Ron Perry

ASSOCIATION At 28 years old, this Tlingit Indian Trailblazer could have given up after his epic divorce. But instead of focusing on being homeless with a 2-year-old daughter, he kept blazing a trail. Entrepreneurs are known for their ability to take risks, but when you have a toddler depending on you and you’re living in a house that just has studs not even sheet rock, is that risky or crazy? Mr. Perry didn’t think it was either. He said, “It was going to be now or never.” That decision, along with the $1,200 on his credit card, changed everything for him and his daughter. He has taken that same tenacious spirit into the National 8(a) Association, championing programs that have changed the trajectory of this Ron Perry, President, National 8(a) Association organization. On February 15, 2023, the

National 8(a) Association and the HUBZone

Council will join forces to present the Small Business Industry Awards Gala. This historic event will truly level the playing field and honor small business Trailblazers from all over the nation.

Alaskan Native Village: Growing a HUBZone and 8(a) Company

Mr. Perry became the first President and CEO of the village of Salamatof’s company (Teya Development). Their first 8(a) HUBZone contract was the result of Mr. Perry thinking way outside the box. He flew to Norfolk, Virginia to spend 15 minutes with a federal contracting officer (CO) at a Small Business vendor outreach event. He handed her Teya’s capability statement, which consisted of Mr. Perry’s background. She then looked up from his business card and asked if he had a local office. When he responded “no,” the conversation changed.

She said, “Because you flew from Anchorage Alaska for this 15-minute meeting, you now have 30 minutes.” By the time they were done with their conversation, she said something that left our Trailblazer stuttering. The CO said, “I like your attitude, I like your energy. I like who you represent. I have a surprise for you. I'm a Contracting Officer for the Air Force and I'm going to give you your first contract today, in logistics, for $85K.” The contract scope included disassembling office furniture, moving it, and then reassembling the furniture in its new location. Mr. Perry immediately canceled his trip back to Alaska. He found other small minority businesses in the area to help complete this task. This tenacity and dedication garnered Teya their first “Exceptional” CPARs.

When Mr. Perry went back to thank the CO for believing and trusting in Teya, she had another surprise waiting for him. This time, it was a 3-year construction project management contract for $5M at Langley Air Force base. Mr. Perry said, “This kept going, and kept going with all these different ways of doing business because the partners, contracting officers, and other small businesses would find out about us. The word on the street was these guys are

different. Teya is fun to work with and they know what they're doing. Let's partner with these people. We looked up and had grown out of the HUBZone program by building up other HUBZones and small businesses.” Some 15 years later, Teya has 860 employees in 35 States and a couple of foreign countries. The company is now looking at ways to further build up the HUBZone workforce by launching HUBZones in other Alaskan Native villages.

Chip on His Shoulder: No More Regrets

Mr. Perry will humbly admit that for many years, he had a chip on his shoulder. He didn’t want to take what he perceived to be handouts. He had made it out of both the trailer park and the worst high school in Alaska to a great College with a successful computer business. When a friend told him about some federal minority programs he could take advantage of, Mr. Perry scoffed and said, “I don't need any advantages. I'm just as smart as you are or even smarter than you.” His friend responded, “Ron, you're Native. You're young, you have your own business, you are college-educated. You are what these programs look for.” Mr. Perry’s response was, “I’m not going to do that, I’m going to be successful on my own.” When his computer company was Number 3 in the State, some 5 years later, he finally became 8(a) certified.

That step opened his eyes to a world of opportunities, but more importantly, to never let his ego get in the way of helping others. He often thinks about the impact he could have made on so many other small businesses had he parked his ego sooner instead of worrying about what everybody else was thinking. Mr. Perry said, “I failed at what I enjoyed most. I could have done better to help more people, move quicker, and

Photo Source: Ron Perry In photo starting from the left, Ron Perry and

Bibi Hidalgo, Associate Administrator for Government Contracting &

Business Development, SBA

faster in the system. I was too prideful I should have embraced the small business minority programs that are setup to help small businesses. I wasted 5 years proving to myself that I could make it on my own, but at what cost? Had I taken advantage of these programs earlier I could have helped many more people along the way.

As the President of the National 8(a) Association, Mr. Perry spends a lot of his time helping others to avoid the potholes he fell in. To him, being smarter is realizing that his path didn’t have to include those rough patches, including eating nothing but ramen noodles and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for months when he first started out. Mr. Perry is doing everything he can to help others be smarter earlier in their journey. This Trailblazer’s path has never been clearer – and this is the story he ended with:

“This author, he goes to Heaven. He's standing in a long line to enter the pearly gates. Everybody is carrying books. One book, two books, some people have stacks of books. An angel comes up to him and the author says, ‘Hey, I gotta go back down to Earth. Obviously, God's a reader. I'm an author. I need to go get my books.’ The angel tells him those aren't traditional books. Those volumes contain the stories of people they have helped during their lifetime.”

I’m confident, based on what I have learned about this Trailblazer, that he already has a semi-truck containing the stories of the individuals and the families he has helped thus far. More importantly, Mr. Perry still has so many more stories to make.