Guilford County is pleased to announce the selection of Shaunne Thomas as the new Director of the Minority/Women Business Enterprise (MWBE) Program. The county’s MWBE program provides minority- and women-owned businesses equal opportunity to participate in all aspects of Guilford County’s contracting and purchasing programs. The program works to engage MWBE firms and increase their participation in County procurements.
“We are excited to welcome Shaunne to the Guilford County team,” said Assistant County Manager for Quality Government Jason Jones. “Shaunne has excellent experience and a reputation for resolving problems, improving customer satisfaction, and driving overall operational improvements. She is going to be a great leader for our M/WBE program as we work to develop stronger relationships with our partners.”
Thomas joins Guilford County with nearly two decades of experience in procurement, diversity and inclusion, and project management. She has worked in locations across the globe, most recently serving the City of Charlotte as the Interim Compliance Manager charged with implementing the Charlotte Business Inclusion Plan and as Senior Services and Technology Procurement Officer leading cross-functional citywide procurements. Thomas started with Guilford County on December 5, 2022 and is already taking steps to meet the needs of MWBE vendors.
“One of the hurdles in front of an MWBE firm wanting to grow and do business with a local government is often simply having the information needed to be successful in bidding opportunities, so it’s important to ensure the MWBE vendors know what opportunities are on the horizon and how to get involved in the process,” Thomas said. “For me, success in this program looks like more MWBE firms winning contracts. I’m excited to get to know our MWBE community and to build out the relationships and tools needed for them to see success.”
Thomas’ achievements include assisting in the creation and implementation of the Charlotte Business Inclusion Plan; implementing a citywide diversity and inclusion compliance tracking system; implementing a certification system for minority, women, and small businesses; creating and implementing a forecasting application to assist firms in building capacity and preparing for contracting opportunities; and creating and chairing the first southeast regional user group for municipalities that use the diversity and inclusion software.
During her career, Thomas has received the 2019 Director’s Choice Award for Outstanding performance, the 2019 Visionary Leader Award, 2019 Pacesetter Leader Award, 2018 Inspirational Leader Award, and 2017 Team Excellence Award.
Thomas is a certified Six Sigma Black Belt, Total Quality Management CLGPO, and is an ACCA member. She received her B.S. in Accounting from North Carolina A&T University.
