Page 13 - 2019 Super Tuesday Program Book

13 35 ANNUAL SUPER TUESDAY CONFERENCE
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24 ANNUAL WOMEN OF VISION BREAKFAST
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HONORING AFRICAN-AMERICAN FEMALE BUSINESS OWNERS & PROFESSIONALS

“WOMEN’S HALL OF FAME” INDUCTEE
SUSAN J. “SUE” ROSS

Susan J. “Sue” Ross recently retired from her lengthy career in public administration, after
serving the citizens Atlanta for the past 35+ years, most recently as the Vendor Development
Manager in the City of Atlanta Department of Watershed Management. There she managed
the Vendor Development program designed to increase the quantity and quality of companies
doing business with the DWM Capital Improvement Program to rebuild Atlanta’s water and
sewer system.

The Vendor Development program included an outreach program to increase vendors
bidding on DWM projects and the Small Business Development Program, an intensive 12-
week training and technical assistance program for small, minority and/or female businesses.
To date, over 300 companies have completed the SBDP. Ms. Ross has selected instructors for as well as personally taught some of the
Small Business Development classes for the past 10 years. The SBDP program expanded and was jointly funded by the Departments of
Watershed Management and Aviation during her final year.

Ms. Ross has extensive experience in government, having been an employee of the City of Atlanta for over 35 years. In the Office of
Grants Management, she was responsible for housing and economic development programs, including reviewing proposals, making
recommendations for award of contracts and managing contracts in those areas. Ms. Ross served as Deputy Director of the Office of
Contract Compliance in the Young administration and as Acting Director of OCC for the 3rd Jackson administration – providing her
with over ten years’ experience managing the City’s minority and female business program, including serving on numerous selection
committees, reviewing bids and contracts and making recommendations for award of contracts. Ms. Ross both wrote legislation &
proposals and recommended award of contracts in the Bureau of Cultural Affairs during the early part of the Campbell administration.
Later she served in the Mayor’s Office of Community Affairs through the Atlanta Centennial Olympic Games and then served in the
Mayor’s Office of Communications through the first Franklin administration. Ms. Ross is a frequent speaker in seminars for small,
minority and female-owned businesses.

Susan J. “Sue” Ross is also The “Photo-Griot” with a specialization in documenting images which portray the comings and goings of the
African-American community – cultural, political, social and economic. In the African tradition, the griot is the oral historian holding the
essence of African history and culture through the word. Sue Ross, the photo-griot, uses photographs to tell the stories of the African-
American community. “I am primarily a people photographer, finding grace and dignity in the faces of our people.”

Sue Ross has combined her passion for photography with her positions in government administration for the City of Atlanta, as the
informal, and sometimes formal, chronicler of activities during the administrations of Atlanta’s six African-American mayors. She also
documented Atlanta events including the annual Dream Jamborees, the 1988 Democratic Convention, the Atlanta Third World Film
Festivals, the Atlanta Jazz Festivals, the Nelson Mandela visits, King Week, the National Black Arts Festivals, the Centennial Olympic
Games and Paralympic Games.

Sue received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Pomona College in Government and Afro-American Studies, completed the Atlanta
Management Development Program (University of GA) and is an award-winning photographer who has documented the Atlanta
community for many years. Her documentary photography has appeared in numerous books, publications and exhibitions; most
recently her work was featured in the ATLANTA JAZZ FESTIVAL: FORTY YEARS coffee table book and exhibit and MFON: Women
Photographers of the African Diaspora book and in 2 public art installations – JAZZ in the Downtown Government District & JOURNEY
TO FREEDOM in the Freedom Park Pathway..

Sue is a member of First Congregational Church, UCC and serves on the boards of Hammonds House Museum, Sistagraphy, and HEAL.