Four Michigan companies, including the Detroit Three automakers, Friday were honored as one of America’s Top Corporations for Women’s Business Enterprises by the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council.
Chrysler Group LLC, Ford Motor Co., General Motors Co. and Kelly Services Inc. all were named to the group’s 14th annual list. In total, 32 corporations were honored for 2012 by the Washington D.C.-based advocate for women’s business enterprises for helping create a business environment so women owned businesses can compete and win corporate business.
The group honors companies that develop best practices that lead to business partnerships with women entrepreneurs. Recipients will receive awards later this month at a summit in Baltimore, Md.
“Thanks to the extraordinary leadership of our top corporations, women’s businesses are generating strategies and solutions for meeting the fast-changing needs of today’s marketplace,” Pamela Prince-Eason, president and CEO of Women’s Business Enterprise National Council, said in a statement. “Together they are driving the innovation that fuels a stronger economy and creates jobs.”
GM and Auburn Hills-based Chrysler made the list for the first time. GM said four of its 15 corporate board members are women and 21 percent of its corporate officers are women. The Detroit automaker employs 30,000 women globally and works with more than 200 minority and non-minority women-owned suppliers.
The group’s 2011 award recipients included Dearborn-based Ford and Kelly Services, based in Troy. Kelly Services has won the award three times and Ford twice.
Melissa Burden, The Detroit News.
