Management and Organization
> About the Founder
David J. Burton is the Founder and CEO
of the National Minority Manufacturing Institute
(NMMI) and is a member of the American Institute
of Certified Planners (AICP) with over thirty-five
years of practical field experience in planning
and economic development. A Columbia, South
Carolina native and Morgan State University
graduate, Burton received his Masters of
City and Regional Planning from the University
of Pennsylvania, followed by advanced management
studies at George Washington University,
Washington, D.C.
“…If manufacturing is a
primary source of wealth creation in America,
then on the path to economic prosperity,
we (minority economic development interest),
missed the grand canyon” David Burton
AICP
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An officer and Vietnam veteran, Burton later
served as a graduate instructor at Howard University.
He was Director of Planning for Texas based Building
Systems International and Vice President of Planning
and Institutional Development for Harbison Development
Corporation, a South Carolina new town developer.
His transition to minority businesses interest
began as result of engagement by Control Data
Corporation (CDC) as Project Manager and National
Sales Representative for building public-private
partnerships for development of small business
incubators in urban areas. While working as a
consultant to CDC and conducting consumer and
business Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) studies
for some of the country’s largest financial
institutions and disparity studies for state and
local governments, Burton further saw the immense
issues facing America’s minority small business
communities, especially manufacturers.
Burton’s “vision” of minority
manufacturing development and inclusion in supply
chains was based on the need to emphasize performance
standards versus exclusive reliance on socio-economic
certification programs. His path to the founding
of NMMI is summarized as follows:
• Through the U.S. Department of Commerce’s
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Manufacturing Extension Partnership (NIST-MEP)
and South Carolina Manufacturing Extension Partnership
(SCMEP), Burton conceived and managed the nation’s
first government-assisted minority manufacturing
pilot project. The project was recognized by
the Southern Growth Policy Board as an exemplary
economic development model
• Utilizing the SCMEP model, Burton served
as a consultant to NIST-MEP in Washington, D.C.,
to expand its minority manufacturing support
efforts throughout the NIST-MEP system
• Burton founded SCDC Management Company,
an industrial engineering and management consulting
group, to assist prime contractors in implementation
of Mentor-Protégé models for suppliers
in the U.S. Department of Defense sector
• Inspired by secondary research such
as “A Piece of the Action – Minority
Ownership of Manufacturing in the Rural South”
and “Black Manufacturing and Economic
Development in Atlanta, Georgia” , Burton
conducted and published primary research on
issues of minority manufacturing, including
“The Strategic Intervention of Minority
Small Manufacturing Enterprises in the Manufacturing
Supply Chain” and “Towards Supply
Chain Diversity – Surviving Strategic
Sourcing”
• Encouraged by staff of the Navy’s
Mentor-Protégé Program and the
supplier diversity managers of Procter &
Gamble, International Truck and Engine, and
other diversity professionals, Burton formed
NMMI with “personal resources, friends, prayer, and sacrifice” in 2004
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