Corporate Citizenship

Having been a small, disadvantaged business, SoBran understands the importance of sharing our success. While monetary contributions to targeted charitable organizations are an important part of this effort, we also emphasize contributing staff time and talent.

Our President and CEO, Mr. Amos Otis is the exemplar of SoBran's corporate citizenship. Mr. Otis has a long-standing commitment to support Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and frequently mentors and assists small disadvantaged businesses and entrepreneurs hoping to launch small business enterprises. He has been a consultant to the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences for Post-Doctoral Programs and to the partnership project of the Department of Defense/National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education, as well as a member of the Advisory Board of the African Electrification Foundation. In 2003 he established the SoBran/Scoman Educational Scholarship Endowment at Tennessee State University. He also established the Brenda Otis-Lee Educational Scholarship Fund at the St. Jude Educational Institute in Montgomery Alabama, providing educational support to disadvantaged minority students.

An example of SoBran's hands-on approach to civic action:

When Hurricanes Rita and Katrina hit the southeast U.S. in 2005, SoBran gave an initial cash contribution, and then matched all employee donations 100%. In addition, the company supported staff who volunteered for direct relief efforts, including paid leave for an expert in Geographic Information Systems who served on a team of search and rescue workers, providing them with maps and GPS coordination during the recovery operation. One of her SoBran co-workers donated a buddy pass to fly the volunteer to Jackson, MS, and another colleague provided a GPS unit for the effort. Even SoBran's client, the Environmental Protection Agency, got behind this group effort, loaning a laptop computer with ESRI ARCGIS 9.0 software for field use.