SYNERGY - Dwan Courtney

Redefining Professional Diversity

Story By: Christian Olaniran

What does it mean to ‘supply diversity’? An enthusiastic facilitator for change, Dwan Courtney serves as the Director of the Office of Small Business and Vendor Diversity at the University of Florida. Dwan Courtney’s work at the University of Florida serves as a reminder that professional diversity is essential to positive socioeconomic growth within a community.

As director, Courtney’s primary role is to create commercial alliances between private vendors and administrative departments within the UF system. She regularly seeks to find organizations throughout different market sectors, such as women, veteran, and minority owned small businesses. Working with these organizations, Dwan often serves as a mentor to company leadership, helping guide them in making decisions within their practice. “Even if I can’t help them directly, I always try to provide potential vendors with a sense of direction – letting them know which departments or external resources they might want to seek out for certain types of assistance, or even where to find specific types of procurement opportunities.”

Dwan’s work requires her to be a selfless advocate, team-player, and ‘outside-the-box thinker’. That not only means seeking out stakeholders from many racial, socio-economic, and professional backgrounds to contribute to collaborative efforts; it also means intentionally bringing together groups of people who have differing ways of thinking in order to achieve a common goal. As someone tasked with the duty of being an advocate for small businesses vending in a university system of roughly 200 administrative departments, Courtney finds the most challenging part of her work to be changing the public perception of small businesses. “People often have a misconception that there is a correlation between a company’s size, and its legitimacy or impact.”, Dwan said. A company of 12 highly skilled individuals can easily conduct business on the same scale as a fortune 500 company. Socially and fiscally speaking, the most successful businesses are the ones that value accountability and quality of service – so these are professional values Courtney places emphasis on when giving advice to a potential vendor.

When it comes to her career pursuits, Dwan says there is no shortage of intrinsic fulfillment. Each moment that she gets to spend helping others follow their dreams serves as a reminder of the positive impact that her job has on people. By providing mentorship to individuals seeking to grow their small business, Dwan helps to break perceived barriers that people have between themselves and their entrepreneurial endeavors. Most importantly, Courtney’s work helps create a ‘ripple effect’ – reminding those in the UF community that no matter their socioeconomic background or professional plights, any aspiration can be made a reality with persistence, passion, and knowledge.

As reflected by her personal mission statement, Dwan is fueled by her unwavering faith, along with a persistent desire to assist others. “Never limiting what God can do for me, I am intentional about my life. Committing my thoughts, words, and actions to achieve my purpose, I always seek guidance. Never diverting from my path, I always seek the opportunity to help others along the way.”

Never limiting what God can do for me, I am intentional about my like. Committing my thoughts, words, and actions to achieve my purpose, I always seek guidance. Never diverting from my path, I always seek the opportunity to help others along the way.

-Dwan Courtney