VERNESTINE C. DAVIS

Vernestine (Vern) Davis is the President and Founder of Strategic Advantages, LLC. a consulting firm specializing in Contracts Management, both private industry and government contracts as well as Supplier Diversity Program Development. This company was founded in July 2002.  Ms. Davis is a Contracts and Contracts Compliance Consultant and has taught classes on Effective Negotiations and published an article in the March/April 2006 issue of MBE Magazine entitled “Effective Negotiating”. Since Strategic Advantages was founded, she has worked with small to medium sized businesses in managing their prime contracts with major corporations and government agencies.


Vern has been responsible for managing all aspects of contract functions for both the private and federal government sectors. She has been the subject matter expert for all contractual needs for these industries. As the Contract and Contract Compliance Manager she interacted with sales, operations and various personnel to implement contractual requirements.    

 

Vern’s skills allowed her to engage senior management in strategic initiatives to ensure a thorough understanding of leadership team and corporate objectives and keeping senior-level management informed of department goals, objectives, initiatives, their progress and challenges.


Vern is strategically focused on developing Contract and Contract Compliance functions relative to compliance and business development and serviced as a point of escalation and subject matter expert for less experienced team members by proving critical input to senior management by drafting, reviewing and negotiating a wide range of complex contracts potentially valued at millions of dollars while assessing business opportunities from a contractual risk and profitability perspective.


She has provided insight, analysis and implementation of FARS and DFARS requirements, government procurement methods at the federal, state and local levels. Providing direction, recommendations, and making sound decisions on business matters that affect the mitigation of contractual risks and performance. Developed and implemented contracting policies and procedures and applying independent judgment and foresight to continuously adapt such contracting practices to ensure that changes to business strategies do not result in the breakdown of these practices.


Vern’s responsibilities also included ensuring that internal procedures involving customers and suppliers are protective of the company's interests while being flexible enough not to hinder the flow of business interfacing with, and serving as a liaison to Sales, Operations, Finance, Pricing and others cross-functional departments as necessary and acting as the focal point for contractual audits including direct interface with auditors and acting as a liaison to other functional departments and the senior management team as warranted.


Since Strategic Advantages was founded, Vernestine Davis has worked with small to medium sized businesses in managing their prime contracts with major corporations and government agencies such as the following:


Primes from Government Agencies:


Primes from Major Corporations:


Fortune 50 Corporations


Some of the Businesses whose Prime contracts were managed by Strategic Advantages are as follows:


Some of the firms for which Vernestine Davis worked as a Contracts Manager/Administrator are as follows:


SUPPLIER DIVERSITY


Vernestine Davis was the Supplier Diversity Program Director at MCI, where she developed the Supplier Diversity Program at MCI, as there was no Program when she was first employed as a Contracts Manager at MCI. She was responsible for Supplier Diversity’s vision and strategy in relation to the utilization of minority and women-owned business participation in MCI’s Procurement process. When she joined MCI in 1983, she brought with her a wealth of procurement, contract knowledge and experience.


These covered private industry, defense contracts and knowledge of the FAR.


In the area of Supplier Diversity, due to her leadership, MCI increased its spend dollars with minority and women-owned companies from $14 million to more than $400 million from 1990 to 2002. Key elements to the growth and success of these efforts were awards to diverse suppliers in non-traditional areas such as legal, insurance, banking, temporary services and information technology.


As the program grew, Ms. Davis was responsible for more sophisticated measures that were put into place, which included the development of First- and Second-Tier Reporting, a diverse supplier database, Supplier Diversity Annual Reports, procurement commodity strategies for Minority and Women-owned Business Enterprises (MWBE) spend, Mentor Protégé Programs and the development of a Supplier Diversity Advocacy Awards Program.


MCI’s Supplier Diversity program had received, during her tenure, the MD/DC Minority Supplier Development Council (MSDC) Corporation of the Year Award and the Pan Asian Chamber of Commerce Corporation of the Year Award, among others.


Ms. Davis chaired the Professional Development and Education Committee of the Maryland/District of Columbia Minority Supplier Development Council (MD/DC MSDC) for eight years. During that time, a record number of Amos Tuck School of Business Scholarships were awarded to Minority Business Enterprises (MBEs) to attend the Advanced Minority Business Executive Program at Dartmouth College. She was also responsible for numerous scholarship awards to MBE’s to attend the Advanced Management Education Program at the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University, and to the University of Virginia, Darden Graduate School of Business Advanced Management program.


Vernestine is a past Chairman of the Board of Directors for the MD/DC MSDC, and has served on the following Boards:


  • Virginia Regional Minority Supplier Development Council

  • Diversity Information Resources

  • John F. Kennedy School of Government Women’s Leadership Board at Harvard University.

  • National Association of women Business Owners (NAWBO)

  • National Federation of Black Women Business Owners

  • Boardroom Bound

  • North Lake Home Owners Association –Past President, Vice President, Treasurer


She currently serves on the following Boards:


  • Maryland/District of Columbia Minority Supplier Development Council


Personal awards have been:


  • Black Woman of Courage award from the National Federation of Women Business Owners

  • Skirts in Power Award – D.C. Chamber of Commerce

  • President’s Award from the European Federation of Black Women Business Owners

  • Corporate Leadership Award – D.C. Chamber of Commerce – September 2000

  • Fifty Influential Minorities in Business Award – Minority Business & Professionals Network, Inc.

  • Twenty-five Influential Black Women in Business – Network Journal

  • She was also featured in the “Best of the Decade Supplier/Workforce Diversity” publication


Ms. Davis attended the University of Maryland majoring in Business Administration, with an emphasis in Marketing. She has been certified by the National Institute of Governmental Purchasing (NIGP) as a Certified Public Purchasing Officer (CPO).  She has received certificates for completion of many Professional Development Courses such as Darden Graduate School of Business-University of Virginia, Effective Negotiation; Principle Centered Leadership; Seven Basic Habits of Highly Effective People; Conflict Management; Presentation Skills, Minority Business Executive Program, etc.  She is a member of the Laurel, Maryland Toastmasters Group.