Ferdinand L. Risco Jr., MBA

Ferdinand L. Risco Jr., MBA is the CEO/President of the Phoenix Enterprise Consulting Group a Minority and Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) Supply Chain Consulting firm - building effective corporate supplier diversity programs while offering a broad range of services to meet the needs of the small business community.

From strategy to operations, Phoenix ECG is committed to helping clients build their functional skills and boost performance for the long term. Ferdinand brings over 20 years of leadership experience from the freight transport, manufacturing, warehousing, and transportation industries. He has worked in operations, maintenance, employee and labor relations, human resources, supplier diversity, equity, and inclusion. As a former Army officer, Ferdinand has helped quasi-governmental municipal agencies, state and federal government agencies, and later fortune 500 companies earn awards and distinctions for their best in class results.

As a former C-suite executive, with several roles including agency CEO, the college professor, Risco is highly sought after as a lecturer on many topics including leadership, equity and inclusion, equal employment practices, supplier diversity, contract assistance program certifications, and workforce development.

Ferdinand’s community involvement led to an appointment by Mayor John DeStefano, Jr. to the New Haven Board of Education in 2009, an appointment to the Connecticut State Board of Education by Governor Dannel P. Malloy in 2011 and service on the Board of Directors of the National Association of State Boards of Education.

Other involvement on the national level, Ferdinand has chaired committees, and served on boards of directors in the transit and more broadly the transportation industries, primarily focused on Small and Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Development and Workforce Development.

Always active in his local community Ferdinand has served in positions and on Boards of Directors such as Boy Scouts of America - Connecticut Yankee Council, the NAACP, the Urban Prosperity Fund, the National Urban League as well as a local Urban League chapter, The National Safe Place Network, The Healing Place, a local Chamber of Commerce, several organizations supporting better public transportation and a Tourism Commission.

Risco is a native of Philadelphia, PA. He earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and a Master of Business Administration from the University of New Haven.

Risco was a Distinguished Military Graduate and was commissioned as a Regular Army Infantry Officer.

Ferdinand has been married to Stacy for 23 years and they have four children.