For the last six years, Dept.Manager, Estimating/Outreach Rosa Arevalo has tirelessly championed Webcor’s Southern California-area supplier diversity efforts, forging mutually beneficial relationships and spearheading SoCal outreach initiatives for project pursuits with strict small/local/diverse business inclusion requirements—particularly in the higher education and aviation sectors. This spring, Rosa organized Webcor’s first supplier diversity outreach open house event in our recently built, beautifully designed downtown LA office.

With enthusiastic support from VicePresident Charles Chiparo, Outreach and Partnerships Manager SharlaSullivan, Design Manager April Chang, and Project Director, Design Franco Marinaro, Rosa hosted an extremely successful event attended by Webcor executives, directors, managers, and 45 trade partner companies throughoutLA that resulted in dozens of fruitful new connections—as well as a few reconnections, Sharla says.

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“We networked with local, small, and diverse businesses with which we haven’t worked (yet!) as well as some we have. Some of those businesses knew each other, which was wonderful to see,” Sharla says. “The whole goal of the LA open house was to focus on building those vital relationships with our small/local/diverse business community by welcoming them into our home office in an intimate setting to build trust – one of Webcor’s Core Values. All projects are driven by a community need, and our design and trade partners, large and small, play a vital role in fulfilling the needs of our clients.”

Throughout the morning, Webcorians and attending businesses networked and discussed various potential opportunities for future partnerships—the type of partnerships vital to Webcor’s continued empowerment of our local communities. Speakers included Sharla; Rosa; Project Engineer,Project Controls Lucia Mendez, who discussed Webcor’s prequalification process; Chief Estimator Sam Khatibi, who gave an overview of Webcor’s estimating procedures, pursuit selection process, and where to locate Webcor’s public bid board for upcoming bidding opportunities, and Charles, who shared his own experiences working on the small business side prior to joining Webcor and the important role general contractors play in driving economic participation by including small/local/diverse businesses in all projects, regardless of project requirement existence, in a meaningful way.

“Charles’ story set the stage perfectly,” Sharla says. “He said, ‘Hey, I used to work for a small business and wore many hats—I was the lead engineer, estimator, etc, so I understand what working for a small business means. Your presence here today meant taking off a hat you’d normally wear, so I want to make sure the impact of this event is meaningful and goes beyond a one-time conversation.’ It was great to hear that someone on Webcor’s executive side had such a keen understanding of what it truly means to work fora small business and the hustle that goes into it.”

“Our primary goal is to start building a strong foundation with our small, diverse trade partners and diversify our subcontractor base,” Rosa says. “We don’t just want to invite them to bid on our jobs; we want to ensure we have an established, trusting relationship with them. That foundation will lead to future partnerships, leads on upcoming projects, better pricing, and much more.”

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As a general contractor, Webcor depends on resilient design and trade partners to successfully perform work so we can continue to build innovative and captivating projects for our clients – all of which are directed by underlying community needs, Sharla says.

“Being inclusive of our smallest subcontractors and suppliers provides the economic stimulation needed to create strong communities and propel the demand for growth in our industry,” she continues. “We work with small/local/diverse businesses not just because it’s the right thing to do, there is also a clear economic business case for doing so.   

“Without the community, we have no projects. Outreach is key to discovering and cultivating relationships with small and underutilized businesses for more inclusion on our projects. It is not enough to utilize the same partners repeatedly; the goal is to increase partnerships, mentor, and help these businesses grow.”  

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