Long before Joe Chow began his career in supplier diversity, he was a certified public accountant performing financial audits, planning and analysis for such companies as General Motors and Pacific Enterprises (now Sempra Energy), former parent company of Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas). Today, his financial background serves him well as SoCalGas’ supplier programs excellence manager. “Understanding the financials is the foundation of any business and helps me tremendously in dealing with diverse businesses and understanding the challenges they face,” says Chow, who has worked in the utility’s supplier diversity group for eight years.

He oversees SoCalGas’ Supplier Diversity Program and the nine-member supplier diversity, supply chain sustainability and supplier relationship management team to support and engage key suppliers and diverse suppliers to do more business with SoCalGas. Over the years, the supplier diversity group has successfully implemented programs targeting outreach to these firms, collaborated with business and community organizations to identify qualified suppliers and helped diverse firms develop skills to take on larger business opportunities at SoCalGas. In 2015, SoCalGas spent 44.7 percent of its total purchases with woman-, minority- and service disabled veteran, lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or transgender business enterprises.

It was the fourth straight year the utility exceeded the 40 percent mark. The company’s supplier diversity accomplishments have been recognized by a number of national and local organizations, such as the SCMSDC, GLAAACC, LBA, ABA and others. Joe is a native from the state of Kansas where he attended high school and college. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from St. Mary’s University and holds a CPA certification in the state of Kansas.