For the first time, St. Louis County has a manager in charge of creating and monitoring diversity programs for the government’s contract spending and workforce.
Robert Horton, a St. Louis native with 20 years of experience with business diversity initiatives, joined the county on January 21. His salary is $74,500.
“Mr. Horton has a wealth of knowledge and experience in both the public and private sector as it relates to diversity and inclusion,” said St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley. “I believe he is exactly the right person to help us strengthen our inclusion efforts.”
Horton’s first major task will be to facilitate the county’s disparity study. In his first couple of weeks on staff, he has been gathering information from all the departments, he said. His goal is to have a request for proposals (RFP) for the disparity study within 90 days.
After selecting a firm to complete the study, he expects the process will take about six months. From there, he will lead county government in establishing programs and procedures for inclusion in both workforce and procurement. Horton believes that strong county inclusion policies lead to economic growth and healthy communities.
“The makeup of the St. Louis community is diverse,” Horton said. “You want your community to be engaged in the procurement process. I think it is good for growth and for your tax base.”
Prior to joining St. Louis County, Horton directed the diversity business program for the Nashville-based Hospital Corporation of America, whose capital construction program averages nearly $1 billion annually.
A Normandy High School graduate, Horton has a master’s degree in procurement and acquisition management from Webster University. Horton said he’s passionate about coming home to St. Louis after being away for nine years and helping to support the local minority business community.
“I’m very familiar with the contracting community here,” he said. “I want to make sure this is a successful rollout.”
Horton worked with project manager Kwame Building Group on the Lambert-St. Louis International Airport runway expansion. In his experience working on the airport project, Horton said he recognized some challenges that he would like to address through the county’s inclusion programs. He would like to see more consideration for minority and women prime contractors.
“We always tend to contract through the second tier,” he said. “We should engage minorities and women in the front end, in the first tier.”
He previously sat on the board of the National Minority Contractors Association and has various trainings in DBE certification and procurement under his belt.
After the disparity study is complete, it will be the first time that the county will establish minority participation goals – whereas St. Louis city has had goals in place since 1997.
The St. Louis American asked Horton why he thinks it has taken the county so long to establish goals and conduct a disparity study.
“You have to have the right climate,” Horton said.
“As a whole, we have seen a migration to North County. We have seen a growth of bigger corporations that have come to St. Louis County. They have their successful diversity programs. At this point in time, you have the support of the community, and you have the support of the administration.”
