New York & New Jersey Minority Supplier Development Council Presents Partnership Awards to Top Minority Businesses and Area Corporations

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - November 23, 2015) - The New York & New Jersey Minority Supplier Development Council celebrated the service excellence of metropolitan area Asian, African American, Hispanic, and Native American-owned businesses along with the advocacy of some of the nation's top corporations at its annual Partnership Awards Gala in New York City on November 13, 2015.

Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation was presented the "National Corporation of the Year Award" by New York & New Jersey Minority Supplier Development Council's certified minority business owners. New Jersey-based Public Service Enterprise Group, Inc. (PSEG) was honored with the "Local Corporation of the Year Award" and the "Advocate of the Year Award" went to Claire Scanlon, VP, BNY Mellon.

The "Supplier of the Year Awards" were presented to three exceptional Council-Certified minority businesses which spanned fields from IT to promotions to printing. They have achieved revenues ranging from under one million dollars to billions of dollars. The Council classifies its certified minority owned businesses by size based on annual revenue. Class 1 has revenues of up to $1 million; Class 2 ($1 million to $10 million); Class 3 ($10 million to $50 million) and Class 4 (Over $50 million).

Terrence Clark, Council President and CEO, said, "We want to grow Minority businesses from Class I to Class II and Class II to Class III and Class III to Class IV."

The Class 2 Award winner was Robert Sanchez, founder of United Print Group Inc., a highly successful Hispanic-owned print production, branding and promotional items firm based in New York. The Class 3 Award was presented to Yoindra (Ryan) Ramnarayan, the founder and president of Deluxe Delivery Systems, who has offices in New York City, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Washington, DC and now is one of the top five Courier companies in New York. The Class 4 Award was presented to Ranjini Poddar, CEO of Artech Information Systems LLC (Artech) and also the largest woman-owned IT staffing Company in the US, with $400 million in revenue.

These MBEs were also awarded scholarships to the prestigious Minority Business Executive Program at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College sponsored by Capital One, Comcast NBCUniversal, and Wells Fargo.

"In 2015, 53 percent of minority businesses certified by The Council had annual sales between $10 million and $99 million dollars. We also have 30 percent of minority businesses with annual sales under $1,000,000," said Clark. "The Council is here to assist minority businesses and corporations in finding mutually beneficial business collaborations through networking, education programs, and business development."

The Gala Corporate Chair was Lee B. Stephens III, Executive Vice President, Public Sector Client Executive, BNY Mellon and the Gala Minority Business Enterprise Chair was Leo Russell, CEO & Managing Partner, PRIDE Global. The VIP reception sponsor was Ernst & Young LLP. The Platinum sponsors for the evening were Johnson Controls Inc. and Walker International Transportation. The Gold sponsors were Colgate-Palmolive Company, Comcast NBCUniversal, Consolidated Edison Co of New York, PepsiCo and Time Warner Inc.

Two very prestigious awards presented were the Chairperson's award, presented to Yoindra (Ryan) Ramnarayan, President of Deluxe Delivery Systems by the NYNJ MSDC board chairperson, Ms. Jeannie Maddox; and The President's Award presented to Barbara Stubbs, President & owner of Business Promotion Ideas by Mr. Terrence Clark, President and CEO of NYNJ MSDC.

ABOUT THE COUNCIL:

The New York & New Jersey Minority Supplier Development Council, Inc. identifies and certifies minority business enterprises, and facilitates procurement opportunities between Corporate America and Council-certified minority suppliers. The supplier groups include Asian, Black, Hispanic and Native-American businesses located throughout The State of New York and Northern and Central New Jersey including Trenton. The Council's corporate membership consists of Fortune 500 corporations, government agencies and educational institutions. The Council is one of the 24 regional affiliates of the National Minority Supplier Development Council, Inc.

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