Heart of Illinois Business to Business Symposium - Government Registration

Overview | Schedule of Events | Keynote Speaker | Buyers Forum Information | Refund Policy | Lodging

Overview

The Heart of Illinois Business to Business (B2B) Symposium and Training Seminars is a business networking activity designed to create new markets for suppliers and new sources for buyers. It is a corporate and minority business exchange.

Designed to enable Minority Business Enterprises (MBEs) the opportunity to identify current marketplace needs and appropriate personnel within the area's leading corporations and government agencies, the 2010 Heart of Illinois B2B Symposium also focuses on providing buyers and procurement decision makers the opportunity to identify new competitive sources of services and supplies.

Through a series of focus-group discussions, MBEs are efficiently able to market their capabilities and capacities to major corporations and government agencies, and buyers are able to inform MBEs of their procurement processes in a relaxed, personable setting - in one location - in one day.

Schedule of Events

Tuesday, 12 October 2010

7:00 a.m. - Registration
8:00 a.m. - Keynote Presentations & Award Ceremony
9:00 a.m. - Buyers Forum*
12:00 Noon - Forum Conclusion

Keynote Speaker

Sandi Sorensen, Director of Global Strategic Sourcing
Archer Daniels Midland Company

Sandi’s duties include overseeing the sourcing process, assigning sourcing categories to a team of commodity experts, tracking and reporting costs for upper management, and measuring the team’s success. The Strategic Sourcing Team works closely with plant engineers to negotiate contracts for Capital Projects. A few examples include 6 brand new facilities: 2 dry ethanol plants, a PHA plant, 2 Co-Generation plants, and a Cocoa plant, which are currently under construction in the U.S. Strategic Sourcing works closely with ADM's business units to ensure that diversity goals and objectives are being achieved. Sandi Sorensen has championed the Supplier Diversity initiative and has embedded this core competency as part of the strategic sourcing process, which means she explores new and innovative methods to include minority and women owned businesses as part of the ADM procurement stream. By partnering with Supplier Diversity, Sandi has made significant contributions increasing the ADM diversity spend, and ADM looks forward to more growth as they continue to expand operations throughout the world. Sandi began her career at ADM in Tabor Grain and has held various purchasing and management positions prior to becoming Director of Global Strategic Sourcing. In fact, Sandi was also a member of the first ADM Supplier Diversity Task Force. Over her 22 year career in purchasing, she has managed the daily production reports, timekeeping systems, and invoice payment processing systems for the Decatur Corn facility. She has also been responsible for rail logistics, contractor relations, and chemical inventories throughout the ADM enterprise. Sandi’s entire career has been driven by her keen sense of negotiation, cost saving skills and a determination to add shareholder value. Sandi has more knowledge about ADM's plants and facilities, how they are operated, and the purchase requirements than anyone else at ADM….and ADM has 26,000 employees worldwide. Sandi received her B.S. from Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois majoring in Mathematics.

The purpose of this event is to substantially match current purchasing needs with qualified Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) vendors. The following outline details the format for this event.

• Prior to the event each registered corporation and government buying group will submit a list of commodities/services that they are planning to purchase within the next 6 to 12 months. NOTE: This is requested by 5:00 p.m. CST Monday, 4 October 2010.
• In response to the provided list of commodities, the Heart of Illinois staff will compile a list of qualified minority businesses that have the capabilities to meet the buying organization's requirements. After thoroughly reviewing each business' history and determining if the business is a match to the buying organizations' needs, businesses will be scheduled to participate in the 12 October Forum.
• At the Forum, each buying organization/designated buyer will be assigned to a table to engage a preselected group of 4-5 minority business owners for a 40-minute interval. The buying representative will initiate the discussion by sharing his/her company's procurement focus and the "rules of engagement" for his/her respective procurement process for approximately 5-8 minutes.
• After the remarks from the buying representative, each minority business owner will take approximately 5-6 minutes to discuss his/her capabilities, capacities and value proposition. NOTE: Because of the targeted nature of this event, it is appropriate that corporation BUYERS attend the Buyers Forum along with the Supplier Diversity Manager.
• After 40 minutes, the MBE participants will rotate to the next scheduled buying table. Each corporation will meet with approximately 4 groups of business owners throughout the Forum. This format should afford the opportunity for the buying organizations to engage a host of potential suppliers and exchange information for future discussions.

Refund Policy

Event registration fees are nonrefundable twenty-one (21) days prior to the start of the event.

Lodging

Holiday Inn City Center
500 Hamilton Blvd.
Peoria, IL 61602
(309) 674-2500

Mark Twain Hotel
225 E. Adams Street
Peoria, IL 61602
(309) 676-3600
http://www.marktwainhotel.com

Pere Marquette
501 Main Street
Peoria, IL 61602
(309) 637-6500
http://www.hotelperemarquette.com