2024 East End Means Business

Maya Thornton,

Maya P. Thornton currently serves as the Director of Inclusive Procurements with Harris County’s Department of Economic Equity and Opportunity (DEEO). She is responsible for expanding County contracting opportunities for minority and women-owned businesses and ensuring that employment and other economic opportunities generated by Housing and Urban Development (HUD) assistance or HUD-assisted developments covered by Section 3 are implemented and monitored for compliance.

Prior to joining DEEO she served as the Director of Materials Management for Fort Bend Independent School District (FBISD). As the Director of Materials Management, she was responsible for the leading the strategic plan and vision of purchasing, contracts, and warehouse departments for the District. Maya has an excellent record for service. In her roles as Vice President of Business Opportunity with Texas Central Railway and the Historically Underutilized Business (HUB) Operations Department Director at the University of Houston she identified new areas of opportunity for small businesses, developed transparent and accountable process’ built tools to capture and track program success and changed departmental standards that ensured inclusion of diverse businesses at the onset. Mrs. Thornton is dedicated to the mission of expanding business opportunities to minority, women owned and disabled veteran businesses, to have a positive impact on improving our local economy and to give back to the community. She is committed to the development of meaningful and mutually beneficial business relationships with diverse suppliers and recognizes the value these relationships add to any business. She believes companies that decide they will not let supplier relationships fail will be in a good position to maximize business relationships. Her mantra is “if you have failed, then so have I”. Maya who holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Xavier University of Louisiana and a Juris Doctorate (JD) from Southern University Law Center. When she is not working, she enjoys traveling with her husband Brian and two sons Caleb and Caden.

Her favorite quote is “they that will not be counselled cannot be helped” this quote resonates in both her professional and personal life, it reminds her to always stay grounded and be receptive to new ideas and innovative thinkers.