.
We don't know what we don't know.
You know, all most veterans understand is the federal sector, right?
The the SBA, the CVE program, now the vets first program.
And that's to do business in the federal contracting arena, right?
Has really nothing to do with the corporate mindset.
But veterans don't understand there's three different sectors to have opportunity.
Federal, state and local and corporate.
And so for an organization like SAS and a lot of the major corporations, they do business
in all three verticals, right?
And there's different requirements that you have to meet.
And ironically enough, even if you're verified or certified through the SBA now, if you outgrow
your NAICS codes, right?
Or your number of employees, you're no longer eligible to be certified because you've outgrown
the small business requirements.
That doesn't happen with NVBDC.
OK, so if you notice it's that little s in the SDVOSB versus SDVOP, right?
Aquarium City.
But by getting certified through NVBDC, you know, they've been accepted by the billion
dollar roundtable.
And as you mentioned in the introduction, they thoroughly vet you that you own operating
control your company.
And even more so that you meet the standards to be a veteran.
OK, and we didn't make them up.
It's not pick and choose.
We like you.
We don't.
It's by the public law, right?
That you meet the criteria to be a veteran.
And so the corporations appreciate that standard of certification.
And when you go through the process, and it is a fee based process, I always tell people
it's like getting a college degree, right?
College degree does not guarantee you a job.
It's a hunting license.
It's a credential.
And that's what certification gets for you.
It's a badge that you've been thoroughly vetted.
The corporations that look at you now know you've been through that process, and they're
willing to give you an opportunity and a seat at the table to go through and look for
those corporate opportunities.
And really one of the things that NVBDC, as you mentioned, is sort of the gold standard
for veteran certification.
That's on the individual company side, certifying the company.
But it has all these relationships with these really large companies who want to do business
with certified veteran owned businesses.
And that's sort of unique as well, those introductions to all of those big companies.
And that's also the side of the table that you've been able to play on.
Yes, exactly.
Well, because businesses want to have the value, right?
So if I'm paying that certification fee, what's the value?
They want to do business with veterans, because veterans like myself, I'm Asian American.
I'm an Army brat.
My father was an original member of Special Forces back in the 50s.
He was a Vietnam vet also.
And I grew up at Fort Bragg.
But the characteristics that veterans bring to the table, well, I mean, one, I got sideways,
but I'm a minority woman's service disabled vet.
So veterans cross the whole spectrum, right?
And you can have multiple certifications.
But the value we bring from our experiences by serving in the military, you know, we can
make a lot happen with limited resources, working well under pressure, hard work, the
leadership, the innovation, the teamwork, you know, it's something and logistics, right?
We're great at logistics and problem solving and big picture thinking.
All that goes into entrepreneurship.
And this isn't to say that other groups or minority women don't have that characteristic.
But it's pretty much what we do in the military, you know?
We've learned how to step up to the plate and take ownership.
And that's what corporations and businesses are looking for from their suppliers.
How can you help me fix this problem?
Can you save money?
Can you help me save time?
Is there something else I should be doing?
Is there innovation that you can bring to the table?
And a lot of time that is through veteran owned businesses being able to provide that
and the stat that Keith just shared was the billion dollar round table members, the corporations
spent $4.3 billion with NVBDC certified vets last year.
Well, if that's not enough to motivate you to say, hey, maybe I want a piece of that
opportunity, let me go get certified by NVBDC.
Certainly the experiences of Annette Stevenson across a broad range of having her own businesses,
looking for a major corporation, understanding supplier diversity ought to be enough to motivate
you.
And you can go to NVBDC.org to get started.
They're very helpful, but it is a rigorous program.
Let me switch.
Yes, and it does take patience.
Let me just last one thing to say.
You're not going to get certified one month and get a contract the next.
You know, realistically, you know, this is a marathon.
You're not a quick sprint, right?
It's about building those relationships, building trust, showing up to be able to get
those contracts.
So I just wanted to put that out there.
Thanks.
Absolutely.
As you say, it's a hunting license.
It doesn't guarantee you actually get any game.
But let's come back a little bit.
How did a nice girl like you end up in the military?
Well, like I said, my father was a original member of Special Forces.
He met my mother in Northern Thailand in the mid-50s and came back to the States and, you
know, at Fort Bragg is where I really grew up and actually went back to Thailand for
three years.
He served in Vietnam and but grew up in Fayetteville and then, you know, the pressure of, you
know, being army.
I really did not plan on it, but wound up going in through the ROTC program, you know,
went to jump school and got my rigor wings, but when I came on active duty, I was branched
personnel, an AG officer and served on active duty at Bragg and Third Armored Division and
came back to Raleigh actually during the First Gulf War, served as the battalion adjutant.
And then, you know, the the the build down came along and it was like a go to Korea with
a five year old or or get out.
So I just when I made the decision to go in the reserves and raise my family and start
my civilian career.
Well, and if I've got it right, you graduated from Methodist University with a bachelor's
of arts in about 1982.
You did 10 years plus all total in the military.
Is that right?
Yeah, on active duty.
Yes.
And then you had mentioned SAS, which I'm sure there's a lot of people who don't know
what that big big company is where you work for over 18 years.
Tell us about SAS.
Sure.
SAS is the largest privately owned software company.
It's analytic software.
It's to help companies and corporations make better business decisions.
You know, we we describe it as if you think about driving a car.
You have data, you can look out the back window and see where you've been.
You can look out the side windows, see where you are.
That's why.
But the power of SAS is the predictive analytics, looking out the front windshield down the road
and see if we did this or tweak that, you know, we could have this better outcome.
