Cloudy Skies Still Linger Over Nashville Airport Contracting with Women and Minority Owned Firms

Several years ago, I decided that competing for business where I must label my company as a small woman minority business enterprise was not worth the hoops one must jump through in order to do business with government agencies. There are not enough chemicals formulated to exterminate the vexations that are part of the bidding process before you ever see the first pest that must be eradicated for a government pest control contract. Between being given a colonoscopy without anesthesia to work for an agency that will probe every reason not to work with you and the label you have given yourself by checking the boxes that can make one feel as inept as third grade dropout trying to fill out the SAT to attend college, many small companies believe trying to do business as a SMWBE or DWE is rigged before the invitation to bid is sent out. If the spotlight is not on the process, from the invitation to bid to the awarding of the contract, night and day, the  government contracting procurement system recycles the same frequent fliers from the board approvals to program managers to the contractors to the suppliers to the awarding of the contract from one agency to another. 

Even though I have renounced many minority business programs because of the lack of accountability and the system one must work under to do business, from time to time, I will attend a bid hearing or a government networking event solely to meet other entrepreneurs. Nothing is wrong with networking with majority and minority firms to let them know you are capable of doing business with them without a government mandate. And nothing is wrong with keeping an eye on minority business programs that have the potential to be highlighted for best practices and exposing those who help perpetuate the insanity of even attempting to do business with federal, state, and local agencies as a small company. 

Metro Nashville Airport Authority (MNAA)’s SMWBE program should be one of those programs that must be reviewed and microscopically probed often because of its documented history and failure to correct practices that has revealed how it works (not) with women and minority owned firms. The MNAA’s SMWBE program has been a source of strife in the minority business community for several decades. Doing business with the airport has long been known to produce millionaires, for some, by the awarding of federal and state contracts. Because the airport has tried to keep up with the growth of the rapid changing Middle Tennessee Region, the airport can be a plane load of economic opportunities...for some. The expansion of MNAA and the ease of accessibility to and from the airport are often touted to attract companies that are rich in diverse people from other areas of the country and from around the world, to transplant offices and their greatest commodity, their workforce, to our corporation embracing city. But rich in diversity corporations rarely hear about the disparity study submitted by Griffin and Strong to the MNAA in September of 2007 that backs MNAA’s stated awareness of the need to do more business with local women and minorities owned firms and the number of complaints that have been an “invitation for a lawsuit” for practices that are out of touch with a city that uses diversity and inclusion in its branding to increase economic growth in our area. 

This month (eight years after the 2007 disparity study), I contacted the MNAA Office of Business Diversity Development to inquire about upcoming contracting opportunities that may be on the horizon. Attending meetings can help one sift through minority program's website BS and actual business being done.  Since I did not hear back from the office, I decided to go to MNAA’s office which is two exits from me. On Tuesday, March 17, 2015, the day I stopped by, to my delight (and later dismay) General Aviation Operations Planning and Engineering (GAOPE) Committee meeting was scheduled to vote on the awarding of two contracts with MNAA. The GAOPE Committee with four Commissioners present (Samuels, Mosley, Joslin, and Wright) turned into an information fest that my pen and note pad devoured from start to the end of the meeting. The comments by the Commissioners gave validity to many who have longed stated MNAA has not learned from its past bad performance reviews in the disparity study by vendors and sub-contractors and why no one should believe that MNAA can police itself to foster contracting opportunities for women and minority owned business for locally funded airport projects. 

Below is some of the particulars of the public meeting that shocked me how MNAA awards contracts. The meeting reminded me of stories told by my Mississippi grandparents who lived through Jim Crow South’s unwritten business rules that were often made up on the spot and no matter how a minority owned company ('black folks in business') persevered through a meeting to show they were the best company for the job and could compete, they would be denied the contract even when the majority owned company practiced overt racism in broad daylight for all to see. The majority company was forgiven for being questioned and the minority firm was punished for even attempting to compete and barred from questioning the practices and principles of those involved in the contract decision.

