TRACEY LASSITER-LEVY
What does it mean to be a Southernite?
I would not be the resilient woman that I am today if it were not for my experiences from 1997 through 2001. Thanks to Southern University and A&M College, my beloved HBCU, for providing a strong foundation and nurturing environment to build my leadership skills, and allowing me to learn in a safe space where I would not be subject to daily microaggressions.
Tracey's Bio:
Tracey Lassiter-Levy, a native of Vicksburg, Mississippi, and the niece of several retired SUBR professors, is a tech entrepreneur and executive with a demonstrated history of success with start-ups, mergers, and acquisitions. Tracey is a Spring 2001 honor graduate of SUBR, where she received a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering. While a student at Southern University, she was a LAMP Scholar, a member of the National Society of Black Engineers and the Society of Women Engineers, and she served as the chapter president of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. She received her Master of Science degree in Telecommunications from DePaul University and completed her Executive Education at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College.
Tracey is currently Partner & SVP of Bid Management & Program Compliance at LevCo Technologies, where her team is responsible for the timely development and delivery of high-quality responses to cybersecurity and managed IT business opportunities in the commercial and government sectors. With offices and data centers in Illinois and Florida, her company provides managed IT services, HIPAA compliance, cybersecurity, and cloud hosting services to hundreds of clients throughout the United States. Her clients include, amongst others, Bank Financial, Yuengling Brewing, Google Nest, Ford Field, InterDent Service Corporation, Garrett Advancing Motion, ORock Technologies, the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida, Pure Dental Brands, Family Dollar, CDW, and FoxNext Games. Prior to starting LevCo Technologies, she was the Director of Mergers & Acquisitions at iNetworks. A total of 3 acquisitions were completed between 2013 and 2015, where her team was in charge of developing integration strategies, target due diligence, and post-close integration management.
From 2009-2013, Tracey, along with her business partner and fellow SUBR alum, Matt Levy (1999, Electrical Engineering) successfully built, branded and led a tech company from start-up to acquisition. DMEtek was a leading provider of innovative and customer-focused managed services and IT services and solutions. The company was recognized as one of the world's top IT managed service providers in 2012, and was recognized as a leading MSP, being named a top-performing SMB channel partner in the United States in 2013 by the world's largest technology distributor. As Vice President and Co-founder of DMEtek, she was responsible for implementing the strategic goals and objectives of the business. DMEtek was acquired by iNetworks in 2013. Before co-founding DMEtek, she was a Senior Enterprise Infrastructure Architect at IBM and served as the chief IT architect responsible for designing the State of California’s Child Support Initiative web-hosting project with revenues of $1.5B in 2003. In addition to owning technology companies where she heavily involved in tech M&A process as both a seller and buyer, her other entrepreneurial ventures have included opening a boutique pet store in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood in 2004, and owning two fast-casual franchise restaurants in the Loop and Streeterville neighborhoods.
Tracey currently serves on the Executive Board of the Chicago Regional Section of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) and is the Teller-Elect on the national level of the organization. In addition to serving on the executive board, she has been a scholarship judge for the organization for several years. Tracey is a proud Southern University Alumni Federation Life Member, a member of DePaul University President's Circle, a member of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) and is a 20-year member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). She is also a member of the Junior League of Chicago, a life member of the National Council of Jewish Women, serves as a PTO board member at her daughter’s junior high school, and serves on her homeowners' association social committee. Tracey is also a Power Broker member of the League of Black Women, an organization that has developed a “Blackwomanomics” Economic Development policy strategy and presented it to Governor J.B. Pritzker to create the first Accelerator Incubator for Black Women-Owned businesses in the state of Illinois.
Tracey believes that putting yourself in an uncomfortable position facilitates growth. As a society, we love to talk about entrepreneurial success stories, but we often forget about the behind-the-scenes failures that build resilience, allows us to keep trying, take a mental reset, and use it an opportunity to learn from past mistakes. Tracey was formally diagnosed with ADHD as an adult and is not ashamed to publicly speak about mental health awareness. She believes she is successful largely because of her “disability,” not in spite of it.
She resides in Olympia Fields, Illinois with her children, Madelyn and Chase, and two Siamese cats. She is a member of the Chicago Chapter of the SU Alumni Federation. In her spare time, she enjoys running, snowboarding, listening to music, reading, and skydiving. One of her favorite quotes is: "Dream big, work hard, stay focused, and surround yourself with good people."