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DEFENDER | WEEK OF JULY 28 | 2011
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OBO Director Carlecia Wright
Helping MWBEs take care of business
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By Aswad Walker Defender
s director of the City’s Office of Business Opportunity (OBO), Carlecia Wright has taken charge of the former Department of Affirmative Action and Contract Compliance. Wright was appointed by Mayor Annise Parker three months ago, and it’s her job to ensure that area small, minority, women-owned and disadvantaged business enterprises have meaningful participation in the city’s procurement process. A native Chicagoan, Wright made a name for herself with the successes she had with the City of New York’s Minority and Women-owned Business Enterprise Program. There she served as executive director of Policy, Planning and Operations, as well as the executive director of Certification and Recruitment. Well aware of the numerous complaints city officials received because of real or perceived bottlenecks and inef-
ficiencies with the affirmative action department, Wright is determined to lead the OBO’s efforts to provide Houstonians with the same levels of success and increased business opportunities she facilitated in New York. Creating a more transparent and accountable process, identifying new areas of opportunity, changing departmental paradigms and building tools to track successes are some of the tools Wright used in New York that she plans to bring to the Bayou City. Recently, the Defender talked to Wright, a recipient of the Frederick O’Reilly Hayes Prize, which honors aspiring and emerging leaders in NYC government, about her plans to lead the OBO. Defender: Mayor Parker said that the Office of Business Opportunity will operate with a “rising tide lifts all boats philosophy.” What specific OBO programs or actions will give tangible life to this idea? Carlecia Wright: Often, people don’t know what’s happening during the process; it’s like a black hole. I’ve worked to be more accountable to those we serve and make the process more transparent; also, giving customers an update sooner rather than having them learn a month later that their application
is incomplete. And to cut down on the incomplete applications, going forward we will direct customers to our free certification workshops to show them the process for completing an application. We are also expanding the certification period from one year to three years. It takes some time to get all the necessary documents ready, and then to only be certified for a year, if you don’t get a contract; that’s frustrating. Additionally, there’s a disconnect between the certification process and contract compliance. There needs to be something in between that tracks how a prime contractor performed and incorporated MWBEs. We’re also working with partners that certify, like the Houston Minority Supplier Develop-
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