Making its fourth appearance on NaVOBA’s 10 Best Corporations for Veteran-Owned Businesses list, Bethesda, Md.-based Lockheed Martin Corporation provides advanced technologies to America’s warfighters. The firm is also committed to providing veterans with business opportunities when they no longer wear the uniform.  “Being named among the 2011 Best Corporations for Veteran-Owned Businesses shows the level of commitment and diligence that the Lockheed Martin Global Supply Chain Operations team puts into making this level of effort happen,” said Dan Pleshko, vice president, Global Supply Chain Operations. “We are proud of the work we do with veteran-owned businesses and continue to strive to have closer relationships with this group as veterans are part of the fabric of Lockheed Martin.”

Nancy Deskins, director of Enterprise Agreements & Supplier Diversity said Lockheed Martin depends on a diverse supplier base – one that embraces veteran and service-disabled owned businesses. Veteran-owned businesses provide a broad range of unique perspectives to help Lockheed Martin meet some of America’s most important challenges.

Lockheed Martin’s leadership commitment, dedicated program office, and strategic and innovative practices have enabled the firm to provide excellent opportunities for veteran and service-disabled, veteran-owned businesses.  In the past two years, Lockheed Martin awarded more than $1.5 billion in contracts to veteran-owned small businesses.

To achieve this rate of procurement with the veteran community, Lockheed Martin identified key initiatives to promote and advocate the utilization of these businesses such as strengthening ties between Lockheed Martin and veterans groups, like NaVOBA, to see increase its reach and continue develop veteran-owned businesses.  

 “We work closely with veteran-owned businesses on a daily basis, and are honored to share their desire and drive to provide cost-effective, timely global security solutions to our customers.” 

Lockheed Martin maintains an ongoing training program to maximize opportunities for vetrepreneurs. The company hosts webinars on how to do business with Lockheed Martin, a new Protégé 101 course that targets Lockheed Martin’s small, diverse protégés on various key topic areas, training within the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities and Lean Six Sigma training via the supplier information sessions.  

Deskins said Lockheed Martin only plans to build on its success and make the program even more effective in years to come.

“We are reaching out and working with veteran affiliations, collaborating to establish new training programs dedicated to veteran firms and promotion targeted subcontracting opportunities, Deskins said. “We look to strengthen our current relationships and grow new ones in the future.”   

Stat Box:

Company Name: Lockheed Martin

2010 Revenues: $45 Billion

Number of Employees: 140,000

Supplier Diversity Manager: Nancy Deskins

“We are proud of the work we do with veteran-owned businesses and continue to strive to have closer relationships with this group as veterans are part of the fabric of Lockheed Martin.”

– Dan Pleshko, vice president, Global Supply Chain Operations

Learn More
For additional Information about the Lockheed Martin Supplier Diversity Program visit www.lockheedmartin.com/suppliers/supplier-diversity

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