MEPS

Upcoming events


MEPS GRADUATION

 

Saturday, September 18, 2010

 

9:00 am to 11:00 am

 

University Club of St. Paul “Downtown” / Hotel 340 (previously the St. Paul Athletic Club)

340 Cedar Street,

Saint Paul, MN  55101

Keynote Speaker: Lurita Doan

Cost:  $52 per ticket / $410 for a table of 8

(Table sponsors who purchase by September 10th can have name/logo listed in the program)

****Early Bird Pricing (pay online) is $42 per ticket and ends at midnight September 7th. 

Website Link to order tickets online –  http://meps2010graduationbreakfast.eventbrite.com

 

Keynote Speaker: Lurita Doan

 

 

 

 

Lurita Alexis Doan (born January 4, 1958), is an African American, conservative commentator on Federal News Radio 1500AM in Washington, DC, and the host of the weekly opinion editorial, Leadership Matters (a link is provided at the bottom of this article).

Doan was formerly the Administrator of the United States General Services Administration (GSA) from May 31, 2006, to April 29, 2008, nominated by President George W. Bush. She was the first woman to hold the position.
 
Doan was born the daughter of Lucien Victor Alexis, Jr., head of a New Orleans business school for black students. Her grandfather was Lucien Alexis, Sr., a prominent New Orleans businessman.  Doan attended Ursuline Academy, a Catholic school for girls in New Orleans.  She graduated from Ursuline in 1975 and graduated with honors in English from Vassar College in New York.  Doan received a master's degree in Renaissance Literature in 1983 from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

EARLY CAREER
In 1984, Doan began teaching as an adjunct professor at colleges in Louisiana, Washington, D.C., and Northern Virginia. From 1986 she worked 4 years with Unisys as a technician deploying Unix systems.  Doan launched her company, New Technology Management Inc. in 1990. Minority-contractor certification helped her access government contracts.  In 1993, Doan secured a $250,000 Navy contract to install Unix on ships. By 2002, revenues had grown to $29 million. In 2005, Doan sold her firm for an undisclosed sum to a group of investors and retired.

POLITICS
Between 1999 and 2006, Doan and her husband, Douglas, a former military intelligence officer and business liaison official at the Department of Homeland Security, donated nearly $226,000 to Republican campaigns and causes.
Doan, a Republican Party member, was cited by Vice President Dick Cheney in a speech at the Small Business Administration in 2003. She met with President George W. Bush, as the female owner of a small business, in 2004.  And later that same year, she addressed the Republican National Convention.

PUBLIC SERVICE
On April 6, 2006, Doan was nominated by President George W. Bush to head the General Services Administration. She was confirmed by unanimous consent in the U.S. Senate on May 26 and was sworn in as the 18th administrator of GSA on May 31. 

At the time she submitted her resignation in April of 2008, she wrote, "The past twenty-two months have been filled with accomplishments: together, we have regained our clean audit opinion, restored fiscal discipline, re-tooled our ability to respond to emergencies, rekindled entrepreneurial energies, reduced bureaucratic barriers to small companies to get a GSA Schedule, ignited a building boom at our nation's ports of entries, boldly led the nation in an aggressive telework initiative, and improved employee morale so that we were selected as one of the best places to work in the Federal government."

AT PRESENT
In July 2008, Doan began her "Leadership Matters" commentaries on Federal News Radio in Washington, D.C., discussing government contracting, federal budget issues and government managerial practices.  She is also a regular contributor to The Arena at Politico.com and to Biggovernment.com, and has occasionally published opinion editorials in several major U.S. daily newspapers, such as USA Today and The Los Angeles Times.  Doan has also appeared as a guest contributor on Fox News, CNN and other cable networks with commentary on fiscal discipline, government contracting practices, the federal budget and current affairs.

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
Doan has been involved in the business community through participation in many trade associations, membership in business organizations including the Young Entrepreneurs' Organization (now Entrepreneurs' Organization) and Young Presidents' Organization, and involvement on charitable community activities. In addition, Doan provides support to the American Red Cross, National Women's Business Center, D.C. Rape Crisis Center, United Negro College Fund, American Women's Business Centers, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Whitman-Walker Clinic, and many others.  Doan has also served on a number of boards and committees including the Vassar College Board of Trustees, the Shakespeare Theatre of Washington, D.C. Board of Trustees, the Committee of 200, Council on Competitiveness, National Association of Women Business Owners, National Association of Female Executives, Women in Technology International, Minority Business Network, and the Northern Virginia Technology Council.

Link to Leadership Matters:  http://www.federalnewsradio.com/?nid=103