2024 Robert R. Church, Sr. Awards Gala Program Book

2024

Robert R. Church, Sr. Achievement Awards Gala RENASANT CONVENTION CENTER

SEPTEMBER 12, 2024

Robert R. Church, Sr. I Business Leader & Philanthropist Robert Reed Church, Sr. was born on June 18, 1839 in Holly Springs, Mississippi. From an early age he was known as an achiever and he strengthened the belief of his attributes as he became a businessman, a family man, a philanthropist and a protector and helper of his fellow man. Church began working on the Mississippi River at age 12. He began saving his earnings and looked forward to the time when he would have accumulated enough money to leave the river and enter business in Memphis.

The opportunity to fulfill this dream and ambition presented itself after Mr. Church escaped the river during the Battle of Memphis on June 6, 1862.

Mr. Church had implicit faith in the future of Memphis and established himself in the city. At the close of the Civil War, he was a well known and respected citizen of Memphis. His faith in Memphis was demonstrated many times, but as a result of six disastrous yellow fever epidemics, Memphis lost its Charter in 1879. Church was the first person to buy a bond to help pay the city debt.

His $1,000 purchase of bond number 1 helped pave the way for Memphis to recover and restore the city charter in 1893. Church later opened Church’s Hotel at Second and Gayoso. “The only first-class hotel in the city.” He built a park and auditorium on Beale Street near Fourth & Turley. In directing the idea and construction of the facility, he had the only business venture of its kind in America; built, owned and managed by Church.

The first black millionaire in the city, Church was one of the founders and the first president of the Solvent Bank and Trust Company, the first Black bank to be organized in Memphis. In 1880, when the Beale Street Baptist Church, the oldest Black Baptist church in Memphis, fell on hard times, Mr. Church and Solvent Savings Bank stepped in and helped the members and trustees save the church. Robert Reed Church Sr. died in Memphis, the town he loved and helped sustain, on August 29, 1912 at age 73. The Colored American, a publication from Washington, D.C., on February 16, 1901 wrote in part of Mr. Church: “He was a self-made man in the broadest sense of the term. Had no opportunity of the schools; he had no nucleus for wealth left to him by an ancestor, but with nothing but his hands, he made his way to success over every possible obstacle.”

The MMBC Continuum

Robert R. Church, Sr. Achievement Awards Gala September 12, 2024

PROGRAM Networking Hour | 6:00 PM - 7:00 PM Silent Auction Opens | 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM Welcome Jozelle Luster Booker, President & CEO MMBC Continuum AWARD PRESENTATIONS Great Beginnings Award Rising Star Award M/WBE Quality Business of the Year Scalabe M/WBE Business of the Year Tennessee MBDA Business of the Year Economic Engagement Award Advocate of the Year Award Chairman of the Year Award Corporation of the Year Award Closing Remarks Jozelle Luster Booker Closing Comments Keith Norman Vice President, Government Affairs Baptist Memorial Health Care Chair, Board of Directors MMBC Continuum Networking & Dancing

ROBERT R. CHURCH, SR. ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS

2024 ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS NOMINEES CORPORATION OF THE YEAR

RISING STAR

Baptist Memorial Health Care

Kendra Clay, Turner Construction Company

Grinder Taber Grinder Memphis Light, Gas & Water Division Memphis Shelby County Schools Regional One Health St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital Tennessee Valley Authority Turner Construction Company

M/WBE QUALITY ASSURANCE BUSINESS OF THE YEAR ACTION Janitorial Paper Safety AHA Mechanical Contractors, LLC Aztec Masonry Inc. Blues City Tours of Memphis, Inc Campbell & Ford Construction, Inc. KBG Technologies, LLC Tate Computer Systems, Inc. Unistar-Sparco Computers, Inc.

SCALABLE M/WBE BUSINESS OF THE YEAR ABC Charter Services, LLC Campbell & Ford Construction, Inc. Oteka Technologies Tate Computer Systems, Inc.

Tori Haliburton, Downtown Memphis Commission Monica Holley, Blues City Tours Trey McKnight, EDGE Tamara Pate, Memphis Light, Gas & Water Division Alexandria Baker-Williams, Memphis-Shelby County Schools

GREAT BEGINNINGS AHA Mechanical Contractors, LLC Comprehensive Staffing Solutions, Inc CTD Staffing, LLC KBG Technologies, LLC Mid-South Drug Testing, Inc. Pete Mitchell & Associates

ECONOMIC ENGAGEMENT Downtown Memphis Commission Walbridge

TENNESSEE MBDA BUSINESS OF THE YEAR ABES ACTION Janitorial Paper Safety Circle H Trucking & Construction, LLC KQ Communications Topcat Masonry Contractors, LLC W & T Contracting Corporation

SPECIAL THANKS TO JUDGES FOR SCALABLE M/WBE BUSINESS OF THE YEAR & MBDA BUSINESS OF THE YEAR AWARD CATEGORIES

CRC JUDGES COMMITTEE Arma Orr Memphis Light, Gas & Water Division Vanessa Christian Regional One Health Christy Mullikin St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital Shanikka Tate Memphis Light, Gas & Water Division Tamara Pate Memphis Light, Gas & Water Division Noah Hudson Turner Construction Company Dan Keevy EDGE Alexandria Baker-Williams Memphis Shelby County Schools

SPECIAL THANKS Isaac Singleton – Photography Vescent Design – Graphic Design Services Spotlight Productions – Video & Editing Services

THE MMBC CONTINUUM 2024 BOARD OF DIRECTORS Jozelle Luster Booker President & CEO MMBC Continuum Larry Fogarty Vice President, Supply Chain Management Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare Tammy LoCascio SEVP, Chief Operating Officer First Horizon Doug McGowen President & CEO, Memphis Light, Gas & Water David McKinney VP, Government, Public & Community Relations, Customer Satisfaction, AutoZone Keith Norman Vice President of Government Relations Baptist Memorial Health Care Board Chairman Bacarra Mauldin Interim CEO Memphis Area Transit Authority Leticia Towns Sr. Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer Regional One Health Justin Troy Director, Sourcing/Sourcing & Procurement FedEx John Webb Market President, Tri-South Region CIGNA Healthcare of Tennessee, Inc. Laurel Williams, Esq. Burch Porter & Johnson

MMBC CONTINUUM STAFF Jozelle Luster Booker President & CEO Natalie Robinson Vice President and Director of Communications & Marketing Melba Chester Director of Core Development and MMC-TADP, Inc. Brittney Elkins Program Manager Lashonda McBride Director, Member Registration Capryka Hunt Administrative Program Assistant

TENNESSEE MBDA BUSINESS CENTER STAFF Lawrence Browder, Jr. MBDA Project Manager

Cedric Hamilton Director, Federal Procurement and Business Development

Kelli Wiggins Business Development Specialist

Brittney Gaines Senior Project Assistant

ROBERT R. CHURCH, SR. ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS

2023 ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS WINNERS

Corporation of the Year

MBDA Business of the Year

Scalable M/WBE Business of the Year

M/WBE Quality Assurance Business of the Year

The MMBC Continuum 200 Jefferson Avenue Suite 1000 Memphis, TN 38103 Phone: 901.525.6512 Fax: 901.525.5204 www.mmbc-memphis.org

Tennessee MBDA Business Center 200 Jefferson Avenue Suite 1066 Memphis, TN 38103 Phone: 901.528.1432 Fax: 901.528.1755 www.tnmbdabusinesscenter.org