Your Business Resource for Greenville Metro and Upstate South Carolina

S.T. Peden is a man who knows something about long-term commitments. He retired in 2003 from GE after dedicating more than 34 years of service to the company, and this year, he and his wife will celebrate their 42nd wedding anniversary. He's not the kind of man who takes commitment lightly, but, instead, he's a man who pours an unrelenting passion into every facet of his life. Just taking a glance around his office, it's evident where his heart lies. As we chatted, I couldn't help but notice the 5"x7" frame with the adorable face of his grandchild on the shelf behind him. And he told me on more than one occasion that he was a proud father and grandpa. It shows on his face.

On the other walls of his office, his other passion comes to life — his non-profit organization, the Minority Economic Development Institute, Inc. (MEDII). The organization, founded in 2007, has truly been a lifetime in the making for Peden. He's a fierce champion for the underdog and an activist for people who have been "left out" of opportunities. He likes to beat the odds and see first-hand the fruits of his labor, and he instills this value into MEDII's operation as well as every aspect of his personal and professional life — he always has, always will.

Greenville born and raised, Peden grew up on Haynie Street, over near the current Sirrine Stadium. He attended Sterling High School where he served as senior class president in the late '50s-early '60s, which, at that time of segregation, was the only black high school in the Greenville city limits. From there, he went on to South Carolina State University (then College) where he earned a degree in Business Administration with a minor in Economics and a concentration in Accounting. During his college years, he attained campus notoriety by joining various career-oriented business clubs, becoming a member of his fraternity Omega Psi Phi, and serving as his sophomore class officer.

Upon graduation, he took his first job in the accounting department of EI Dupont in Florence, where he worked all of two months before receiving his draft notice. After basic training at Fort Gordon, he shipped off to a permanent duty station at Fort MacArthur, California, where he held an administrative position in the 37th Public Information Unit for the next two years. In 1968, he completed his Army tour and came back to Greenville, where, when chatting with an old high school instructor who had since become employed with Greenville Tech, he learned about job opportunities at GE, a new startup operation in town. Though he didn't get the original job he applied for, they did hire him on in the Human Resources department with the responsibility to reach out to the community and recruit new employees to enter their training program. Over the next 34 years, he worked in hourly relations, professional relations and, after 1999, in supplier diversity for the Power Systems Division, in charge of developing a program to recruit minority and women-owned businesses to work directly with GE.

It was his time at GE that Peden counts as one of his biggest achievements in life. "I was fortunate to have a job that I truly loved," he says. "I was the first African-American professional in GE's Greenville location, and, in that role, I was able to help so many people get hired on and embark on their careers. I witnessed first-hand as more African-Americans entered the company and gained prestigious roles. I saw the first black manager and the first black supervisor. I was able to help people, and that continued to stoke the fire in my activist nature."

After retirement, Peden found that the idea of sitting at home with nothing to do just didn't suit him. He kept asking himself one question — "Now what?" It didn't take long for him to figure out his next venture. He accepted a one-year contract position with a third-party company working with GE on minority and diversity issues. When that stint ended, he formed the Ashdon Group, a consulting firm affectionately named for his two children, when he was contracted by the school district Construction Program Manager to assist in establishing their minority and woman-owned business plan for the school construction program.



It was during the course of these two contract positions that Peden realized a true need in the minority-owned business sector. "The capacity limitations of minority-owned businesses were inhibiting their ability to do business. Many of these were sole-proprietors only performing their trade. The business aspect was left as an evening or weekend function," says Peden. "There were also many infrastructure-related issues. Many were not properly licensed, and their small size, lack of employees and restricted access to market and capital maimed the business's prosperity."

From this realization, Peden knew what he had to do: devise an organization to bring these small, minority and women-owned business in contact with each other and then help them implement a sound infrastructure and find and secure real business opportunities in the Greenville community. He wasn't afraid to take the helm of such a venture, but, then again, he's never been afraid to stand up as the leader of the pack.

