Biography

Michelle Burkart has devoted her career to building businesses whether they were her own, or for her clients. She began her career in Europe working with the Department of Defense in Germany. She returned to the United States where she cofounded her own enterprise, a large interior landscape design build contracting firm in the San Francisco Bay area which she later sold to Rollins Inc, in Atlanta. She went on to become a Regional Vice President of a multi-location sales division for the Fortune 500 company located on the East Coast. She “retired” from that position and moved to San Diego to found a business advising firm TH!NKbusiness in San Diego.

It was during this time, that she was also retained as a business consultant for the San Diego Small Business Development Center whereby she worked with the supplier diversity and contracting certifications for minority owned businesses. She provided guidance in the certification process, as well as strategic advising for growth and sustainability. She was hired by the San Diego & Imperial Regional SBDC Network in 2015 as the Program Coordinator for the LGBTBE Biz Builder certification program.

Her volunteer work with the Greater San Diego Business Association had provided experience in this area of LGBTBE supplier diversity certification which was started by the NGLCC in 2005. Her work with clients in her business advising firm honed her skills in developing strategies that were results oriented for the ongoing success of her businesses. As cofounder of the Diversity Supplier Alliance, she will again apply her creativity and business expertise to help clients “expand their opportunities”