New York City Comptroller John C. Liu held the first-ever Comptroller’s Office Minority and Women Owned Business Enterprise (M/WBE) Conference on December 6, 2010. Comptroller Liu hosted the event, which aimed to bring together small minority and women-owned businesses with the leadership of the Comptroller’s Office to help “level the playing field” for those doing business with the city. More than 100 business owners were in attendance at the event which featured remarks by Thurman White of Progressive Investment Management Company and Samuel Ramirez of Ramirez & Co., both of whom spoke about their experiences as minority owned businesses working with the Comptroller’s Office. In addition, both explained to the crowd how important it is to get registered as a certified M/WBE and offered advice on navigating the process.

The Keynote speaker was Ginger Lew, who currently serves as an advisor to President Obama in her role as Senior Counselor to the White House Economic Council. Ms. Lew outlined what the government has done to assist small business through the various programs available at the Federal level and commended Comptroller Liu for talking the initiative to host such an important event.