National Minority Technology Council
- Virginia Chapter

Virginia's Public Sector Infrastructure Roundtable

 The National Minority Technology Council – Virginia Chapter
Hosted the First in a Series of Conferences called
”Building on the Digital Dominion”

 New opportunities, diverse audience, informative discussion, IT Public Sector Convergence, Information on Governor’s SWAM Program.

Richmond, Va., National Minority Technology Council-Virginia Chapter (NMTC-VA), a Richmond based local affiliate of the National Minority Technology Council, hosted the first of a series of regional conferences Friday, July 15th, 2005, at the historic Jefferson Hotel.  The conference series, named “Building on the Digital Dominion”, included a Panel discussion on IT Public Sector Convergence, workshops on how to do business with the Commonwealth, and a Luncheon Keynote and remarks from key Virginia government executives. 

NMTC-VA invited public and private sector experts to come together and discuss the future use of Virginia’s public sector infrastructure.  The National Minority Technology Council Chairman, Karl Cureton, was quoted, “We sent out electronic surveys to our over 90 guests and we exceeded expectations from both our government and our vendor participants.  Minority Technology Companies came from as far as Florida.  One of our star panelist, Paul Rutherford, CTO of ADIC, flew in Redmond Washington.”  The event’s Platinum Sponsor, Dataline, Inc., a Norfolk based minority technology company, not only assisted in bringing key vendors like Network Appliance, Syncsort and ADIC, they also provided one of their key executives, Nigel Buttery, to moderate the Panel.

 Council members had an opportunity to network with government procurement and IT managers as well as some of Virginia’s largest IT providers who are looking to subcontract.  “This year’s events will be more focused on content and deals”, reports Chairman Cureton.  “We are now working with our member companies to find business opportunities and not just to prove that minority technology companies exist.  Virginia is the home for hundreds of minority technology companies with combined revenues of over $2 Billion.”  Friday’s agenda allowed plenty of time for networking.   Surveys, emails and calls back to the office from some of our minority technology companies are already reporting new business opportunities.  One company reported that they were following up with the City of Richmond the following week.

 Workshops were held along with the Panel and exhibit floor access.  Workshops were held by the Virginia Information Technologies Agency, The Department of General Services in partnership with the Department of Business Assistance, and a certification Workshop was held by the Department of Minority Business Enterprises (DMBE).

 Prior to the luncheon a press meeting was held in honor of DMBE’s Director Ed Hamm.  Mr. Hamm was presented an award from the Council for his tireless service to the minority community.  DMBE, under Mr. Hamm leadership, is responsible for implementing Governor Warner’s plan to increase the participation of Small, Women and Minority business in Virginia’s government procurement.  Mr. Hamm also spoke during Lunch about DMBE’s efforts.

 Virginia’s highest ranking government IT official, Secretary Eugene Huang, spoke about his support of Governor Warner’s SWAM program.  He also introduced the Luncheon Keynote Speaker Leslie Carter.  Leslie Carter is the interim Chief Operating Officer for the newly formed Virginia Information Technology Agency (VITA).  Ms Carter spoke about the history and creation of VITA and the importance of partnership.  She also spoke about the many vendor opportunities now available for IT businesses.  Ms. Carter talked about her direct experience in doing business with minority technology companies.  She spoke about the Cisco Contract award to Dysis Corporation, a minority technology company.  Dysis was a smaller IT company and Ms. Carter took the “risk” and awarded the contract.  Dysis now has the largest minority IT spend of $12 Million over the last 12 months.

 The National Minority Technology Council represents a national network of over 3,000 Minority Technology Companies with total revenues over $10 Billion.  Minority technology companies represent our country's fastest growing market segment.  The Council serves as a trusted network which has a global reach and local footprint.  For more information visit www.nmtcouncil.com.  The National Minority Technology Council – Virginia Chapter NMTC-VA) has certified over 200 minority technology companies.  The goal of the Virginia Chapter is to hold events and leverage offerings that assist in the success of our representative minority technology companies.  For more information on NMTC-VA visit www.va.nmtcouncil.com.