Tyrone Tyra Marks 20 Years of Building Commerce Lexington’s Community & Minority Business Development Program Into Successful Model

​Commerce Lexington is proud to recognize Tyrone Tyra for his 20 years of leading the organization’s award-winning Community & Minority Business Development (CMBD) Program and 30 years altogether with economic development entities. As senior vice president, Tyrone is responsible for helping companies build connections through public and private sector purchasing assistance, minority business recruitment, business referral assistance, community outreach, advocacy, business certification, technical assistance, and client business plan development.
 
In addition, he also manages the Access Loan small business financing program, which has facilitated more than $25 million in approved loans for small business startups and expansions since 2001, with partnerships extending to 19 counties and including 25-plus participating lenders. In 2013, the CMBD Program launched a Minority Business Accelerator, which aims to accelerate the growth of minority-owned enterprises with revenues between $250,000 and $6 million, as identified in the 2009 Joint Economic Inclusion Study. Accelerator participants have collectively achieved over $60 million in contracts and procurement since the program’s inception.

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​More recently, Commerce Lexington has been able to provide Money Smart for Small Business classes at no cost for aspiring entrepreneurs and existing small business owners. Offered twice a year, this program was developed jointly by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the U.S. Small Business Administration and funded by the City of Lexington. The classes cover topics such as planning for a healthy business, types of business structures, banking services, time management, and more. About 170 people have completed the classes since Commerce Lexington began offering them.
 
Commerce Lexington President & CEO, Bob Quick, said, “I am excited to congratulate Tyrone on this milestone, and for all he’s done to build the Community and Minority Business Development Division into one of our organization’s cornerstone programs. The success of the CMBD Program in support of all types of small businesses has helped strengthen our regional economy and positioned Commerce Lexington to be named the 2016 Chamber of the Year by the Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives.”
 
During his tenure at Commerce Lexington, Tyrone has served on a variety of local, state, and national boards and commissions, including the Opportunity for Work & Learning (OWL), Kentucky Commission on Small Business Advocacy, LexTran, United Way of the Bluegrass, and the Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives’ Economic Mobility & Opportunity Division.