Adam Wexelbaum

ADAM WEXELBAUM

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY AND SUPPLIER DIVERSITY SPECIALIST,

NYC DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

Class of 2022 BEQ Pride LGBTQ Leader Under 40
(She, Her) is 32

What do you believe is your responsibility to this moment in history?

Thanks to Biden’s multi-trillion dollar infrastructure and “Build Back Better” plans, local communities have a unique opportunity to reshape their economies in a responsible and equitable way. While economic growth and jobs are expected, delivering on these promises will require leaders in Supplier Diversity and Environmental, Social & Governance to rethink how and with whom they do business. Leveraging next-gen technology and global partnerships, everyone from customers to celebrities, private companies to government, have banded together to race ahead like never before. Now is the time for bold action to combat climate change, revitalize diverse communities and upend the status quo.

Adam Wexelbaum has long invested in issues related to business and education. In high school, he served as the Student Advisor to the Miami-Dade School Board and a student officer for the Future Business Leaders of America and the United Way of Miami-Dade. The intersection of business and public service fascinated him and brought him to the Office of the Speaker of the NYC Council as an intern in the Public-Private Partnership team. This experience is what interested the National LGBTQ Task Force, which at the time, was looking for a manager of external partnerships (particularly corporate partners). Through these experiences, Adam held close to his personal values of authenticity, public service and uplifting others. 

Authenticity, public service and uplift are at the core of the standout supplier diversity program he leads for the New York City Department of Education (NYC DOE). The program is far more than an administrative, compliance or marketing function – it fully recognizes diverse vendors as valued, equal partners in a better future. Adam has plenty of hopes for the LGBTQ+ community going forward, but if he had to choose one, he wants to build upon the community’s economic opportunity. “I want to grow LGBTQ+ businesses, both those catering to the LGBTQ+ community and those who are LGBTQ+ owned and controlled. I want both an LGBTQ-owned/controlled Fortune 100 business, but also many LGBTQ+ small businesses flourishing in NYC,” Adam says. This requires setting spend and engagement goals for LGBTQ+ public and private contracts. “This would help the ‘gayborhoods’ and beyond to thrive, filled with boundless creativity and innovation and rich with economic vitality,” he says. Adam also wants every LGBTQ community member, particularly the trans community, to have economic mobility and access to lucrative opportunities with buyers/agents seeking their goods and services. Large corporations, medical centers, university systems, government entities and their largest vendors must engage smaller diverse businesses to build a sustainable ecosystem of business inclusion. Business creates opportunity – and Adam wants to expand LGBTQ opportunity through his work in public contracting with businesses. 

https://www.cityandstateny.com/feature/2021-Virtual-Government-Procurement-Conference/ 

Kristen Settlemire says, “Adam provides supplier relationship management to Minority and Women-owned Business Enterprises (MWBEs) looking to win contracts. Supported by an agency annual spend budget of approximately $5 Billion, Adam works diligently to ensure the procurement needs of the 1,100 schools, 80,000 teachers and 1.1 million students are efficiently and equitably met. His efforts greatly contributed to growing diverse spend from ~$82M to ~$185M over three fiscal years. For example, he managed the agency’s adoption of a new procurement method specifically serving MWBEs for procurements up to $500K, frequently served as the agency’s spokesperson on MWBE programs, and oversaw relationships with over a dozen agency verticals and business partners to encourage MWBE inclusion.”