For Marcella McCullough, it’s been a 25-year love story of creating opportunities in the automotive industry for historically excluded communities. Today, the senior manager, supplier diversity and purchasing strategy at Nissan not only brings diverse suppliers into the automotive giant’s fold but advocates for them in supplier identification and as a catalyst for development activities.

“I am proud of Nissan for its commitment to continue to grow the supply chain … we have done a lot as far as growing our suppliers,” she says. McCullough uses a combination of strategies to help diverse suppliers expand their business opportunities, such as coaching, hosting internal events and focus groups, and exposing the diverse suppliers to additional opportunities — including in staffing — with the organization’s MSP and Tier I suppliers. Her efforts have paid off during her seven-year tenure with the company. She is particularly pleased with onboarding a women-owned and -run manufacturing automotive production company, which is a rarity in that world.

"Midsize and small companies help support the mom-and-pop shops … and we continue to feed that by supplying opportunities for those underutilized companies."

“To see the supply chain being diversified … It’s a win for me, my team and for Nissan,” McCullough says. “It’s a win for the community, too, because midsize and small companies help support the mom-and-pop shops … and we continue to feed that by supplying opportunities for those underutilized companies.”

But there is still a ways to go. The automobile business is moving at a blistering pace with electric vehicles taking over, and given the rate of technology changes, it’s not easy for many minority- or women-owned businesses to keep up. “I would like to have more diverse [suppliers] moving in the area of technology, connectivity, electric vehicles mobility, because that would give them more growth opportunities,” McCullough says.

This paradigm inspires her to keep getting those suppliers on board who satisfy Nissan’s internal stakeholders. “It makes me happy because that’s one more supplier that I have been able to bring into the supply chain inside of Nissan,” she says.

2023 DE&I Influencers List