A first-generation American born to immigrant parents, diversity and inclusion have been part of Gladys Lopez’s DNA and a passion of hers for decades. Over her 25-year career, she has helped various major corporations take their programs from the ground up and to the next level.

It’s this experience that fuels her success as global head of supplier diversity at BNY Mellon. She is also a key liaison to the broader global financial services at BNY Mellon and contributes to education and outreach as it relates to supplier diversity.

Lopez and her team established a mandate that diverse suppliers need to be included in all sourcing opportunities. BNY Mellon has 97 US sourcing events that include diverse suppliers on an ongoing basis.

“When you’re working with diverse vendors … it’s a lot about getting those diverse vendors in front of the decision-makers, and building those relationships to be able to connect in a way that they want to do business with each other,” she says.

Lopez last year developed a structured, 12-month supplier development program through which BNY volunteer mentors meet with the participating diversity suppliers to discuss such topics as strategic growth and innovation, financial planning, and purchasing and procurement policies. This, along with a supplier development committee, are “part of our commitment to helping our suppliers develop and grow within BNY Mellon,” she says.

In addition, despite the challenges her program faced during the pandemic, her team, working virtually, successfully held webinars  to help diverse vendors on how they could do business with BNY Mellon.