Now the Meeting

The meeting started off slow discussing a bid for asphalt. Nothing seemed unsound in the reasons stated why the airport needed more pavement and recommended a company who is already doing business with the airport to continue their services since they had equipment already on the airport property. The information about the contract and details about the project were displayed on the big screen along with the amount for the contract. A vote was called to approve the contract with a dollar amount of nearly $800,000. All of the Commissioners voted to approve. I wrote "smooth landing," in my notes.

But when Floyd Crook, director of MNAA maintenance facilities, took to discussing the janitorial contract; turbulence was encountered and that contract was met with greater scrutiny that showed some serious issues in how contracts are awarded at the city's prized airport. According to Mr Crook, the "airport staff" (no staff names mentioned) recommended awarding the contract to Service Management Systems (SMS) because they were great to work with and they provided good services. When Commissioner Samuels asked for the award amount they were about to vote on, Mr. Crook did not have the figures nor were the figures on the screen like the details of concrete contract for all to see. (MNAA is approving the contract for janitorial services but Mr. Crook does not have the amount in front of him nor did the board have amount they were voting on. Interesting.)

Commissioner Samuels waited a few more minutes and requested the bid amount again and a staff person jotted out the room to retrieve it. When she returned, Commissioner Samuels stated the award amount was for $13,659,555. I sat stunned not at the amount but that the amount was going to be voted on without stating how much. With a swish of the pen, a company was going to be awarded millions without having to state the contract value? Hmm. The staff must really feel good about SMS. But as the meeting continued, more questions about SMS raised serious concerns as to why would the airport staff feel so confident about this firm who is receiving the contract for the third time. SMS was having one heck of a St. Patrick's Day Party and it was only not even 10:00am.

Commissioner Samuels asked about the scoring system that was used by the airport staff to review companies' work performances with the airport. Mr. Crook stated that scoring system was 1-6 but will change to 1-5 later. When asked what was the score for SMS, Mr. Crook stated, "no specific numeric figure could be given" but the staff recommendation was to work with SMS because they had "done well." Huh? You follow that. I didn't. By now, I was sitting on the edge of my seat and the slow firing of pointed questions to Mr. Crook was just getting started. 

Part Two: Why Previous Performance Not Considered When Awarding Firm $13 Million Dollars. 

Part Three: In Nashville; "A Management Fee" is Not A Kick Back Nor Are Primes Barred From Bidding After Receiving Fees

Part Four: The Financials: Pay to Play Sub Contractor Rules Can Cost You A Contract

Part Five: When Minority Firms Do Not Practice What They Are Screaming

The 2014 Fannie Lou Hamer Report Shines Spotlight on Political Spending and the Black Community

The recent 2014 Fannie Lou Hamer Report had Black Political Consultants in the Beltway throwing fits of rage when it was revealed that Democratic National Committee (DNC), the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) spent...

“half of all funds raised by the Party over the past two cycles to hire consultants to engage multiracial voters; however, of the firms who received a total of $515 million in disbursements, only 1.7% ($8.7 million) went to firms that were minority-owned or had a minority principal, signaling a need for additional needed progress and change in how resources are spent within the Party.”

Black folks have been screaming at the Republican Party and RNC for their overt treatment of minorities and their lack of minority outreach. But their screams were mingled with heart palpitations because of the convert actions of the Democrats. Well-meaning friends who are political consultants have been asked to give many hourly segments touting the goodness of voting for Democrats. But they were puking over toilets after realizing now what they gave awayfor free, Democrats paid top dollars to majority firms or businesses disguised as women owned consulting firms.

From time to time, I have had national leaders on my radio show, Living Your Best Life, or written about them to address major concerns regarding veterans, housing, immigration, or the worst Supreme Court ever. But I have never used my time and energy to push a political agenda on behalf of any politician or political party. Too often, political leaders at federal, state, and local levels will say whatever to anybody to get in office. This is nothing personal, just a fact. The Republicans are not the only ones stuck on stupid. The Democrats are still in a boys’ club with a few women and play the same games.

