Allen Riddick Recognized With City of Philadelphia Citation Award
Drexel University’s Executive Director of Economic Impact and Workforce Inclusion Allen Riddick was recently awarded a Citation from the City of Philadelphia for his valuable contributions to the city’s growing minority business community. Mayor Jim Kenney personally presented Riddick with the Citation during the Minority Enterprise Development (MED) Week Awards Ceremony at the Parkway Central Library.
During his acceptance speech, Riddick discussed the importance for all businesses to contribute financially to local chambers of commerce and diversity advocacy organizations.
“The more power these organizations have financially, the more direct economic impact we can have in our business community,” he later explained.
In his role at Drexel, Riddick oversees Procurement Services’ supplier and workforce inclusion efforts and is responsible for ensuring equal, open hiring and purchasing opportunities for small and/or minority, women, veteran, service-disabled and LGBTQ+-owned businesses.
However, his work extends far beyond his formal role. Riddick is a current board member for the Women’s Business Enterprise Council East and vice president of Black Employees at Drexel, a colleague resource group. He serves as a co-chair of West Philadelphia’s Promise Zone Workforce and Economic Development Committee, as well as a national strategic leader for Drexel’s Women 100 VisionForward program, and formerly served on the board for the Institute of Supply Chain Management of Philadelphia. During this year’s MED Week, a national observance that recognizes outstanding achievements of Minority Business Enterprises (MBEs), Riddick also received the Women’s Business Enterprise Center Award.
“Allen and I have shared a common vision for Drexel’s programming in this space from the day we met almost five years ago,” said Vice President and Chief Procurement Officer Julie Jones. “We have chosen to care about our diverse suppliers as more than just numbers, but rather as friends, neighbors, and colleagues. Allen has developed real relationships within our community, and I could not be more impressed by and proud of the extraordinary work he has done on behalf of our University.”
And it turns out that civic excellence runs in the family! Riddick’s father, Chester A. Riddick, Jr, also known as “Chet Riddick,” who is president and CEO of Alpha Enterprise Group, received a Citation Award from the city exactly five years prior, on Oct. 3, 2017, for his outstanding work in the communities where his businesses resided. His motto was to “recruit, hire, and train people from within the communities where they live.”
“It is a great honor to share this achievement with my father, someone who has dedicated his life towards the success of minority businesses in Philadelphia,” said Riddick. “I am also extremely proud to work for a university where passion for equality, social justice and economic inclusion is shared amongst my colleagues.”
Visit the Accounts Payable & Procurement Services website for more information on Drexel’s Supplier Inclusion Initiative.