NaVOBA and Buy Veteran continued to garner national exposure encouraging America to buy from veteran-owned businesses this month with a national TV appearance of Fox and Friends. The segment, which aired January 23, featured NaVOBA President Chris Hale, NaVOBA member and 2011 Vetrepreneur of the Year Josh Collins, owner of Huske Hardware House, and Josh Cuddy, co-owner of Waffles Incaffienated.

To watch the video visit www.navoba.com/FOX.

MGM Resorts International announced that as part of its continuing commitment to Diversity & Inclusion, the company has expanded the scope of its industry-leading Supplier Diversity Program for suppliers, contractors and professional service providers to include businesses owned by veterans.

Since its Supplier Diversity Program was introduced in 2001, MGM Resorts has contracted with more than 1,000 diverse suppliers and contractors, resulting in a cumulative total of more than $2.5 billion in company expenditures with such businesses. With the program's newly expanded categories, these figures are expected to increase significantly.

"This expansion of our Supplier Diversity Program was adopted to broaden the network of businesses who participate in our Company's commerce. Not only does this widen the pool of competitive providers of products and services potentially available to us, but it also enables us to forge relationships with qualified businesses that are reflective of our diverse community, to our mutual business benefit," said Jim Murren, Chairman and CEO of MGM Resorts International.

PITTSBURGH, by the National Veteran-Owned Business Association (NaVOBA) officially opened its survey to find the 10 Best U.S. Corporations for Veteran-Owned Businesses for 2012 today. The survey can be accessed at www.navoba.com/top10survey . The prestigious list honors the large corporations that most successfully engage the nation’s three million veteran-owned businesses (VOBs) as suppliers.

The cover story of the April 2012 issue of NaVOBA’s Vetrepreneur magazine will features this year’s 10 top honorees. The 2011 list welcomed back some perennial vetrepreneur-friendly companies like Booz Allen Hamilton, Comcast Corporation, Dell, Inc., DynCorp International, Lockheed Martin and Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation. Also honored on the 2011 list were Johnson & Johnson, Mack Trucks, Inc., Serco Inc. and URS Corporation.

“The Top 10 Corporations that earn a spot on this exclusive list are the best in the U.S. at recognizing how well the military prepares business leaders through teaching leadership, teamwork, resolve, integrity and ingenuity,” said NaVOBA President Chris Hale. “In a tough economy corporate America is eager to partner with business leaders who embody those intangibles combined with exemplary skills and the dedication needed to contribute to overall economic success. We’re delighted to highlight and honor them.”

Through NaVOBA’s untiring efforts since 2007 the number of FORTUNE 1000 companies seeking veteran-owned suppliers has grown by more than 60 percent. Currently more than 160 of the world’s largest companies maintain programs designed to use VOBs as preferred vendors in their supplier diversity efforts.

The notion that military training is world-class preparation for running a business is reinforced by the fact that one out of every seven veterans in the U.S. owns a business, according to Census data. That’s twice the national average.

“Veteran-owned businesses bring key expertise to our missions supporting defense, diplomacy and development initiatives around the world,” said DynCorp International Chairman and CEO Steve Gaffney. "The dedication and discipline they showed in their service to our country is also evident in their business practices making veteran-owned businesses reliable, first-rate partners and suppliers.”

“During my time in the military, I learned many important lessons regarding leadership, the importance of diversity and teamwork,” said Alex Gorsky, Vice Chairman of Johnson & Johnson’s Executive Committee. “Partnering with veteran-owned businesses creates jobs and builds wealth in the communities in which we operate. Very simply, it enables us to continue to develop and deliver superior products and services while continuing to expand our customer base.”

The survey can be accessed at www.navoba.com/top10survey  .

About The National Veteran Owned Business Association (NaVOBA)
NaVOBA unites the nation’s 3 million businesses owned by military veterans by providing a single voice to advocate for important issues.

For more information visit us on the web at http://www.navoba.com, or follow us on FaceBook at http://www.facebook.com/navoba and on Twitter @navoba.

WELCOME TO DETROIT!

The Cobo Center in the heart of Detroit will host National Veterans Small Business Conference and Expo June 26-29, 2012. Its elegant banquet rooms and over 70 meeting rooms totaling 178,446 square feet equip Cobo Center to accommodate capacities from up to 10,000.

Known historically as the world’s capital for the transportation industry, the Detroit metro area, which is home to 700,000 Veterans, is reinventing itself with six booming industries: medical research, defense, entertainment, green tech, urban farming, and aerotropolis.

President Barack Obama announced a new plan designed to make it easier to do business with the federal government. There are currently six major federal departments or agencies that focus on business or trade: the U.S. Department of Commerce’s core business and trade functions, the Small Business Administration, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, the Export-Import Bank, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, and the U.S. Trade and Development Agency.

The President is asking Congress for the authority to merge those six entities into a single department tasked with boosting American business and promoting competitiveness.

The way the system is currently organized, every entrepreneur who needs to do business with the government has to navigate a maze of overlapping regulations and competing bureaucracy.

This move hopes to change that and also consolidate the redundancies that currently exist, to cut waste, and eliminate duplication.

What do you think?