While campaigning to get the majority minority and progressive voters out to the polls around the country in 2010 and 2012, the Democrats paid who they wanted to pay to communicate the issues to the voters. It has long been instilled in the Black community that White folks’ ice water is colder. With that kind of thinking, a large majority firm can visit the Black community and use cold ice water and the fear of extremism to do just as much damage. Couple that with vote when it feels good and you can see the Black community is ripe for the picking by Democrats and Republicans. The Black community gives both parties what they want; one group wants folks to accept church and chicken dinner endorsements and the other group wants folks not to vote. Black folks do both…often.

This embedded craziness hurts us even more when a Black politicianfinally gets elected and is charted off to jail quicker than the polls closing early in North Carolina for criminal acts that others get off or reelected for doing. Black folks cannot win for losing. And when we lose, we are Gilligan Island lost. How can we stop the madness? It starts with how we treat each other in the Black community and how minority dollars are spent with minority firms.

As the owner of Holmes Pest Control, the majority of my customers do not look like me nor live in my neighborhood. As a matter fact, less than ten percent of our clients are Black. And many of them are business owners. Most of us started our companies between 1994 and 1997. We were young entrepreneurs ready to save the world and our community. We were too proud to receive our minority contracting “certification” and attended every minority contracting luncheon in the state. I was the only bug killer in the group and quickly noticed oddities the others did not see until later. Outside our group, it was very hard to solicit other Black owned companies, affluent Black leaders, government agencies, and my neighbors to do business with me. I could kill roaches in my sleep but could not get folks with roaches to become customers.

One day, after watching several national pest companies park in my neighbors’ driveways on my street for over three years, I had a come to Jesus meeting with myself. Gagging from disappointment that my neighbors would rather pay someone else to service them but often complained about the service they were receiving to me, I said, “No more expectations that those who look like me want to see me succeed and provide not only for my family but also for other families in the community. No more asking Black folks and neighbors to do business with me.” As harsh as it sounds, when I reached that fork in the road, a fire was lite inside of me. My community actions helped me find customers under rocks, in bends, and on the mountain tops. I started knocking on doors across town and showing up at Rotary meetings in a ten county region. Once, one group thought I was the new waitress who was on break. Ouch. But it took only one or two meetings to get them to understand that a roach is a roach. Those country folks out in the middle nowhere did something for me that my own would not do, they patronized my business.

I am two decades removed from my early years of starting Holmes Pest Control but those lessons I learned were humbling and educational. I learned much about human nature, my people, my community, and myself. The Fannie Lou Hamer Report reminded me of those lessons.

Fannie Lou Hamer

 Unfortunately, 50 years after fellow Mississippian, Fannie Lou Hamer, “challenged the Democratic party to allow Blacks to be part of the coalition”, Black folks are still asking for the same identical things from our country, our political parties and our own people. Majority firms that do business with us will treat us the way we treat ourselves. Until we begin to think differently and spend with each other first, change ain’t gonna come. Not with Republicans. Not with Democrats. Not with contractors.

I learned over time not to take it personally. People are people. A few years ago, I decided to invest in a bottle water company. I glue the labels on the bottles myself. I hired a young white 20 something to put the bottled water on ice. He sells them at all the HBCU games in town. My bottled water company is growing faster than any company I started. Who knew?

Photos Credits: Mississippi Libary Archives, Holmes Pest Control, White Folks Ice Water Company, FEC

 

Former NBA Owner Charles L. Ewing, Sr. Talks Ongoing NBA Saga on Living Your Best Life with Genma Holmes

The saga surrounding Donald Sterling's leaked racist rants came under more scrutiny after his self professed silly rabbit and adviser, V. Stiviano, gave a confusing interview on ABC's 20/20 that was torturous to watch. To help us understand the "culture" of NBA owners Living Your Best Life Radio with Genma Holmes reached out to former owners of the Memphis Grizzlies, Charles L. Ewing, Sr. and Fred Jones.

