Public Service Enterprise Group Inc. graduated its first six-month Supplier Diversity Mentorship program, which supports the New Jersey CEO Council’s pledge to spend an additional $250 million on procurement with state-based, diverse-owned companies by 2025.

PSEG committed to increase its business with diverse suppliers to at least 30% of spend by 2023, and the company said it met this commitment two years early in 2021.

The inaugural graduates, announced June 10, are from Bush Electrical Services in Pompton Lakes; J&L Electrical and Communications in Rockaway; Martinez Associates Inc. in Montville; and WillDog Property Preservation & Management in East Orange.

The PSEG Supplier Diversity Mentorship program aims to remove challenges and increase access to opportunities to bid on projects for PSEG and other large organizations by educating companies on the internal processes required to complete successful RFPs. Graduate companies can qualify and receive contracts as a tier 1 or 2 PSEG supplier.

“We are committed to strengthening our communities and ensuring our suppliers better reflect the diversity of our region,” said Kim Hanemann, PSEG president and chief operating officer. “The PSEG Supplier Diversity Mentorship program is a model for developing the skills of diverse suppliers and preparing them to support not only PSEG but other organizations throughout New Jersey and beyond.”

For six months, participants received mentorship from leaders of PSEG and its prime suppliers to grow applicable skillsets. Through a mentoring framework developed by the Rutgers Business School, mentors and mentees met bi-monthly to discuss goals, challenges and progress. In addition, each participant received on-the-job training by shadowing a prime supplier to help develop their capabilities and build experience.

“It is unusual for companies to invest in a supplier, especially a supplier that that company is not even in business with yet,” said Kevin Lyons, associate professor of professional practice, supply chain management and director of the public private community partnership program at Rutgers Business School, who aided in the development of the program. “PSEG is meeting their pledge, recruiting state-based, diverse companies, then mentoring these suppliers and giving them opportunities for work.”

“The opportunity to participate in the program will help us grow our business,” said Kenneth Jenkins of Martinez Associates. “It allowed us to see how engineers on PSEG teams look at aspects of the work and how we should do things. I now look forward to showing a company like PSEG what my company can do.”