Scott Vowels

Scott A. Vowels currently manages the Supplier Diversity Business Unit for Apple where the team has elevated the company’s utilization of diverse suppliers year over year to achieve more than $1B in verifiable spend in 2016, earning Apple a seat on the prestigious Billion Dollar Roundtable. Scott is also widely known within the Diversity & Inclusion network for his trail blazing work around the Economic Impact of small business and supplier diversity.  

 He first made a name for himself by successfully leading both the Northern California and Alabama Minority Supplier Development Councils to national prominence as President & CEO. While leading the Alabama Council, he simultaneously operated a federal Minority Business Opportunity Center for the U.S. Department of Commerce Minority Business Development Agency. Early in his career, Scott managed procurement and sourcing processes for manufacturing environments within General Motors and has over 30 combined years of procurement and supplier diversity experience. 

In high demand as a speaker and panelist on issues involving women, minority, LGBTQ and small businesses, he is the co-founder and moderator of The Bigger Discussion video series on the Future of Supplier Diversity which collectively, has amassed over 70,000 You Tube views, making it the most watched supplier diversity series on record.   Scott is a two-time Amazon best selling author with his first book Don’t Be Afraid to Call the Baby Ugly, published in 2014 and his most recent Hacking Supplier Diversity, which currently sits atop Amazon in both the Supplier Diversity and Minority Business categories.

Scott has appeared numerous times among the 100 Most Influential in Supplier Diversity by both MBN USA and WE USA Magazines. In addition to his published works, he has authored several articles and white papers under The Institute for Thought Diversity, a diversity and inclusion Think Tank he established and leads with industry associates.  He holds master's degrees in Business Administration and Economics, and a PhD in Business Administration.  Before entering the corporate workforce, Vowels was on an entirely different career path and traveled extensively as a world-ranked professional tennis player.  He still counts travel among his greatest passions, but when he's not on the road, Scott calls Oakland, California, home.