Join us on Saturday, May 3, 2014 to hear Charles L. Ewing, Sr. give us a glimpse into the life of being an NBA owner. Mr. Ewing, CEO of Ewing Moving Services, will share his past experiences and how it relates to current events surrounding Donald Sterling and the culture of NBA owners. He will share about the journey to becoming an owner that included thoroughly being investigated. Every aspects of his life, personal and professionally, and the lives of his family, close friends, and business associates were put under the microscope before he was accepted as a minority owner of the team.

Mr. Ewing will talk his meetings with then 28 owners and try help us understand, in layman terms, the bylaws and constitutions of NBA. Mr. Ewing will give us an inside view of being a minority executive and not a basketball player in the NBA. Mr. Ewing will also try to answer questions like: Why has the media not pursued interviewing more minority NBA owners like him and Mr. Jones? Why has the media focused been on the players more than owners who set the tone for the team? Do other NBA owners believe they "own" the players? Did being an owner of a NBA team change how he did business with majority companies after he left the NBA? He will share lessons learned from his time as NBA owner and how is applying those lessons in his life today.

This show promises to empower, to inspire, and to motivate you to live your BEST life. Living Your Best Life Radio is heard on 760AM in the Middle Tennessee Region, the Inspirational Network, military bases, Tune In, and live streamed at Ustream.TV from 9-10AM CST.

More About Charles L. Ewing, Sr.

“To Whom Much Is Given Much Is Required” 

The President/CEO, Charles Ewing, Sr. donates his time and resources to numerous charitable causes. He serves on several local, regional and national boards of directors in hopes that he can help make life better for those around him.  The employees of the company are encouraged to follow his example and do the same.  Ewing Moving Service, Inc. is committed to giving back to the community. 

Below are some of the present and past organizations that Ewing Moving Service, Inc. supports: 

• Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Memphis
• Soulsville USA, STAX Music Academy & The STAX Museum of American Soul Music
• Society of Entrepreneurs
• The University of Tennessee
• St. Louis Federal Reserve Board
• Memphis District Laymen’s Movement
• Regions Advisory Board
• Grizzlies Foundation
• City of Memphis Mayor’s Advisory Council 

More About Ewing Moving

 Ewing Moving Service, Inc. is an independent local and long distance relocation service specializing in complete packing and warehouse storage. Established in 1980 by Charles L. Ewing, Sr. The company is headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee, with an additional office in Nashville, Tennessee.

The company provides relocation services for residential and commercial clients throughout the continental United States and internationally.

We aim to assure the quality of the customer's experience from the beginning to the end of their move. We stand behind every service commitment and we employ friendly, skilled, knowledgeable people who are professionally committed to meeting your needs.

Major General Roger R. Blunt on Living Your Best Life Radio with Genma Holmes

Join Living Your Best Life as we celebrate our military heroes' journeys before and after their service to our country. Hear from men and women who are sons and daughters; husbands and wives; fathers and mothers; grandparents; siblings; and loyal friends. Hear members of the Marines, Army, Air Force, and Navy share personal stories and highlights from their military careers. All have roles that made them the "first" in many endeavors throughout their lives and in the military. We will hear about their rarely discussed acts of courage and sacrifice that embody servant leadership that will empower, inspire, and motivate listeners. 

On Saturday, April 26, 2014, Major General Roger R. Blunt, AUS (Ret.) will share his perspectives on initiatives to help career military men and women transition into the civilian workforce. He will share what is working and how to address the escalating number of unemployed veterans in our country.

Major General Blunt will advised veterans on how to become more competitive in their job search and address the moral issues of our country not dealing with the employment future of men and women who have put their lives on the line for our country. 

Tune in to hear Genma Holmes share highlights from the recent job summit held at Fort Campbell. Genma will also ask about entrepreneurship for veterans as well as opportunities for women and minorities. 

This show promises to empower, to inspire, and to motivate you to live your BEST life. Living Your Best Life Radio is heard on 760AM in the Middle Tennessee Region, the Inspirational Network, military bases, Tune In, and live streamed at Ustream.TV from 9-10AM CST.

The Network Journal 25 Most Influential Women Luncheon 2014

More About Major General Roger R. Blunt, AUS (Ret.)

