President's Message - Minority Enterprise Executive Council

Wendy Lewis
Senior Vice President, Diversity and Strategic Alliances
Major League Baseball
Wendy Lewis has been promoted to SVP of Diversity and Strategic Alliances for Major League Baseball, Office of the
Commissioner. In her new role, she will implement MLB’s Diversity Economic Initiative, (DEI). The DEI advances the level
of MLB’s current workforce and supplier diversity efforts as well as creates methodologies for cultural assessments and
industry-wide diversity training. This internal consultant model approach will serve as the platform for enhancing some of MLB’s
current initiatives to a more advanced level for the industry’s Central Office and Clubs. In this capacity Ms. Lewis will continue to
direct the workforce and supplier diversity strategy and metrics in conjunction with the Commissioner’s Diversity Oversight Committee.
The resulting diversity analysis, training and reporting will be key elements of the strategic planning and implementation for Major
League Baseball’s workforce and supplier diversity objectives. In 2006 she led the team that developed MLB’s new talent pipeline, The
Executive Development Program (EDP). The EDP is a two year rotational career development program whose goal is to add to MLB’s
high-potential talent pool as well as establish an agenda for succession planning.
Ms. Lewis is also the leader and strategist for MLB’s Diverse Business Partners Program, the premier minority procurement program in
professional sports. The Diverse Business Partners Program is an economically driven business initiative established to cultivate new
and existing partnerships with minority-owned and women-owned businesses. She directs the activities that support MLB’s Central
Office and its Clubs to ensure that a greater number of businesses have an opportunity to participate in the procurement process for
desired goods and services. Since the formation of MLB’s Diverse Business Partners Program, well over $500 million dollars have been
spent with thousands of minority-owned and women-owned businesses.
Prior to Ms. Lewis’s current position, she was the Vice President of Strategic Planning for Recruitment and Diversity following her position
of Vice President of Human Resources and Office Operations for Major League Baseball; that role included directing the recruitment,
compensation, benefits, performance planning, training and development for Major League Baseball’s Central Office in New York and
its satellite offices. Additionally, she served as the corporate liaison in the area of Human Resources to all 30 Major League Clubs. As
the former head of HR, she formulated an infrastructure for Human Resources Management and established industry best practices.
Ms. Lewis has a BS in Psychology from the University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh and an MBA from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School
of Management at Northwestern University. Her accomplishments have been recognized by various organizations, including the
Black Women in Sports Foundation, which presented her with the Legends Award. Wendy has also received the Schaffner Award
for preeminence in her field and outstanding service from Northwestern University. Other honors include the Pioneer Award from the
National Association of Black Journalists, MIB’s (Minorities in Business) annual award for outstanding effort in diversity within sports,
and “The Effie Manley Sports Executive of the Year”, presented to her by Rainbow/PUSH. Additionally, Wendy has been honored
by The Network Journal as one of the “25 Influential Black Women in Business” and has been listed in Sports Illustrated, as one of the
“Most Influential Minorities in Sports”.
Her board memberships include: The Ashley Stewart Foundation, Cornell University’s Diversity Roundtable, Howard University- John
H. Johnson’s School of Communication Visitors, and Northwestern University – J.L. Kellogg Alumni Advisory.
.