Panel One: Economic Analysis of Disparities in Business Procurement and Contracting

Margaret C. Simms is an Institute Fellow at the Urban Institute in Washington, D.C., where she directs the Low Income Working Families project.  From March to September 2011, she is serving as Interim Director of the Urban Institute’s  Center on Labor, Human Services, and Population.  Prior to joining the Urban Institute in July 2007, she was Vice President for Governance and Economic Analysis at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.  She began working at the Joint Center in 1986 as Deputy Director of Research and held positions of increasing responsibility during her 20 year tenure.  From May 1 through December 31, 2006, she served as Interim President. Prior to joining the staff of the Joint Center, she was a program director at the Urban Institute.  Before coming to Washington, DC, Dr. Simms served on the faculties of Atlanta University and the University of California at Santa Cruz. In 1977 and 1978, she was a Brookings Economic Policy Fellow at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. .  In the field of minority business development, Dr. Simms has authored or co-authored a number of studies, including: Minority Business Formation and Failure by Industry and by Location (with Lynn Burbridge); The Impact of State and Local Regulation on Minority Business Development; and Who Hires Black and Hispanic Employees?:  Evidence from a Survey of Minority-Owned Businesses (with Winston J. Allen).

Dr. Fairlie is Professor of Economics at the University of California, Santa Cruz, Director of the UCSC Masters Program in Applied Economics and Finance, and adjunct researcher at RAND.  He has held visiting positions at Yale University, UC Berkeley, Australian National University, and the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Germany.  His research interests include entrepreneurship, technology, inequality, labor economics, education, and immigration.  He recently published "Race and Entrepreneurial Success: Black-, Asian-, and White-Owned Businesses in the United States" with MIT Press.  He is also author of the Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity.  His research has been published in leading economics, public policy, management and demography journals.  He has received funding for his research from numerous government agencies and foundations, including the National Science Foundation, the William T. Grant Foundation, U.S. Small Business Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Department of Labor, Kauffman Foundation, Russell Sage Foundation, and Spencer Foundation.  He has testified to the U.S. Congress, U.S. Department of Treasury, and the California State Assembly regarding the findings from his research.  Dr. Fairlie holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in Economics from Northwestern University and a B.A. with honors from Stanford University.

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Dr. Thomas “Danny” Boston is a Professor of Economics in the School of Economics at Georgia Tech. He is also CEO of EuQuant, which is an economic consulting company that specializes in Business Analytics and Quantitative Program Performance Evaluations. A native of Jacksonville, Florida, he received the BS Degree from West Virginia State University and the PhD Degree in Economics from Cornell University. Graduating as a commissioned officer from WVSU, he attained the rank of Capt. in the U.S. Army and was awarded the Purple Heart. Dr. Boston specializes in research on minority and small business dynamics, impacts of public housing revitalization on families and communities, and evaluations of the attainment of Millennium Development Goals in West Africa. He contributes regularly to CNN where he joins the anchor monthly to discuss the Labor Department's latest report on employment and unemployment. Over the last two years Dr. Boston has testified six times before committees of the US Congress regarding federal minority business programs and public housing policies. He is a frequent consultant and advisor to the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation and to select Congresspersons and subcommittees that have oversight for the nation's minority and small business programs. Dr. Boston's research on the 8(A) and SDB Program contributed to new guidelines.

Timothy Bates is Distinguished Professor of Economics at Wayne State University. He is the author of five books on urban economic development issues, the most recent of which is Race, Self-Employment, and Upward Mobility, published by Johns Hopkins University Press.

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Dr. Bruce Corrie, is dean of the College of Business and Organizational Leadership at Concordia University, Saint Paul, Minnesota has a PhD in Economics from the University of Notre Dame. He is a recognized expert on ethnic markets and immigrant and minority entrepreneurship and integration of ALANA communities in the emerging green‐bio economy. His website www.ethnictrends.info and blog is a popular resource on the ethnic markets. He has provided policy advice to Minnesota governors, congressional representatives, legislators, mayors and community organizations. Minnesota’s Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Commission presented him with the Economic Education Award, 2007 for this work. His policy involvement includes, the subcommittee on Workforce Training of the MN Green Jobs Task Force, Legislative Coordination Commission Working Group on Ethnic Heritage and New Americans, the Governor’s Workforce Development Council, Chair of the US Small Business Administration District Advisory Council in Minnesota, National Advisory Council of the US Small Business Administration, the Minnesota Rural Entrepreneurship Academy, Neighborhood Development Center, Selby Area Community Development Corporation, and various citizen committees in the City of Saint Paul.

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