Roger R. Blunt is chairman of the board, president, and chief executive officer of Essex Construction, LLC. He is both a civil engineer and a nuclear engineer, holding professional engineering credentials in New York and the District of Columbia. A West Point graduate, he holds two master's degrees in engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Doctor of Public Service from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. 
 
After an active career in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that included an assignment on the faculty of the United States Military Academy, Blunt continued his service in the U.S. Army Reserve. In his final assignment, he commanded the 12,000-member 97th Army Reserve Command headquartered at Fort George G. Meade, Maryland. He retired in 1986 and was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal. 

Blunt is also a retired director of the Potomac Electric Power Company and the Ameritas-Acacia Mutual Holding Company. He is a past chairman of the Board of the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges and served from 1990 to 1996 as vice chairman of the University System of Maryland Board of Regents. Blunt was appointed to the Commission on Post Secondary Accreditation and chaired the Committee on Recognition of the Council on Higher Education Accreditation. He presently serves as a director of the Maryland Chamber of Commerce and chairs the Board of Directors of the University of Maryland Foundation. 

A 2001 laureate of the Washington Business Hall of Fame, Blunt has received numerous awards, among them the University of Maryland College of Engineering Centennial Medal, Who's Who Among Black Americans, and the Boy Scouts of America Northeast Region's Whitney Young Award. Blunt is a member of UMUC's Leadership Circle, a group whose charge is to raise funds for the university's new military scholarship campaign. 

Photo Credits: Essex Construction, White House, and Genma Holmes

The President's Cabinet Appointments Highlight Larger Issues in the Black Communitiy

President Obama made history again with his re-election. But his second term has been scrutinized by the left and the right. In his second term, his first round of nominees for his cabinet was white males. This caused some to question his loyalty to the millions of minorities, women,  and members of the GLBTs who elected him. When another Black business owner asked my thoughts about the lack of minorities being considered or appointed, I replied, “The issue is much bigger than black or white. Black Americans have allowed ‘white is right’ to become systemic in thinking. We, like White folks, have failed to embrace diversity or to accept our own for one reason or another. We have forgotten to look back at history and note that we did NOT overcome by ‘black is maybe but white is right.’ 

Let us take a look at how we arrived at the dilution of diversity by first looking at Affirmative Action. In the 1960s, at the height of the Civil Rights movement, we called on our elected leaders to challenge the country’s acceptance of the discrimination of Blacks in all areas of government contracting agencies. President Kennedy answered through his executive order, 10925, mandating “affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed and those employees are treated fairly during employment, without regard to race, creed, color, or national origin.”* Although a presidential executive order was being implemented and, in many cases, being enforced, Jim Crow, the law of the land in the Old South did not roll over and die. It took on a more covert way of staying a live by heavily saturating its principles of white is right into the enforcement of the new policies.

In the Old South, Jim Crow laws, written and unwritten, mandated where a Black person could sit, shop, eat, or use a restroom. Also, Jim Crow laws dictated how a Black person should look at a White person and how closely he should stand next to or walk beside a White person. Though Jim Crow was not the law of the land in the North, the North had its own insidious version. Blacks were systematically siphoned into areas of cities that were expressively ‘black’ and into jobs, schools, and the like that were considered ‘black’.

With dueling sets of laws--federal vs. state and local--once again our country found itself at war.  Although an undeclared war, our country was still fighting President Lincoln’s war a hundred years later. Instead of Confederate soldiers with cannons fighting for state’s rights to retain slaves in cotton fields, laws were instituted to confine Black people to horrible economic conditions equivalent to slavery with an invisible master.

