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2016 DOT Civil Rights Virtual Symposium Speaker Bios - Session 4

Speaking with One Voice: Accelerating Access to Opportunity

Connecting Primes to DBEs: Effective Supplier Diversity Policies and Procedures

L. Jay Burks

Dr. L. Jay Burks is the Senior Manager of Supplier Diversity at the Comcast Corporation, where he is responsible for implementing policies and procedures to increase opportunities for diverse-owned businesses in procurement.   Prior to joining Comcast, he served as Executive Director of the State of Delaware's Office of Supplier Diversity where he helped develop executive orders and strategic plans to further the growth of supplier diversity in Delaware.

Dr. Burks has a combined 20 plus years of experience in sales, marketing, entrepreneurship, supply chain management, procurement and general management.  In addition to his professional experience he has taught both graduate and undergraduate courses for nearly ten years as an adjunct professor at Lincoln University of Pennsylvania and is currently an Associate Faculty member for Ashford University.  Dr. Burks is a board member for the Eastern Minority Supplier Development Council (EMSDC), The Reading Clinic and serves as a Corporate Advisory Board member for the United States Business Leadership Network (USBLN).

Dr. Burks received a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Morehouse College, a Master of Business Administration from the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University, and a PhD from the University of Maryland, Eastern Shore. 

Kyron Robinson

Kyron Robinson is a Founding Member and Managing Partner of ProRank Business Solutions, LLC, a consulting firm that specializes in helping publicly funded agencies and organizations, plan, develop, implement, monitor, evaluate, and coordinate their business and workforce diversity programs. ProRank also works directly with small businesses to help those businesses effectively pursue and procure publicly funded contracting opportunities. In addition to being a managing partner of ProRank Business Solutions, Kyron is also a founding member of the Pennsylvania Diversity Coalition. The mission of the Pennsylvania Diversity Coalition is to ensure resources are challenged equitably to positively impact historically and socially disadvantaged/ hard to place Minorities in efforts to become self-sufficient through education, economic development, contracting, transportation, professional services and other business opportunities.

Prior to founding ProRank Business Solutions in 2012, Kyron was the Director of the Pennsylvania Disadvantage Business Enterprise Supportive Service Center, which provided services to Disadvantage Business Enterprises to help those firms compete with Non- Disadvantage Business Enterprises on an equal basis. As the Director of the Pennsylvania Disadvantage Business Enterprise Supportive Service Center, Kyron assisted Disadvantage Business Enterprises in receiving over $550 million in contracts. Kyron authored the Supportive Services Grant for four consecutive years. In 2012, Kyron was recognized by the Federal Highway Administration for implementing innovative best practices for conducting supportive services and was selected to conduct a session at the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials 2012 National Civil Rights Subcommittee Training Conference in Detroit Michigan.

Since becoming a full-time Managing Partner of ProRank Business Solutions, Kyron has helped various publicly funded organizations, successfully develop, monitor, evaluate, and improve their DBE Programs. Some of the organizations that Kyron has helped include: US Department of Transportation Mid-Atlantic Small Business Transportation Resource Center, Delaware Department of Transportation, Allegheny County of Pennsylvania M/W/DBE Department, City of Harrisburg Pennsylvania School District, Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, and numerous M/W/DBE business owners throughout the Mid-Atlantic region.

Last updated: Thursday, March 17, 2016