How’d They Do That? is a bi-monthly program the African American Chamber holds where a distinguished leader within the Greater Cincinnati community speaks to our members and shares their personal story in business and how they made it to where they are today.
Delighted to have Mr. Howard Elliott as this month's guest speaker. For 30 years, Howard spent the bulk of his career at Procter & Gamble in Manufacturing and Supply Chain Management where he had diverse leadership roles of increasing responsibility such as Operations Manager, Personnel Manager, Plant Manager, and Global Logistics manager. In 1995, he was appointed Director of Procter & Gamble’s Supplier Diversity Program and became a member of the North American Purchasing Leadership Team. In 2000, Howard was appointed to the additional responsibility of Director for the company’s African-American ethnic marketing program. Howard retired from Procter & Gamble in 2002.
A few of his accomplishments with P&G are:
•During Howard’s tenure as Supplier Diversity Manager, Procter & Gamble spent more than $4 Billion dollars with minority and women owned suppliers.
•Howard led the creation of new minority supplier capability via alliances, joint ventures, and acquisitions. Significant new minority supplier capability was developed in flexible packaging, plastic bottles, folding cartons, and plant facilities maintenance.
•In 2000 Howard was named one of the “Best of the Decade” Supplier Diversity advocates by Minority Business News.
Today, Howard is founder and President of OTR Controls which is located in the inner city Cincinnati neighborhood of Over the Rhine. OTR Controls LLC is a small job shop which fabricates and assembles electrical control components for industrial machines. The underlying mission of OTR Controls is to provide jobs for people who have been in the penal system or had other issues in their lives, such as drug abuse, that makes it difficult for them to find employment. At OTR Controls the technicians learn marketable skills which help transform their lives, give them dignity, and provide them a long term livelihood.
On top of that, he also is the founder and President of Elliott Management Group which is a management consulting firm specializing in Supplier Diversity and economic inclusion. A few of his current clients are UC Health (formerly the Health Alliance of Greater Cincinnati), Mercy Health and the Tristate Healthcare Supplier Diversity Consortium. Former clients include Sara Lee, Kellogg’s, Ohio Health, McCain Foods, and Kroger.
While he isn’t too preoccupied with these pivotal initiatives he spends his time as a partner of WEB Ventures which provides economic inclusion consulting services to the Uptown Consortium Inc. The objective of the Uptown Consortium is to unify Uptown’s culturally diverse Cincinnati neighborhoods of uptown and create a clear sense of place by focusing on initiatives for economic development, public safety, transportation, livability and economic development for neighborhood residents and stakeholders.
In all, this event is a grand time where one gets to connect and meet good people, network, gain insight and dine with a community of people whom have similar passions and motivations.