Can this Fresno leader help small businesses hurt by the pandemic? Gavin Newsom thinks so
Tara Lynn Gray, who for the past four years led the Fresno Metro Black Chamber of Commerce as its president and chief executive officer, will have a new job following her appointment by Gov. Gavin Newsom to lead the state’s Office of the Small Business Advocate.
Gray, 57, was named Friday to be the director of the state office, which supports small businesses with information and resources for starting and growing their enterprises.
“Tara is a tireless and effective leader in California’s small business community and the right choice at this pivotal time,” Ashley Swearengin, former Fresno mayor and CEO of the Central Valley Community Foundation, said Friday. “Tara will turn advocacy into action, get results for small businesses, and ensure our diverse small business owners and entrepreneurs are at the table driving towards an equitable and inclusive economic recovery.”
Gray has been an outspoken advocate for minority-owned small businesses that, like many other small enterprises, have been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic over the past year. In an interview with The Fresno Bee last year, Gray said that because Black-owned businesses are more likely to be in the service industries, they are usually the first to be shut down and the last to reopen.
Additionally, she added, they are further handicapped by the digital gap and lack of knowledge on how to navigate government programs for bailouts, stimulus, and loans.
“There was a crisis already, long before the pandemic,” Gray said last August. “We now have a crisis upon a crisis.”
In addition to being CEO of YADARI Enterprises and leading the FMBCC, Gray previously worked in information and telecommunications consulting and management.
Gray earned a bachelor’s degree in business management from Saint Mary’s College in Notre Dame, Indiana, a business certificate from the Anderson School of Management at UCLA, and has a master’s degree in theology/theological studies from Grand Canyon University in Arizona.
She is a member of numerous organizations and boards, including Black Women Organized for Political Action, Abundant Life Worship Center, the California Black Chamber of Commerce and its Chamber Foundation Board, the advisory board of Central Valley New Market Tax Credit LLC, the California Small Business Employer Advisory Council and others.
Jay King, president and CEO of the California Black Chamber of Commerce, praised her appointment by Newsom. “It’s crucial that we recognize minority, women and immigrant small business owners across the state and the need for connection that is authentic,” he said. “Tara is a one-of-a-kind advocate making her exceptionally well-positioned for this new role.”
Gray, a Democrat, will earn $175,644 in the new role, which does not require confirmation by the state Senate.
