Of the 20 or so awards that Cheryl W. Snead and the business she founded, Banneker Industries Inc., have received over the last 18 years, one of the most recent has special meaning for her.
The U.S. Small Business Administration named the North Smithfield-based company “national subcontractor of the year” during National Small Business Week in April 2008. Snead accepted the award – “for our team,” she said – at a luncheon in the nation’s capital.
The award carries no minority designation. “It’s a significant achievement because it’s gone beyond the stigma,” said Snead. “I think people have gotten over that stigma and recognize Banneker for the work we do, not who we are.”
Snead doesn’t believe she or the business have encountered any unusual problems – or benefits – because she is a black woman.
“I’ll be honest with you: the journey Banneker has taken and the obstacles Banneker has overcome are probably typical of most businesses,” she said.
Snead was born in Teaneck, N.J., the oldest of three sisters. In 1981, she became the first black woman to graduate from the University of Massachusetts Amherst with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering.
She earned her master’s in business administration from the Krannert School of Management at Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind., while working for General Electric in the manufacturing manager’s program. In 1988, she took the job of vice president of operations at Peerless Precision Inc., a small machine shop on Route 116 in Lincoln.
Peerless manufactured components for the defense industry until it closed in 1991, just when Operation Desert Storm started. “I didn’t want to leave our customers hanging” at such a critical juncture in the nation’s history, she said, so that same year Snead founded Banneker as a machine shop to finish the defense work.
She named the company for a hero of hers, Benjamin Banneker (1731-1806), a free black man from Maryland and the son and grandson of slaves. He became a recognized scientist, mathematician, inventor and astronomer.
In 1995, she saw a niche waiting to be filled and decided to move Banneker away from machining to supply chain management, a term seldom used back then.
What Banneker essentially does is manage inventory for all kinds of companies across the country, as well as the government.
Banneker has worked with just about all of the national retailers, including Wal-Mart and CVS Caremark Corp. More than 50 percent of its business is with the aerospace and defense industry, particularly Raytheon Co.
Banneker seems to be flourishing. Besides the North Smithfield headquarters, the company is located in Seekonk, Indianapolis, California, and last summer opened a facility in Dallas.
Snead’s advice for young people starting out in the business world, particularly women and minorities, is to never give up, no matter the challenges. “I would encourage young women and minorities to consider entrepreneurship as a career, to look at technology and supply chain management as career paths,” she said. “When you’re faced with an obstacle, there is always a way over, under, around or through it, and if you can dream it, you can do it.” •
