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It is with great pleasure to spotlight Charles Cason and CEC Services, Inc. Charles and the BOP have been working on growing his firm for over 3 years. Charles started out with a focus on construction inspections and over time has strategically refocused his main efforts on construction site security and public safety. In the beginning, it was all Charles. Charles' first contract was construction inspections at the airport. After this contract ended, Charles networked heavily to find other opportunities. Strategy While working on a long-term strategic plan to capitalize on the strengths and experience of the firm, it was determined that security could be a niche with unmet needs that could be exploited with the proper approach. Strengths and Experience Charles is a Veteran who spent two tours in Vietnam in the infantry. Here, Charles learned the importance of Team. He continues to bring this sense of Team to everything he does. He also learned basic security procedures in the military. Charles spent 24 years in the Army and Army Reserves, earning the rank of Sergeant First Class, the second highest enlisted rank, before retiring. This gave Charles years of leadership experience working with many entities all focused on the same goal. Execution of Strategy CEC made its first breakthrough in the security business by winning a contract to provide construction site security services to F.E. Ward. Based on the early success of this contract, word spread of the excellent customer service provided by the firm, and since then, CEC has won contracts with Stacy & Witbeck, Walsh Construction, Tri-MET, and Seabold Construction. His clients keep asking him to bid on new opportunities as they arise, a testament to Charles' dedication to customer service. Diversity CEC now has 20 total employees, 15 of which are full time. Out of the 20 employees, 17 are minorities or women as determined by federal and state government standards. The firm's workforce includes 4 women. Our ethnicities include African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Caucasians, Indians, and Ethiopians. Charles, being a native African American Portlander, has a wide network of relationships within and without the minority community. Because Charles believes in balanced diversity Marketing Charles, being a native African American Portlander, has a wide network of relationships within and without the minority community. Because Charles believes in balanced diversity, the firm actively recruits all races and genders to apply for positions, including Caucasians, instead of solely focusing on minority recruitment. Charles is aware of the need for diversity in his workforce and actively works to balance the composition of his workforce to include people from as many races as possible and both genders. Competitive Advantage Charles is a great businessman because of what he does for his local community. He has provided mentoring for young people at Matt Dishman Community Center, contributes to the good works of the Albina Rotary Club, and the Neil Kelly Scholarship fund. Charles also sits on the financial board of his church.
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Core
Sponsors City
of Portland, Bureau of Housing and Community Development Program Sponsors Davis
Wright Tremaine Annual Luncheon Sponsors U.S.
Bank
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