1
What is your background? How did you begin at Boston Scientific?
I am originally from Johannes- burg, South Africa. I moved to the U.S. in 2001 and attended Northeastern University for an undergraduate degree in busi- ness administration. I then spent eight years at Novartis Pharmaceuticals in numerous leadership roles in strategic alliances, operations, and ven- ture capital. During that time, I also obtained a Master's in Business Administration from Babson College. After Novartis, I served as the Director of Business Admin- istration at City Year, Boston. (City Year is an education non- profit organization founded in 1988 dedicated to helping students and schools succeed. The organization partners with public schools in high- need communities across the U.S. and through international affiliates, including in Johan- nesburg.) Once I left City Year, I joined Boston Scientific as the Global Legal Sourcing Manager. Boston Scientific is a glob- al medtech manufacturer, and we develop devices and therapies that are used to treat more than 30 million people with complex medical conditions each year. During my time in that department, Boston Scientific established a full-time position to grow the Supplier Diversity program. Diversity has always been a passion of mine, so I applied for the position and began the role in December 2017.
2
Why is the supplier diversity program important at Boston Scientific? How does it benefit your customers?
Boston Scientific is engaged in an ongoing effort to build diversity and inclusion into every aspect of our company, including our supply chain. To that end, Boston Scientific is committed to the sustained support of small and diverse businesses who share our dedication to improving the quality of patient care. As part of our procurement process, we will proactively provide maximum practical opportunities for small and diverse vendors. One of our sourcing policies is that all RFPs are mandated to include 1 or more small or diverse businesses. To support ac- countability, I am personally involved in the review process if no diverse vendors can be found for a particular RFP.
3
How does your company support both large and small diverse businesses?
We include both small and large diverse suppliers in our sourcing processes where possible. We are preparing to launch a mentorship program that aims to provide guid- ance to smaller Black-owned enterprises. We believe that this will create great future opportunities for growth for these companies. We have also launched an early payment program for diverse vendors whom we spend less than $250,000 per year. These vendors can now be paid on much shorter payment terms than were previously possible. This is a huge benefit to the cash flow of these smaller suppliers.
4
What are your goals with supplier diversity moving forward?
I hope to expand our program to double our spend with diverse vendors all over the world in the next 5 years. In addition, I would like to grow our mentorship program to create greater opportunities and education for all diverse vendors. Also, I aim to make Supplier Diversity a compa- ny-wide priority, not just in the sourcing organization.
with Boston Scientific Supplier Diversity Manager
Saken Khokhar
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