Zenita Wickham Hurley was appointed by Governor Martin O’Malley as Special Secretary of the Governor’s Office of Minority Affairs in February 2012. She is responsible for policy and oversight of the State’s Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) and Small Business Reserve (SBR) programs and coordinates the accountability activities of nearly 70 State procurement agencies with regard to small, minority- and women-owned business inclusionary practices. Secretary Hurley also provides support and policy advice to the O'Malley-Brown Administration and plays a key role in developing and implementing policy to promote the utilization and growth of opportunities within State procurement for small, minority and women business owners.
From 2007 to 2012, Ms. Hurley served as the Director of the Office of Minority Business Enterprise at the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT), where she administered the statewide certification of minority business enterprises for the Maryland Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) and federal Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) programs. In this capacity, Ms. Hurley provided policy support and advice to the Secretary as well as MDOT’s modal administrations, served as Chair of the MBE Advisory Committee, oversaw Maryland’s MBE Disparity Study, provided oversight of the State’s online directory of more than 5,500 certified firms, and implemented a state-wide certification outreach program for the minority business community. Significant achievements during her tenure include creating and implementing process improvements that reduced the turnaround time for processing MBE/DBE certification by nearly 50%, while increasing the number of certified firms by 29%. She also developed and executed a Memorandum of Understanding for streamlining DBE certification for Maryland, District of Columbia and Virginia DBE firms, the first such agreement of its kind in the country. In addition, Ms. Hurley drafted, edited and negotiated legislation enhancing the Maryland MBE Program for consideration by the Maryland General Assembly.
Ms. Hurley joined the Maryland Department of Transportation in 2005 as an Assistant Attorney General and was responsible for advising the agency on matters concerning MBE and DBE certification, contract monitoring, and compliance with federal and constitutional standards for public contracting affirmative action programs. Prior to beginning her service with the State of Maryland, Ms. Hurley was an attorney in the Child Advocacy Unit of the Legal Aid Bureau in Baltimore, and an Associate with the firm of Steptoe & Johnson, LLP in Washington, D.C. where she focused on issues involving employment, health care and constitutional litigation.
Ms. Hurley graduated magna cum laude from the University of Maryland with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Afro-American Studies and Government and Politics. She received her Juris Doctor degree from the New York University School of Law, where she was a Root-Tilden-Kern Public Interest Scholar.
