Virtual Event

USPAACC Hosts a Virtual Chief Procurement Officer (CPO) Roundtable

Procurement executives and the supply chain leadership of eight Fortune 1000 corporations and two academic institutions participated in a virtual CPO roundtable to discuss the impact of the pandemic on their operations and strategic solutions going forward.

Hosted by the US Pan Asian American Chamber of Commerce Education Foundation (USPAACC), the virtual roundtable, held May 15, 2020, included participants from AARP, Avis Budget Group, Georgetown University, Hilton, Hyatt, MGM Resorts, Nationwide Insurance, TIAA, Truist Bank, and Howard University.

Dr. Diane Hall, Senior Scientist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Pandemic and Reopening Taskforce, kicked off the discussion and presented the current measures and guidelines which the CDC is implementing at workplaces to curtail the pandemic.

Her remarks encompassed the following points:

  • How employers can safely bring back their workforce to work.
  • How the CDC is working with state policymakers to plan a way back to reopening local economies.
  • How employers can handle employees affected by the pandemic and the ripple effects on their social and mental well-being; that every state is different, with some getting better, while others have specific environments affecting the workforce.
  • How COVID-19 appears to have a disproportionate burden of illness and death among African Americans, other racial and ethnic minorities, and low-income people.

Professor James Haddow of Howard University School of Business moderated the roundtable and fielded questions to the panel. All CPOs contributed to the dialogue.

Among the salient points discussed were:

  • Challenges facing supply chain management and viable solutions going forward;
  • The need to define work-from-home standards in using technology platforms;
  • How work-from-home will soon become an indispensable part of business policies;
  • How businesses must invest more in improving their employees’ health, safety and well-being in order to grow;
  • The need to define the health and safety initiatives that businesses must implement when reopening; and
  • The need to share the positive effects, such as increased productivity, after work-from-home arrangements were implemented.

The active participation of CPOs, their responses and interactions validated the what the procurement executives and supply chain leadership had in mind.

This virtual roundtable is the latest of several programs brought by USPAACC to virtually connect business executives and leadership amidst social distancing regulations prompted by the pandemic.

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About USPAACC

Founded in 1984 in the nation’s Capital, the US Pan Asian American Chamber of Commerce Education Foundation (USPAACC) is the most established and effective national nonprofit nonpartisan  organization representing all Asian American and Asian American-related groups in business, sciences, the arts, sports, education, public and community services. Our mission is to promote and propel economic growth and job creation by opening doors to business and professional opportunities for Asian Americans and their partners in corporations, government at the federal, state and local levels, and the small, minority and diverse business communities.  For 35 years, USPAACC has served and will continue to serve as the unified voice for equal opportunity in business for Asian Americans, as the gateway to corporate and government contracts, to Asian American suppliers, and information about Asian Americans and the Asia-Pacific and Indian Subcontinent markets.

Our signature annual thought-leadership programs include: College Hallmark Scholarship Program that began in 1989, One-on-One Prescheduled Business Matchmaking Meetings in 1998, Supplier Diversity & Procurement Leadership Caucus in 2004, Federal Contracting Town Hall Meetings in 2005, Fast 100 Asian American Businesses in 2008, Business Executive Coaching: ReadySetGrow in 2011, Chief Procurement Officers Forum in 2011, What’s Your Pitch Innovation Competitions in 2015, Chief Technology & Information Officers Forum in 2017, and Corporate Employee Business Resource Group Leadership Caucus in 2017.

Headquartered in Washington DC, USPAACC reaches Asian American businesses nationwide through regional chapters in California, Texas, New York, Georgia, Illinois and the Washington DC-Maryland-Virginia National Capital Area.

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