Mayor Anthony Foxx said local organizers will do all they can to ensure that next year’s Democratic National Convention reflects the region’s increased diversity.

Speaking with reporters on Thursday, Foxx said his commitment extends to awarding contracts as well as to all other areas of the convention under local control.

He also announced on Thursday that former Mecklenburg commissioner Dan Murrey would serve as executive director of Charlotte's host committee. Murrey is a Davidson and Harvard graduate and an orthopedic surgeon. He will take leave from his job as CEO of OrthoCarolina and will assume his new role on Monday.

The convention is expected to pump tens of million of dollars into the Charlotte-area economy. Already, DNC officials are signing contracts with more than 140 local hotels from Rock Hill to Salisbury.

Some African Americans have expressed concern that small and minority-owned businesses not be overlooked. To address those and other concerns, Foxx appointed former Mayor Harvey Gantt to learn what best practices were used in planning previous DNC conventions.

Gantt said Thursday that, based on talks with convention organizers in Denver and Boston, a deliberate and focused effort will be needed to ensure that minority vendors and contractors are not left out.

One idea, he said, is to publish a directory that would list the names of small and minority-owned companies. He said local organizers also may recruit minority participation by working with organizations that provide support for such businesses.

In Boston, Gantt said, convention organizers linked small and minority-owned companies with larger vendors. Some of those relationships continue today, he said.

When asked if Charlotte organizers would set specific goals for minority participation, Foxx said, “The goal is to do as much as we can to show off the diversity in our community.”

Much of that effort will fall to Murrey, who will oversee the host committee's fundraising, public relations and outreach efforts with the help of a yet-to-be named steering committee.

Both Murrey and Foxx declined to say how much he will be paid as executive director or what the host committee's budget will be. They said it would involve no public funds.

Under the city's contract with the DNC, the committee's costs are over and above the $36.7 million local fundraisers have promised to raise for the convention.
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Charlotte Observer reporter Jim Morrill contributed to this report.
 

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