CHAMBERLAIN DURU
Diverse Business Manager, California
Burns & McDonnell
Chamberlain Duru serves as the diverse business manager in California for Burns & McDonnell, a 100% employee-owned engineering, architecture and construction company. In his role, he helps advance a diverse supplier base, develop key client relationships, assist with proposal development and support project execution with a focus on growth and delivering client success. He also leads business diversity initiatives, representing Burns and McDonnel within business communities throughout California. He enjoys advancing the number of diverse suppliers who provide innovative ideas and a client-service attitude on the firm’s infrastructure projects.
He is a passionate advocate for advancing entrepreneurship and education, helping small and diverse business owners maximize their potential and opportunities.
An African American architect who owned his own firm in Los Angeles first introduced Duru to supplier diversity more than a decade ago. This introduction later manifested into an opportunity to become the business affairs manager at Los Angeles World Airport (LAWA), where he helped develop policy for small and diverse businesses for LAWA’s various capital projects and operational needs. In this position, he saw firsthand the influence and impact small and diverse firms can have on large firms and agencies.
His experience as a project facilitator taught him that long-term partnerships are vital to business success. As the diverse business manager in the Los Angeles office of Burns & McDonnell, he works with a variety of companies. In 2022, he helped the Burns & McDonnell team spend nearly $61 million with small and diverse suppliers in California to execute critical infrastructure projects.
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