Profile: Maria J. Hankerson, PhD
Maria J. Hankerson, Ph.D., is the founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Systems Assessment & Research, Inc. SAR Corp is a management consulting and research services firm that specializes in Behavioral Health Studies, Professional and Medical Recruitment, and Social Research and Analytic services. SAR Corp provides medical services to Army commands, and is known also for providing biomedical research – now providing one of the US Army’s top clinical trials investigating heart disease. A woman-owned small business, SAR Corp has full-time operations in Virginia, the District of Columbia, Maryland, North Carolina, Massachusetts, and Kansas; as well as research activities in additional states across the country.
Dr. Hankerson has received numerous accolades that reflect her success and that of SAR Corp. She was presented the "8(a) Graduate Firm of the Year" award during US Small Business Administration's 23rd Annual National Minority Enterprise Development (MED) Week Conference in September 2005. She was also presented the equivalent award for the Washington Metropolitan area in October 2005. In fall 2004, Washington Business Journal recognized Dr. Hankerson as one of the metropolitan area's most influential business women: one of DC's "Women who Mean Business." She was also featured in the Washington Business Journal in March 2003, and in May 2003, was named one of “Fifty Influential Minorities in Business” by the Minority Business and Professionals Network. In 1999, Entrepreneur Magazine and Dunn and Bradstreet awarded the firm as one of “Ten Best Woman-Owned Firms in America.” In 1999, Dr. Hankerson was a finalist for Ernst & Young's “Entrepreneur of the Year.”
Dr. Hankerson’s professional career extends to the highest levels of service in the Federal government. She acted as Special Assistant in the Bush Administration, Executive Office of the President, Office of National Drug Control Policy, in the early 1990’s.
Dr. Hankerson is a graduate of Howard University, a Doctoral Fellow of the National Institute of Mental Health, and is a Postdoctoral Fellow of the Kellogg Leadership Institute. She is member of Leadership Washington, the Washington Board of Trade's Strategy Group, and the Washington Business Journal’s Advisory Committee. She has also acted as an adjunct professor of Graduate School of Social Sciences of The Catholic University of America.