After the death of President Kennedy, a new president, President Johnson addressed affirmative action. He stated, “Nothing is more freighted with meaning for our own destiny than the revolution of the Negro American...In far too many ways American Negroes have been another nation: deprived of freedom, crippled by hatred, the doors of opportunity closed to hope...But freedom is not enough. You do not wipe away the scars of centuries by saying: Now you are free to go where you want, and do as you desire, and choose the leaders you please. You do not take a person who, for years, has been hobbled by chains and liberate him, bring him up to the starting line of a race and then say, 'you are free to compete with all the others,' and still justly believe that you have been completely fair...This is the next and the more profound stage of the battle for civil rights. We seek not just freedom but opportunity. We seek not just legal equity but human ability, not just equality as a right and a theory but equality as a fact and equality as a result...To this end equal opportunity is essential, but not enough, not enough.**   

Every President has served a racially divided country. And rules are not always the same for every racial group in interpretation and implementation. There are racial divisions, in spite of all of our accomplishments as a nation; and these divisions seem to pull at the fibers of our country despite our ever increasing growth of minorities who have become national leaders, business owners, college presidents, astronauts, and even pest-control operators. In every genre, great men and women from every ethnic background have defied odds to add to the rich diversity of this nation, even electing a President whose parents are members of two races, not once but twice. Yet the President struggles with an issue inherent in the belief of a very large number of folks in this country: white is right, that is, white American male is right.

Under President Obama, the unwritten rules of how business gets done in our country have not changed. While these unwritten rules present both opportunities and obstacles for working with congressional and business leaders, the President must deal with perception just as much as reality. In reality, a majority of voting Americans voted for President Obama. But the perception is that more did not vote for him. No matter how many numbers show the wide margin of his win, by design, the President’s opposition rack up more air time on cable news shows than those who support him. 

Along the same lines of reality vs. perception, because a corporation says it believes in diversity or has a minority supplier program does not mean that the culture of the company is accepting of diverse individuals, which includes Congress, an entity that governs the business affairs of our country. Although our country has become more diverse, there are members of Congress who struggle with the idea of diversity. One reason, diversity cannot be pigeon-holed into the paradigm, “American white male is right.” 

At one time, Black Americans were the largest minority group. When diversity programs were mentioned, it was the code for “We do business with Blacks.” But in the last decade, doing business with Black Americans was no longer a litmus test for diversity. Diversity has grown to mean global inclusiveness. Women, individuals with physical disabilities, and members within the GLBT communities are all part of diversity inclusion. Many are CEOs or senior management decision-makers for global corporations. 

Because of global diversity, minorities, who may not even consider themselves as a minority, are sitting at the table as decision-makers and do not need executive orders to be given access to employment, housing, or an education. By the way, Hispanics/Latinos are the majority of the minority groups. But Asian business owners are the fastest growing in our nation and are one of the highest income earners.

Culturally speaking, most minority groups turn first to each other’s businesses for goods or services before venturing outside of their communities. By being intentional with their spending dollars, these communities are strengthened economically and engender more buying power. Local power combined with fiscal numbers gives them a seat at the table for national dialogue. These communities become producers vs. consumers. When communities are strong producers of their own wealth by doing business within their communities, they can intimidate or become intimidating to outsiders.

If a community allows an entity to divide and conquer it without much opposition, the community soon becomes a doormat and gets very little to nothing in return from the entity. Instead, the community should take a page out of the book of another community that appears to have successful business practices, especially of diverse ethnic groups, and demand reciprocity at a comparable rate. Black Americans are slow in accepting this concept.

Some local Black business owners rarely have a community-first mindset. In Nashville, Black- owned means ‘last-selected’and 'less-than-your-quoted-price' to other Blacks when buying. It does not matter what area of town one may in reside; it seems to be the prevailing thought. “Nashville’s Black Elite” can be the worst offenders while screaming for economic inclusion from corporate America. When asked about this practice, “You know how we are,” is the standard reply. As far as Blacks have come in leading the way to gain equality for others, we are often last in helping one another to achieve or maintain economic stability in our businesses, to support our families, to give back to our communities, and to prepare to contribute to national dialogue, not photo opportunities.

Our national leaders have much work to do, both moral and legislative work. Our country issues are bigger than Black and White issues, much bigger. As the President works through years of systemic racial biases [he must do] that are woven into the fibers of our country, he must intentionally choose leaders who will embrace our growing global diversity and who will practice inclusiveness. In the same vein, Black business owners must work through years of being treated as inferior. For many have begun to believe that the goods and services of our own people are ‘less than.’ Hence, Black business owners [as a whole] need a new paradigm shift that can remove the systemic thinking that has inculcated and has embedded into the fibers of the community.

