DaimlerChrysler honored for diversity initiatives

DaimlerChrysler was named one of the "40 Best Companies for Diversity" by Black Enterprise magazine – out of 1,000 of the nation's largest publicly traded companies and 50 leading global companies – on June 12 in New York. In Black Enterprise's second annual Diversity Report, DaimlerChrysler also received recognition as the "10 Best Companies in Marketing Diversity," and it was the only auto manufacturer evaluated as leaders in two key diversity areas, Supplier Diversity and Employee Base.

"The Black Enterprise 40 Best Companies for Diversity truly understand how critically valuable a diverse workforce and inclusive business practices are to the success of their operations," said Black Enterprise president and CEO Butch Graves. "These companies are setting the standard for corporate America, and it is our sincere hope that other companies will follow their lead and build businesses that are more reflective of the society in which we live."

Black Enterprise evaluated diversity programs, consulted with diversity experts and corporate diversity officers and conducted an extensive survey that focused on senior management, workforce, corporate board and supplier diversity as criteria to measure the companies' efforts. Additionally, Black Enterprise evaluated all of the companies surveyed on a secondary category of marketing outreach, which included advertising, promotions, community outreach and scholarships.

"As one of the leading financial and media resources for the African American business community, we applaud Black Enterprise's efforts to continue to raise the diversity bar," said Nancy Rae, senior vice president of Human Resources, DaimlerChrysler. "We're proud to say that our diversity efforts began decades ago and are now integrated in the way we do business at DaimlerChrysler."

In addition to the Black Enterprise recognition, in 2006 DaimlerChrysler also was named one of the "Top 50 Companies for Diversity" by DiversityInc. Magazine, "Corporate Advocate of the Year" from the Native American Business Alliance and "Corporation of the Year" from the Asian-Pacific American Chamber of Commerce.

Since 1983, Chrysler Group has purchased more than $30 billion from minority-owned companies and has developed a number of programs to build its minority supplier base. Those include a new supplier diversity Web site (http://supplierdiversity.daimlerchrysler.com/), Chrysler Group's Matchmaker program and the Minority Enterprise Initiative (MEI).