Since joining Cisco Systems as Director of Global Supplier Diversity business development, Denise Coley drives the supplier diversity initiative by developing relationships with diverse businesses, working toward the program's mission of increasing customer satisfaction and improving sourcing through supplier diversification as the company takes that mission to a global level. A technology veteran, Coley has also managed the supplier diversity program at Silicon Graphics, Inc., and worked for Apple Computer. During her 13 years there, she was a founder of the Apple Black Networking Association, participating as a co-chair for their first diversity conference. At Cisco, she's identified several challenges as the program goes global: learning the diversity classification of each country; understanding each government's requirements; focusing on customer requirements in each country, improving the ability to create and tap into a global network of suppliers, and identifying organizations and contacts within each country. But in a little more than eight years, Coley has taken a fledgling initiative and built it into a highly advanced, award-winning program. During the past three years, Coley and her team have won several awards, gaining notice as they have leveraged internal resources and participated in global diverse organizations and boards. Coley and her team have also developed mentoring programs and participate in UCLA's Management Development for Entrepreneurs Program.

"Be the Change You Wish to See in the World." - Mahatma Gandhi