Press Release

October 13, 2006
Contact: Kaylyn Dines
(973) 972-3000
dineskd@umdnj.edu

UMDNJ Sponsors 12th Annual Procurement Fair for N.J. Business Leaders

ISELIN — The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey invites entrepreneurs and business leaders to the 12th Annual Procurement Fair and Awards Luncheon on Fri., Oct. 20, at the Sheraton at Woodbridge Place, 515 Route 1 South, Iselin. The expo will start at 9 a.m. and end at 1 p.m. The awards luncheon will take place from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

UMDNJ’s Office of Supplier Diversity and Vendor Development will host the fair and awards luncheon. This year’s theme is “UMDNJ - Making Strides for Diversity.” Approximately 50 Fortune 500 Companies and state agencies will highlight opportunities for partnership.

More than 500 attendees are expected to attend the fair, which will offer workshops that are facilitated by local business leaders. The workshops are: “ Branding: Creating a Company Name”; “Securing a Bond”; “Now That You Have a UMDNJ Award! What Next?” “Expanding Your Business’s Bottom Line through Strategic Alliances”; and “Construction at UMDNJ.”

Staff members in the Office of Supplier Diversity and Vendor Development at UMDNJ assist entrepreneurs with the development of small, minority, and women-owned businesses. Established in 1986, The Office of Supplier Diversity and Vendor Development at UMDNJ has been responsible for overseeing the university's spending as it relates to opportunities for vendors.

“We work to make sure that more than a good-faith effort is made to achieve business opportunities for diverse groups of business, including small businesses, minority businesses, women-owned b businesses, and veteran-owned businesses,” said Ernestine Watson, assistant vice president of the Office of Supplier Diversity and Vendor Development at UMDNJ.
For more information, call Mrs. Katherine Gary at 973-972-6288. Online registration is also available at http://www.umdnj.edu/supplierdiversity/procurement_fair/index.htm.

UMDNJ is the nation’s largest free-standing public health sciences university with more than 5,500 students attending the state's three medical schools, its only dental school, a graduate school of biomedical sciences, a school of health related professions, a school of nursing and a school of public health on five campuses. Annually, there are more than two million patient visits at UMDNJ facilities and faculty practices at campuses in Newark, New Brunswick/Piscataway, Scotch Plains, Camden and Stratford. UMDNJ operates University Hospital, a Level I Trauma Center in Newark, and University Behavioral HealthCare, a statewide mental health and addiction services network.