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October 16, 2024

MBDA’s MED Week starts Oct. 20-23 alongside NMSDC's event

By Monica Stavish Skaggs

Helping minority-owned businesses gain access to capital, contracts and networks is the laser-focus of Eric Morrissette since leading the U.S. Department of Commerce Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) as deputy under secretary of commerce for minority business development, performing the delegated duties of the under secretary.

He stepped into the role after Donald R. Cravins Jr. stepped down as under secretary of commerce in January 2024. During Cravins’ tenure, MBDA helped minority business enterprises (MBEs) secure more than $8.2 billion in capital and private and government contracts.

A member of the department’s senior leadership team and chief of staff to Deputy Secretary of Commerce Don Graves, Morrissette will temporarily lead the agency.

“My vision for MBDA is to level the economic playing field for minority businesses in the country,” said Morrissette, whose first day on the job was Jan. 15, 2024 — Martin Luther King Jr. Day. “It is a game-changer for minority business enterprises to have a more level playing field in order to grow and scale their businesses.”

There are challenges. Besides making MBEs aware of MBDA so they can fully utilize its resources, it’s important to educate those who may not understand how helping MBEs succeed helps pull the economy together in a way that is equitable, fair and robust, he said.

“I’m exceedingly proud of the team at MBDA and the network we have, and I think the challenges are really opportunities,” Morrissette said. “For every challenge that exists for MBDA, it’s truly an opportunity to do the deeper dive to change the economic landscape for our country.”

MBDA serves as a watchdog when it comes to federal policy changes that affect the continued advancement of equity in business. However, earlier this year, a Texas federal court decided that, though MBEs “have far less access to capital and credit … due to racial discrimination in lending markets,” Congress violated the Constitution by requiring MBDA to presume that members of specified minority groups experience discrimination — or have an impaired ability to compete — due to fewer capital and credit opportunities, he noted.

After thoughtful consideration, the Department of Justice decided not to appeal. The court’s decision, however, does not prevent MBDA from continuing to be a resource for minority business enterprises and, according to Morrissette, it casts a wider net of people MBDA can serve — social and economically disadvantaged individuals.

MBDA was established by Executive Order as the Office of Minority Business Enterprise by President Richard Nixon in 1969. It is the only federal agency dedicated to the growth and global competitiveness of U.S. MBEs. For five decades, MBDA programs and services have helped equip MBEs to create jobs, build scale and capacity, increase revenues and expand regionally, nationally and internationally.

In 2021, President Joe Biden signed the Minority Business Development Act, which expanded MBDA and made it a permanent agency within the federal government. Morrissette — who drafted the MBD Act — said the intent is to make sure procurement is fair and equitable for MBEs.

“I’m proud of the codification of MBDA. I’m proud that I was able to be part of that architecture and draft and get that bill signed into law,” he said. “It provides an array of tools to create opportunities for minority businesses and economically disadvantaged groups around this country.”

MBDA’s priority, Morrissette said, is to expand MBEs’ access to the three components that all businesses need to succeed: capital, contracts and networks. The agency serves 10 million minority businesses and in 2023, its efforts led to $3.8 billion in contract awards to MBEs.

MBDA Business Centers across the country help MBEs secure capital or contracts and identify strategic partners to assist in taking their businesses forward. Also, a variety of MBDA programs and initiatives support minority and underserved businesses including the Capital Readiness Program, Enterprising Women of Color Initiative and Minority Colleges and Universities program, along with various grants and loans.

Closing the gap

MBDA recently hosted its second annual Access to Capital Summit at the U.S. Department of Commerce. The forum works to foster a collaborative environment on ways to revert disparities and improve lending and equity investment for MBEs.

“We’re talking about money and fair access to money and opportunities. Minorities and socioeconomically disadvantaged groups have not had a fair shake — for a very long time — when it comes to access to money and opportunities,” Morrissette said. “I think about the Fair Housing Act and fair lending statutes, and I’m reminded these are clearly fair economic laws but fundamentally, they’re civil rights laws.”

Economic inequities help pull down the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP), he added.

“That’s why MBDA exists,” Morrissette said. “We exist to close a gap in the United States economy that has been meaningfully left out for generations. We are leaving one-third of our GDP on the table by not finding a way to pull everybody in. That’s the thing that keeps me up at night and keeps me going every day.”

He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science, public policy and political philosophy from Syracuse University and a master’s in global public policy from Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.

Driving equity and transparency

As chief of staff to the deputy secretary of commerce, Morrissette served as principal advisor to the deputy secretary of commerce and part of the department’s leadership team, supporting minority entrepreneurship, place-based economic development and national security. Previously, he was deputy assistant secretary for legislative and intergovernmental affairs, where he worked to pass the Minority Business Development Act of 2021, Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, CHIPS and Science Act and Inflation Reduction Act.

Before joining the Department of Commerce, he served in other governmental roles including deputy chief of staff for Sen. Amy Klobuchar; managing the U.S. House Financial Services Subcommittee on National Security, International Development and Monetary Policy; and service in analysis and operations at the Central Intelligence Agency. He previously served as a legislative aide to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

“In each of those roles within the federal government, I worked to drive equity and transparency and bring change on behalf of our community,” Morrissette said.

Raised in Brooklyn, New York, he credits his parents with instilling in him the desire to help others. He recalled how his mother, a public school teacher, made meals for the disadvantaged children in her classes, and they would deliver the food to their homes. She wanted them to have “a fair shake,” he said.

“I’m very fortunate to have dedicated myself to public service and to have a partner and wife who supports the same kind of values,” Morrissette said. “You have a responsibility to do something to help people. I also happen to be a bit of a religious person. And I feel like my spirit compels me to help people in this world.”

The father of an infant daughter, he looks at the world she will be a part of some day and wants her to not worry about being treated fairly. “Every person in the country deserves a fair shot at realizing their dream,” he said.

That thought inspires Morrissette’s focus on behalf of equity for MBEs. For example, he said small, disadvantaged businesses receive less than 10% of federal contracting dollars and noted the Biden administration has mandated a goal to increase those federal procurement dollars to 50% by 2025.

“MBDA has a responsibility to help meet that target,” he said. “When you get into the procurement pipeline, it can change the future for generations to come. We are working to change the procurement landscape for MBEs.

“But the big takeaway is please leverage us, please ask MBDA to do hard things,” Morrissette added. “Economically disadvantaged businesses should use us to help them grow their businesses and themselves, their families and their communities.”

To learn more about the Minority Business Development Agency, visit mbda.gov.

ABOUT ERIC MORRISSETTE

Hometown: Brooklyn, New York

First job: A dining hall

Hobbies: Cooking, guitar, bike-riding with the family, playground time with my wife and daughter

Best career advice ever received and from whom: “Life is an aggregation problem, so choose your time wisely” from my college advisor Dr. Bill Coplin.

Last business book read: “Financial Literacy for All: Disrupting Struggle, Advancing Financial Freedom, and Building a New American Middle Class” by John Hope Bryant