Baltimore mayor, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, has announced the creation of the Mayor’s Council on Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprises. The new advisory council is comprised of local business leaders and nationally-renowned experts with a mission to recommend improvements to the city’s minority and women-owned business enterprise (MWBE) program, examine best practices and create a platform for the program’s future direction.
Of the 24 members who make up the newly established advisory council , 11 of them are women–including MyCity4Her subscriber Jeanette Partlow, President of Maryland Chemical Company. Appointed as Vice Chair is Maria Welch Martinez. Martinez is the CEO of Respira Medical and the Intrem CEO of Women Entrepreneurs of Baltimore.
“A strong minority and women-owned business enterprise program benefits and strengthens our entire business community,” Mayor Rawlings-Blake said in a statement. “The City of Baltimore must have a comprehensive strategy that institutionalizes MWBEs into the overall business equation.”
“Until we rectify the problems and rethink our approaches to growing the economy, we will continue to have the same conversations years from now,” Sharon Pinder, Director of the Mayor’s Office of Minority and Women-Owned Business Development, added. “Through this advisory council, the mayor has provided the opportunity for us to positively shape the future of the program.”
The advisory council will immediately begin their work by holding meetings to discuss the effectiveness and challenges of current MWBE policies and programs. They are expected to submit their report to the Mayor by January 15, 2013.
The Mayor’s Advisory Council on Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprise Membership includes:
Chair: Robert Wallace, CEO, Bithgroup Technologies
Vice-Chair: Maria (Welch) Martinez, CEO, Respira Medical
- Roger Campos, Executive Director, Minority Business Roundtable
- Robert Fulton Dashiell, Esq,, Of Counsel, Harris Jones and Malone, LLC
- Lamon Harris, Director, Small Business Development, Associated Builders and Contractors, Inc.
- Lisa Harris Jones, Esq., Founder and Member, Harris Jones and Malone, LLC
- Danielle Hardy, Vice President, Associated Builders and Contractors, Inc.
- Anwer Hasan, Senior Vice President, Louis Berger Company
- Bert Hash, President and CEO, MECU
- Councilwoman Helen Holton
- Larry Jennings, Senior Managing Director, ValStone Partners
- Kevin Johnson, President, Commercial Interiors, Inc.
- Eun “Ann” Kim, Founder and President, Korean Business Enterprise Association
- Franklin Lee, Esq., Partner, Tydings and Rosenberg
- Cidalia Luis-Akbar, President, M. Luis Construction Co. (Natalia representing the company)
- Jeanette Partlow, President, Maryland Chemical Company
- Henry Posko, CEO, Humanim (Representing Henry is Cindy Plavier-Truitt)
- Delegate Barbara Robinson, Maryland General Assembly
- Anthony Robinson, Esq, CEO, MBELDEF, Inc.
- Donna Stevenson, President, Early Morning Software
- Shelonda Stokes, President and CEO, greibo Media
- Lt. Col (Ret.) Richard Sutton, Retired Military and Retired Corporate Executive from HP/EDS
- Stanley Tucker, CEO, Meridian Management Group
- Sharon R. Pinder, Director, Mayor’s Office of Minority and Women-Owned Business Development