To make the shift, Black business owners should begin to intentionally seek out goods and services of one another. This action will help strengthen dialogue within the Black community. They have to become educated in the ways and means of the global marketers and use the finesse of the dialogue of the smaller community to access the larger global market. They must keep in mind that this training is pertinent to opening the doors to financial empowerment.

If Black Americans do not embrace and complement each other like leveling compounds running on an uneven floor, we will continue to be overlooked at the table for national conversations and leadership roles and will continue to be stepped on or stepped over. But in order to change this, we must start with the man or woman in the mirror, not the President. Economic empowerment starts in your neighborhood and local communities not in Washington, DC.

*President John F. Kennedy’s Executive Order 10925 was signed March 6, 1961
** President Lyndon B. Johnson’s Commencement Address at Howard University Commencement June 4, 1965

Charles R. Dickerson on Living Your Best Life with Genma Holmes

Update: Audio of show can be found here.

2013 is now a month old! Many began the New Year with dreams of owning their business. At the same time, many seasoned business owners vowed to make changes to grow, expand, and become more efficient.

Living Your Best Life with Genma Holmes wants to help new entrepreneurs to stay inspired and motivated while helping veteran businesses owners and serial entrepreneurs become renewed and empowered throughout the year.

On Saturday, February 2, 2013, join us to hear Charles R. Dickerson, Vice President of Performance Management and Support Services at Pepco Holdings, Inc (PHI). Pepco Holdings, Inc. is one of the largest energy delivery companies in the Mid-Atlantic region, serving about 2 million customers in Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland and New Jersey.

Listen to Charles share what small business owners can do to make themselves stand out in the marketplace. He will give us advice on marketing your goods and services to large corporations and discuss minimizing mistakes that keep businesses from being profitable.

Charles will also give us his views on why small businesses must become stake holders in their community and why it is so important for the community to support local businesses.

This show promises to empower, to inspire, and to motivate you to live your BEST life.  Living Your Best Life can be heard on 760 AM in the Middle-Tennessee Region, military bases, and streamed live on U-Stream.TV from 9-10AM CST.

 More About Charles R. Dickerson

Vice President – Performance Management and Support Services

Charles is responsible for PHI’s Transmission & Distribution Construction, Maintenance and Operations processes, and its Customer Satisfaction and Revenue Management processes along with Support Services functions (Supply Chain, Materials and Logistics Management, Facilities, Fleet, Human Resource Services and Disbursement Accounting).

Previously, Charles was responsible for all aspects of customer care – including meter services, meter reading, billing, energy procurement, energy efficiency and demand response programs, customer contact centers, marketing and customer relationship management along with credit & remittance – for PHI’s 1.9 million customers across its three regulated (gas and electric) utilities. PHI is one of the largest energy delivery companies in the Mid-Atlantic region.

He also served as Vice President Strategic Planning & Chief Risk Officer responsible for directing corporate planning processes and leading the management team and officers to create strategic plans and goals that drove performance; and he served as Vice President – Gas Delivery for Delmarva Power responsible for engineering, construction, operations and maintenance.

Charles joined Pepco in 1989 and has held a number of positions including Manager Customer Operations Division; during which time Pepco was recognized as an industry leader in customer care. In this capacity he helped lead Pepco to the #1 status for the JD Power and Associates "Customer Satisfaction Survey" and Pepco winning Call Center Magazine's "Best Call Center of the Year" in 2001; he was also named Call Center Magazine's "Manager of the Year".

Charles has a BS degree in Mechanical Engineering and a MS in Applied Management both from the University of Maryland. He is a licensed First Class Steam Engineer in the State of Maryland, a past member of the Editorial Board for Call Center Magazine, and a past member of the Diversity Best Practices Leadership Council. Presently, Charles serves as a member of the Board of Trustees for the Treatment Learning Center, and has served as an Adjunct Professor for the University of the District of Columbia’s School of Business.