[Durham, NC, February 17] Lewis H. Myers, Chair of the Board of Directors for the North Carolina Institute for Minority Economic Development, announced that they have hired Kevin J. Price to be only the third President & CEO in the 34-year history of the Institute. Myers, who is also serving as the Interim President & CEO stated that, “we were pleased that Kevin agreed to assume the leadership. He is uniquely qualified to assume the helm at this pivotal stage in the Institute’s evolution. He has the passion necessary to push us to continue the work for which we were created. He has experience, having begun his career in community economic development with Project Homestead in Greensboro. He went on to work for several banks leading community development and commercial banking, with a focus on providing services and resources to help grow diverse businesses and create jobs. He came to us having served for the past 14 years as Senior Director, Supplier Diversity & Performance Analytics for Novant Health, Inc. You can understand our excitement with bringing Kevin on board.”
Kevin is a native of Greensboro. After high school, he served in the US Army. After completing military service, Price obtained his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science/Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Upon graduation, he worked in senior leadership positions with Project Homestead in Greensboro where they were a leader in building affordable housing and commercial spaces totaling $42 million. He then spent 3 years with SouthTrust Bank as a Group Vice President/Community Development.
Manager leading the bank’s compliance with the Community Reinvestment Act.
He then moved to Regency Development, a subsidiary of SunTrust Bank, as Vice President of Faith-Based Initiatives leading their work with faith-based organizations between Maryland and Florida developing affordable multi-family housing. He later launched his own consulting firm providing community economic development guidance, training and support to HBCU’s, banks, faith-based organizations and government agencies. The company specialized in developing affordable multi-family projects using complexed financing, such as Low-Income Housing Tax Credits and Tax-Exempt Bonds.Price then served with M&F Bank as Vice President/Senior Business Development Officer where he led regional business development activities generating new retail, deposits and commercial lending relationships.
After spending several years consulting and leading community development and commercial banking, Price joined Novant Health in 2006 to launch and lead supplier diversity. In that role, he was responsible for diversifying the company’s procurement spend. Working collaboratively with executives and department leaders, Price identified minority, women, veteran and LGBT owned suppliers, ensuring that they were given an opportunity to compete for Novant Health’s business. As a result, Novant Health increased its diverse supplier spend by more than 500% utilizing over 550 diverse suppliers. Since he began supplier diversity in 2006, the company has spent over $1 billion with diverse businesses. Additional notable accomplishments include collaborating with the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth Minority Executive training program to include a healthcare component for six consecutive years and launching a $5 million loan guarantee program for diverse suppliers of Novant Health, in partnership with M&F Bank. In partnership with Diversity, Inclusion & Equity, Price also served as a master diversity and inclusion facilitator/trainer for the company. In recognition, Kevin and Novant Health have won numerous awards over the years.
Myers stated that, “in reviewing Kevin’s portfolio, you can understand how his experiences cover all aspects of the Institute’s work and why we feel blessed to have Kevin be our next leader. He begins work on Monday, March 9th”.
Kevin has a Masters in Health Administration and Masters in Business Administration, both from Pfeiffer University. He is married to Michelle Y. Price and they have three young adult children.
The Institute, headquartered in Durham, N.C., is a nonprofit management consulting and services organization focused on business diversity. It helps small businesses develop and grow, large corporations diversify their supply chains, and local and state governments expand their business base. For more information, contact the Institute at info@theinstitutenc.org.
