Kathey K. Porter

Kathey is a nationally recognized small business strategist, award-winning supplier diversity expert, business author and entrepreneur. With a career spanning nearly two decades in marketing, small business development, supplier diversity and entrepreneurship, Kathey is a sought-after subject matter expert and frequent keynote speaker, panelist and workshop facilitator at conferences and events focusing on supplier diversity, small business development/entrepreneurship, women's entrepreneurship and empowerment and diversity and inclusion. She has addressed audiences at EY, Interise, Inc Magazine’s Inc 5000, ESSENCE Festival, The Conference Board, MBDA, to name a few. Kathey was previously a marketing executive in the beauty industry, working on multicultural brands for companies including Carson Products, Revlon Professional and Colomer USA.

She was recognized as Supplier Diversity Advocate of the Year by the Florida State Minority Supplier Development Council (FSMSDC). She is the founder and lead instructor for the Supplier Diversity Training Institute (SDTI), a national training program for supplier diversity practitioners, procurement professionals and organizational stakeholders looking to gain proficiency in supplier diversity and equitable inclusion. She received her Certified Professional in Supplier Diversity (CPSD) credentials from the Institute of Supply Management (ISM).

Kathey's first book, 50 Billion Dollar Boss: African American Women Sharing Stories of Success in Entrepreneurship and Leadership was a #1 new release on Amazon and was nominated for an NAACP Image Award. In 2021, she launched the 50 Billion Dollar Boss Foundation to provide training and financial support to black women entrepreneurs. She's also the author of Implementing Supplier Diversity (Palgrave Macmillan) and Supplier Diversity for Dummies (Wiley). Kathey has been featured in numerous media outlets and podcasts including OPEN Forum (American Express), Black Enterprise, The Huffington Post, Sirius XM, Atlanta Journal Constitution, Ebony and was the featured small business expert in ESSENCE magazine.

Active in small business development, Kathey is an Executive Coach/Instructor for several national business accelerators including Goldman Sachs One Million Black Women, Inc Magazine’s Inc 5000, Small Business Administration’s Emerging Leaders Program, National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC) the Black Women’s Entrepreneurial Leadership (BWEL) Program at Babson College, Interise and the Kaufmann Foundation.

Kathey is the founder and principal of Porter Brown Associates, a certified veteran-, woman-, minority-owned, DBE training and professional services consultancy that advises and works with corporations and public entities on how to build inclusive community business ecosystems through supplier diversity programs, inclusive diversity strategies and targeted entrepreneurship training programs. Her company was named 2020 Small Business Subcontractor of the Year.

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