MINORITY BUSINESS: Burt Jordan

Executive director of global vehicle and powertrain purchasing, Ford Motor Co.

Buying builds diversity: Jordan, 43, heads Ford's global powertrain purchasing, supplier risk management and supplier diversity. In a brutal year, he saw to it that 10 percent of Ford's purchases came from minority suppliers. That made Ford the industry leader as a minority-enterprise customer for the third straight year. Ford also added four minority- or women-owned suppliers to its Aligned Business Framework program for preferred suppliers.