Craig Reed, chief procurement officer for Corteva Agriscience and head of corporate real estate, received the Dave Barclay Affirmative Action Award at the just concluded Black Engineer of the Year Awards (BEYA) Conference.

The award recognizes efforts to promote affirmative action and advancement within an organization in education, job promotion, small-business development, and community activities.

Reed has the responsibility to procure products and services that meet the demands of the global Corteva Agriscience business. He is the first chief procurement officer for Corteva and has been instrumental in implementing supplier diversity goals and strategies into the company’s corporate social responsibility plans. He developed a global center of excellence focused on supplier diversity globally with strategic priorities aligned around sustainability, awareness, recruiting, and awarding business to diverse suppliers and small businesses, establishing teams in North America, Latin America, Europe, Africa, Middle East, and the Asia Pacific.

Reed is the immediate past board chair for the Institute for Supply Management, a member of the Board of Trustees for Florida A&M University, and is also a member of the Board of Directors for the National Minority Supplier Development Council.

“His leadership, service, and contributions to our Board of Trustees certainly make him a highly qualified candidate for this recognition. His experiences in the world of business and commitment to integrity have helped to create an environment of accountability and ethical behavior which speak to his personal values as a human being,” said Larry Robinson, Ph.D., President of Florida A&M University

Nine other Corteva Agriscience employees were honored with Black Engineer of the Year awards during the all-digital BEYA STEM Conference.  The awards underscore the achievements of the Corteva Agriscience employees recognized and demonstrate the increasing recognition of agriculture as a cutting-edge STEM industry.

“At Corteva we know that advancing inclusion, diversity, and equity is the right thing to do for our people and the right thing to do from a business perspective – it’s the key to driving innovation and fueling our continued growth,” said Meghan Cassidy, Chief Human Resources and Diversity Officer, “These ten individuals are not just shaping our business and our industry but the future of STEM and we couldn’t be prouder of them.”

The 2021 Corteva Agriscience winners are:

Research Leadership Award – Brannon Sam, discovery chemistry
Senior Investigator – Norbert Satchivi, discovery biology
Senior Technology Fellow – Byron Sleugh, integrated field sciences

Modern-Day Technology Leader Award:

Edward Chikwana, human health risk assessor
Ebony Johnson, trait discovery project manager
Jonathan Jones, fermentation research group leader

Science Spectrum Trailblazer Award:

David Parks, project manager
Henri Moore, business director, global responsibility
Veronica White, technology leader

Corteva Agriscience became an independent public company on June 1, 2019, and was previously the Agriculture Division of DowDuPont.

For 35 years, the BEYA STEM Conference has been a leading event for professional development, networking, and providing a resource for minorities to feel empowered. For more information about the 2021 BEYA STEM Conference, visit http://www.BEYA.org. The goal of the BEYA STEM Conference is to create connections between students, educators, and science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) professionals while facilitating partnerships with individuals and their local STEM resources.