One of the things that makes Peden such a great leader and voice of the people is that he isn't afraid to laugh at his mistakes — and learn from them. He chuckled as he told me about a time when he and his wife were undertaking some home renovations. "It was our first home, and we wanted to install carpet. I didn't know the first thing about the difference between interior and exterior doors, but I was about to find out." He went on to tell how he took down the hallway door for trimming to accommodate for the new carpet height. Somewhere between taking the door down and actually trimming, he got turned around and trimmed off the top instead. Not only that, but he hit the hollow-core and the cut zigzagged across. By the time he trimmed the bottom correctly, he had what he calls a "bar-door."

"I learned that there are some things I should not try to take on. Some things are better left to an expert in the field!"

But in the case of establishing MEDII, Peden was already experienced in the field of aiding minority-owned businesses, so he jumped in with both feet and created a business league in August 2007 to promote and enhance the career opportunities of such businesses. He found inspiration in the words of David Moody, owner of C.D. Moody, a large minority-owned construction company in Atlanta and the fourth-largest minority-owned construction company in the nation.

"David observed to me that there were a host of minority-owned contractors in the Greenville area that were disconnected from the broad picture. They didn't know each other or have a relationship. In our conversation, he reiterated to me the necessity of creating a forum where we could bring these contractors together and start the dialogue. They needed to be talking to each other and learning from each other. I knew this is what MEDII needed as its organizational foundation," says Peden.

To date, MEDII's focus has revolved mostly around the construction industry, and he has helped many minorities secure lucrative contracts with some of the area's largest development projects. Why construction? Peden says that when the organization was being formed, there were billions of dollars in construction jobs on the books throughout the Upstate but minorities were not getting in on a significant "piece of the pie." Instead, Peden found that most of these minority contractors were involved in the construction of churches and homes, not commercial or industrial projects. "They were a dejected group of people who were literally standing in the land of plenty. I knew we had to help them fulfill this niche in the industry," says Peden.

MEDII has secured notable area partners, including the Greenville Hospital System University Medical Center (GHS) and Clemson University, and has focused its efforts on three primary areas:

• Minority Business Development
Peden meets initially with project owners and contractors to determine if there is a true opportunity and then works to facilitate dialogue between them and suitable minority contractors.

• Research and Advocacy
"The minority community doesn't understand its economic worth," says Peden. "MEDII looks at economic indicators that the general public may not. For instance, there is a huge gap in the per capita income and business revenue, the education level and the drop-out rate of African-Americans. However, it is nearly impossible to raise the total per capita income rates without first addressing and correcting these disparities."

• Education and Training
Peden wants to use the data collected to educate minorities on opportunities that exist and then offer training to help increase their skill sets and competitive rank.

In addition to his tireless work on behalf of minority-owned businesses, Peden also spends a significant portion of his time heavily involved in community service. Currently, he serves on the Chamber's Board of Directors and the Adversity Advisory Committee, the Urban League's Trustee Board, and the Michelin Development Corporation's Steering Committee. He is also a graduate of Furman University's Riley Institute Leadership Diversity Initiative. Previously, he held a seat on the Urban League's Governing Board and served as President of the local NAACP chapter, President of the Black Council for Progress, Chairman of the Board of Sunbelt Human Advancement Resources, Inc. (SHARE), and Chairman of the Phillis Wheatley Association.

Likewise, Peden says he patterns his life and his actions based on the golden rule: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." He says the words have served him well, reiterating his faith-based approach to life and serving as a guiding force in his activism for civil rights.

Looking ahead, Peden sees a promising future for MEDII, as well as a few new horizons in his personal life. When asked if he has a bucket list, Peden just smiles and admits he does have some long-term and immediate goals. First things first, he's on a mission to find his wife a piano. Her retirement is quickly approaching, and the one thing she's asked for is a piano to continue her musical prowess. In the long-term, he wants to travel with his wife, though the two have some differing ideas on where they'd like to go. She wants to take a car trip cross-country while he wants to fly to Africa to experience the culture. Whether they end up taking one of these trips or even both, one thing is for certain — they'll do it together.