An overview of the Business Diversity Advisory Council:
The North Texas Tollway Authority Board of Directors approved a group of nine business and community leaders to guide the NTTA’s new Business Diversity Advisory Council (BDAC). The group advises the NTTA in its efforts to encourage the participation of disadvantaged, minority-owned, woman-owned and small business enterprises (D/M/W/SBEs) in NTTA contract opportunities, assists the NTTA’s Business Diversity Department with outreach activities, serves as a primary resource in identifying specific industry groups to target for procurements and helps identify barriers experienced in contracting by D/M/W/SBE programs. Business Diversity Department Director Anthony Coleman serves as facilitator to the council.
Similar to the structure of the NTTA Board of Directors, the Business Diversity Advisory Council consists of two appointees from each of the four counties currently served by the NTTA and one at-large member appointed by the Governor’s office.
The Collin County appointees are Galileo Jumaoas and Pat Evans.
Mr. Jumaoas has served as the executive director of the Greater Dallas Asian American Chamber of Commerce since March 2007. Mr. Jumaoas has been involved with the Chamber for more than 20 years, first as a volunteer, and later as a full-time education director. He also served for five years as the minority business development director and managed the satellite Multi-ethnic Education and Economic Development Center.
Former Plano Mayor Pat Evans joined the NTTA Business Diversity Advisory Council on June 11 and attended the BDAC meeting on June 15. Evans served as Plano mayor from 2002-09. She is a member of the Plano Republican Women’s Club and the Conner Harrington Women’s Club. In 2004, Evans was selected as Plano’s Citizen of the Year. Once a Richardson school district teacher, Evans is a licensed attorney, and she has experience in family law, zoning, and business litigation. Currently, she limits her law practice to child advocacy. She also owns a landscaping company.
The Dallas County appointee is John Martinez and formerly, Reginald Gates.
Mr. Martinez is the president of the Regional Hispanic Contractors Association. His career has been dedicated to developing and growing D/M/W/SBE firms. Most recently, the association completed two major projects: the Women’s Business Conference and the Luna Awards.
The Denton County appointees are William (Bill) Lawrence and Beverley Wright.
After serving three terms as mayor of the City of Highland Village, Mr. Lawrence opened his own consulting company, which provides contract bid award protests and acquisition reform policy services.
Mrs. Wright has worked at IBM for more than 30 years and currently is the sales execution executive and coach. She serves on the Leadership Dallas Alumni Advisory Committee and previously served on the board of Dallas Women’s Foundation and Urban League of North Texas.
The Tarrant County appointees are Devoyd Jennings and Rosa Navejar.
Mr. Jennings is the president of the Fort Worth Metropolitan Black Chamber of Commerce and a member of the Texas Association of African American Chambers. His extensive knowledge of public and private organization efforts in the area of economic development has been gained through more than 20 years of experience with economic development organizations in the metroplex. He also has served as a member of the NTTA’s Fair Share Committee.
Ms. Navejar is the president of the Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and has worked to develop policies for diverse business opportunities for D/M/W/SBEs. She also chairs the committee that created the M/WBE policies for the Trinity River Vision Authority and has served as a member of the NTTA’s Fair Share Committee.
Paul Causey is the at-large appointee. Mr. Causey is the North Texas area manager for the Associated General Contractors of Texas, which requires interaction with different organizations to help resolve issues that may arise in the transportation industry. He has worked with the Texas Engineering Extension Service at Texas A&M University, and his duties included management of the DBE Plan for TxDOT. The objective of the program is to work with minority and DBE entities and supply plans for highway projects.
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