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Lurita Doan hosts Leadership Matters on FederalNews Radio 1500 AM, Tuesday mornings at 7:28am, discussing good government, leadership and issues currently arising in government. Before hosting Leadership Matters, Lurita served as the Administrator of the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) from May 31, 2006 to April 30, 2008. She is the first woman and the first African-American woman, to serve as chief executive of the U.S. General Services Administration.
Lurita’s tenure at the nation’s premier procurement agency was marked by a return to the fundamentals that date to GSA’s creation in 1949 as well as a wave of innovative new ideas. With Doan at the helm, the GSA:
- Regained its clean audit, eliminated or revamped many non-performing programs, and saved millions of taxpayer dollars;
- Completed a major reorganization that has bolstered internal efficiencies and sharpened GSA’s focus on customer service;
- Launched the Office of Emergency Response and Recovery;
- Restructured the GSA Land Border Ports of Entry (POE) construction program to streamline the process to build POEs and ignite a building book at the northern and southern borders of the US;
- Implemented the Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) Express program, which reduced the time to award contracts by three months;
- Reaffirmed its commitment to increase federal contracting opportunities for all small business owners;
- Awarded a $5 Billion contract vehicle to Service Disabled Veterans in the federal government;
- Launched the most aggressive TELEWORK initiative in the federal government;
- Launched one of the most robust mentoring and leadership development initiatives in the federal government.
Such accomplishments have helped GSA restore customer confidence and rebuild employee morale. The latter was reflected by a 2007 survey that ranked GSA among the best places to work in the federal government.
Lurita was selected by San Diego’s Casa Familiar to receive the 2008 ABRAZO award for service to the community and her advocacy and innovation for land ports of entry in California. Doan was also awarded the prestigious “Friend of the Americas” tri national award in April of 2008, selected by representatives from Canada, the U. S. and Mexico. Previous recipients include Secretary Tom Ridge and then Governor George Bush. Doan was identified in February 2008 as one of the 25 Most Influential Black Women in Business.
In addition, prior to her tenure in public services, Lurita founded a surveillance Technology company in 1990. She was selected as one of SBA’s Women Business Owner Success Stories for its 50th Anniversary Celebration. In December 2004, Lurita was selected as one of the members of the inaugural class of 50 “Women Who Mean Business” by the Washington Business Journal. In addition, Lurita is the 2004 recipient of the National Women’s Business Council Award for entrepreneurship, the 2003 recipient of the National Director’s Award for Entrepreneurial Innovation from the Department of Commerce, Committee of 200 Luminary Award for Innovation in Technology, the 2003 recipient of the Office Depot Entrepreneurial Visionary Award and the recipient of the 2003 Visionary Award from the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship. Doan led her company over fifteen years from a one-woman operation to its standing as a highly innovative IT organization with a vital and family oriented corporate culture. Lurita sold the company in 2005.
Lurita is a native of New Orleans whose home was destroyed in during Hurricane Katrina and is descended from three generations of African-American entrepreneurs. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Vassar College and a Masters’ Degree from University of Tennessee-Knoxville. She and her husband have two daughters and live in Virginia.
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