Lopez Negrete honored for commitment to Minority Business Development.

David B. Dillon, chairman and chief executive officer of The Kroger Company; Alex Lopez Negrete, president and chief executive officer of Lopez Negrete Communications and Kenneth M. Ricketts, president and chief executive officer of Quality Packaging Specialists International, will be honored for significant long-term achievements in minority business development at the National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC).

Harriet R. Michel, president of NMSDC said, “High achievement and decades of commitment to the power of solid alliances between minority businesses and their corporate partners are what distinguish this year’s honorees. As individuals they are recognized as leaders in America’s business community. Collectively they represent strength, perseverance, vision, forthrightness and commitment to our mutual goal that all Americans deserve a chance to take full part in our nation’s economic progress.”

David B. Dillon is chairman and chief executive officer of The Kroger Company. Its 2008 sales were $70.2 billion and Kroger employs 323,000 people. The company celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2008. Kroger operates 3,660 stores, including nearly 2,485 supermarkets and multi-department stores, under two dozen banners in about 30 states. The company has had a supplier diversity process and has been a national corporate member of NMSDC for more than 25 years. In 2007, Kroger spent $709 million with 738 Asian, Black, Hispanic and Native American businesses. Kroger also encourages its major suppliers to increase their supplier diversity opportunities. In 2007, Kroger reported $190.6 million through Second Tier spend. In 2006, Kroger reached its goal of spending more than $1 billion annually with minority- and women-owned businesses and was inducted into the Billion Dollar Roundtable.

Alex Lopez Negrete is president and chief executive officer of Lopez Negrete Communications. He founded the Houston-based advertising and communications agency with his wife and partner, Cathy, along with the conviction that the Hispanic market is a viable and powerful consumer segment and that thoughtful, relevant, fully integrated, in-language and in-culture communications are the best way to reach this important market. His approach has produced results. The agency has more than 180 employees, and had $161 million in billings in 2008. Mr. Lopez Negrete credits the success of the agency to the fact that it comprises a team of multicultural, multinational, bilingual and bicultural communications professionals. Mr. Lopez Negrete is intricately involved in providing strategic counsel and creative direction to all of the agency’s clients, which include Bank of America, Microsoft, NBC Universal Pictures Group, Reliant Energy, Shell Oil Products U.S., Tyson Foods, Visa U.S.A. and Wal-Mart Stores. The company is an NMSDC Corporate Plus member.

Kenneth M. Ricketts is the president and chief executive officer of Quality Packaging Specialists International, a packaging company based in Burlington Township, New Jersey. He describes the company as a “supply chain solution provider.” The company had sales of $145 million in 2008. Their customers for marketing, packaging and fulfillment services include Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble and Wal-Mart. Quality Packaging has 993 employees, of which 918 are minority employees. The company spent more than $1 million with other minority businesses in 2008. Mr. Ricketts participates with the National Minority Manufacturing Institute to increase the number of minority manufacturers in the U.S. Quality Packaging is a Corporate Plus member.