Capital One honored by National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce

Published November 21, 2013 by Robert Powell, III

McLean-based Capital One Financial Corp., a Fortune 500 company, has been named the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce’s Corporation of the Year.

The chamber of commerce said the award recognizes Capital One’s commitment to ensuring equal opportunities for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) suppliers, customers and employees.

“At Capital One, diversity and inclusion are an integral part of our culture — the more opportunity we provide for diverse suppliers, the better the results will be; not only for the company, but for the communities we serve,” Jim Gorzalski, Capital One’s chief procurement officer, said in a statement. “As a result of our steadfast commitment to diversity inclusion, we have enhanced our internal processes and significantly grown the number of diverse suppliers participating in our programs.”

Chance Mitchell, the CEO and co-founder of the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, said the company has “set a goal to include diverse enterprises in every sourcing opportunity based on commodity need, and as a result, the company’s total spend with diverse suppliers continues to climb year over year.”

Kimberlee Sours, Capital One’s supplier diversity manager, co-chairs the chamber’s Corporate Advisory Council.

The National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce serves as a national certifying body for LGBT-owned businesses, with 140 corporate partners and 52 local, state and international affiliate chambers,

Capital One’s banking operations had $206.9 billion in deposits and $289.9 billion in total assets as of Sept. 30. It has more than 900 bank branches in six states, including Virginia, and the District of Columbia.