The late Leon Watkins (middle) celebrates a proclamation from Dade County, Florida for staging the 1984 FAA Minority Business Seminar. Pictured with Watkins from left to right are: Clark Sharpe, FAA Atlanta; Barbara Carry, Dade County; Esterlene Lewis, Miami Airport; and Richard Judy, Miami Airport.
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Leon Watkins Leaves Airport Industry A legacy of
Service, Advocacy and Cooperation By American DBE Staff
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railblazers rarely start with the goal of achieving fame or notoriety. In most cases, the individual simply has a vision and a desire to reach a destination for which there is no road map available; so they must create their own path. And so it was for the trailblazer Leon Watkins and a small group of other Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) officials and airport professionals who set out to clear a path for businesses owned by minorities and women to fully access business opportunities in the airport industry. During his tenure at FAA, Watkins helped develop the USDOT Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) Program and the Airport Concessions Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (ACDBE) Program; and led the programs’ implementation in the airport industry during the initial stages.
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// Winter 2019
Watkins leveraged his leadership position as the FAA director of the Office Civil Rights, and later as associate administrator for civil rights, to set in motion strategies to clear a path toward the unprecedented participation of minority- and womanowned businesses in airport contracts. He was a passionate civil rights leader, with a special interest in ensuring that DBE and ACDBE firms had an equal opportunity to do business in the airport industry. Watkins also knew the importance of diversity in the workplace and spent his career opening doors so that women and minorities could have a seat at the table. In the fall of 1983, Watkins’ FAA Civil Rights Office hosted the first strategic meeting to discuss the successful implementation of the DBE Program in U.S. airports. This meeting and subsequent planning gave birth to the first FAA Minority Business Seminar, an event held to educate airport professionals and entrepreneurs on viable actions and strategies