So you know, the financial use industry uses it.
It's the standard for pharmaceuticals.
It's just just wonderful company, great places to work.
Yeah, it was it was life changing to work there.
I was really grateful.
And one of the things that you get to do is focus on supplier diversity.
Explain to people maybe who don't really know what that means, why it's important for
a corporation.
Sure.
So, you know, there's a lot of talk around DEI now, but really supplier diversity is
a procurement function.
Okay.
It's a best practice where corporations or organizations look to source from suppliers
that are minority women, veterans, disability owned people that are not normally included
in the supply chain.
So it's being intentional to do that outreach and have them included in RFP and in procurement
opportunities because we say, really, how do you know you have the best supplier if
you haven't looked across the board?
You know, and, you know, one of the stories I always share is talent wise.
But when you think about Jackie Robinson, who was also an Army vet, really, number 42,
when you think of it, you know, Branch Ricky wasn't trying to fix the racial divide when
he recruited him, right?
He wanted to win a pennant and he saw the talent and he was willing to go to bat and
bring him to the table.
And sure enough, he performed, didn't he?
That's why today we still talk about Jackie Robinson and all the great things he did.
No, that's a great explanation to folks who don't understand.
It's not diversity for diversity's sake, is it?
No, no.
It's that to make sure that you have the best.
But if you're not looking everywhere, you don't know.
You know, all these movies that have come out now have really helped tell the story,
right?
When you think of Hidden Figures, right?
Katherine Goble, right?
The mathematician that helped put a man on the moon, right?
Sure, yeah.
He was marginalized, but look at the talent.
You know, when she was in that room on the chalkboard, talk about the talent, right?
Not seeing Alan Turing, who was LGBTQ, right?
He could have been certified, helped, you know, develop enigma that broke the code
for World War II, right?
That was declassified many years later, but he was the main inventor of that.
So on and on and on, do you have the best supplier at the table?
And how do you know if you're not out there actively looking and being intentional to
include them in your supply chain?
You've done a lot of work for veterans in a lot of different spaces.
I read something that down in North Carolina, maybe you're working with some folks in the
food and farm production area.
I thought that was pretty interesting.
Yeah.
So that's the other, you know, North Carolina, we have obviously one of the largest military
populations, right?
Fort Bragg, Camp Lejeune, and Seymour Johnson Air Force Base.
And so we, there was a lot of activity when veterans were, military were transitioning
out.
And so how do we help them transition and find jobs?
I know for me, the language, right?
You know, what the terminology, you know, we speak our own language in the military,
you know, and hierarchy.
And I didn't think I was intimidating to people, but we are, you know, we, but we are, you
know, but anyway, so wound up on the, serving on the governor's working group.
And one of the things that was coming around was farming opportunities and how farming
agrotherapy really could help soldiers with PTSD or DBI, right?
And got to know some farmers, one of them who is NVBDC certified Briarwood cattle farm.
There's a special ops guy and just being out there with cows or holding a chicken and being
in, you know, in the land with the new purpose, a new mission, if you will.
So being able to help them get certified and find their way into procurement opportunities,
you know, you don't think about it.
It's not just selling at the farmer's market.
We all eat, right?
You go to a Denny's, it's eggs, right?
It's lettuce.
It's at Walmart.
It's a food line.
It's all over.
Even casinos, they buy food and salad.
So always procurement opportunities, if and when they're ready, you know, and even though
you're small, it's coming together and doing a co-op.
So again, a lot of opportunity with the farmers, but also it's satisfying because it's a way
to help address soldier suicide.
You know, Marvin does an event every year to talk about agrotherapy and how it can help
and how we need to be there for one another to prevent that 22.
We're talking to Annette Stevenson, who is a Army veteran of 10 years or so.
She currently runs Stevenson Consulting Group down in North Carolina, focusing on supplier
diversity.
She's an advisory board member for NVBDC.
So she really knows, you know, her whole career has been in this field of getting the best
suppliers possible, not overlooking those because of a diversity issue.
Annette, we appreciate the time that you've made available for us today.
Any final words for our audience?
No, just good luck and persevere and get NVBDC certified.
It's worth it.
Great.
Thank you.
And I want to thank everybody for listening to Veterans Radio today.
I am Jim Fossone.
It's been a pleasure to be your host.
I'm a Veterans Disability Lawyer at Legal Help for Veterans, and you can reach us at
800-693-4800 or LegalHelpforVeterans.com on the web.
You can follow Veterans Radio on Facebook and listen to its podcasts and internet radio
shows by visiting us at veteransradio.org.
That's veteransradio.org.
You again want to thank our national sponsors, the National Veterans Business Development
Council, NVBDC.org.
Legal Help for Veterans, a Veterans Disability Law Firm with a national practice before the
VA can help you on your claims and your appeals.
This can be reached at LegalHelpforVeterans.com or 1-800-693-4800 and PuroClean, a leader
in property emergency services.
It's the paramedics of property damage, providing water damage remediation, flood water removal,
fire and smoke damage remediation, mold and biohazard cleanups.
You can reach them at PuroClean.com or 800-775-7876.
We also want to thank our local sponsors.
This would include the Charles S. Kettles chapter of the Vietnam Veterans of America,
that's chapter 310.
VFW, Graff O'Hara Post 423, the American Legion, Irwin Preskin Post 46 in Ann Arbor
as well, the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System and certainly the National Vietnam Veterans
of America Association.
You can be a sponsor by going to veteransradio.org, clicking on the About Us in our sponsors
and help us out.
Keep this program alive for the 21 and 22 years.
Keep us going for another 20.
Thank you.