PONDER DIVERSITY GROUP

Anita J. Ponder, one of the nation’s leading attorneys and consultants, is at the helm of Ponder Diversity Group LLC (PDG), a legal consulting firm she founded and manages. With over three decades of experience, Anita's work encompasses strategic legal guidance and advocacy for a diverse range of clients, including government agencies, large corporations and nonprofit organizations, with a focus on small, disadvantaged, minority and women businesses enterprises and diverse employees on government contracts.  Her legal expertise includes government contracts, supplier and workplace diversity, and grant writing and administration in the industries of construction, transportation, education and cannabis licensing.  

Ms. Ponder’s notable accomplishments include: conducting DEI assessments, strategies and training; identifying DEI best practices nationwide; grant writing, administration and technical services; developing and implementing DBE/MBE/WBE, social equity and technical assistance programs; developing and implementing a small business certification initiative; preparing a 50-state memorandum on government procurement and bidding requirements; and organizing and chairing the Government Contractors Business Forum, a business group for established government contractors to assist them compete more effectively in the governmental marketplace.

Prior to leading PDG, Ms. Ponder was a partner and government contracts lead at some of Chicago most prestigious law firms, including Quintairos, Prieto, Wood & Boyer, the nation’s largest minority and women-owned law firm, as well as Seyfarth Shaw, Drinker Biddle & Reath, and Quarles & Brady.  At these firms, she represented the State of Illinois, Cook County, the City of Chicago and its sister agencies, and several other government agencies outside of Illinois. She also represented a number of government contractors and consultants, including many of the top firms in the construction and transportation industries in Illinois. Prior to private practice, Ms. Ponder worked for Chicago Mayor Harold Washington in the Departments of Public Works and Procurement Services and provided legal support to his supplier diversity and workplace diversity leadership teams.

Ms. Ponder’s educational background includes a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Florida College of Law and a Bachelor of Arts in Public Administration and Political Science from Fisk University. Her legal acumen, coupled with her effective community engagement and diversity advocacy, has earned her numerous awards throughout her career. She has also published several legal articles, been the featured speaker and has made television and radio appearances to discuss a range of government contracting and diversity topics.  Ms. Ponder’s professional journey reflects her dedication to leveraging legal expertise to advocate for equitable business practices and to empower underrepresented communities in the governmental and business sectors. Her work not only contributes to the legal field but also to the broader goal of creating inclusive and diverse environments in business and government.

It’s hard to picture a consultant with a more impressive portfolio of experience than Onur Yener. Hailing from Ankara, Turkey, Mr. Yener has an extensive background in civil engineering, construction law, and project finance, providing legal services to construction, energy, design, engineering, facility management, and investment firms. As a Senior Consultant with Ponder Diversity Group, he brings a sharp legal mind to the table, along with the twenty-plus years of experience under his belt. 

Mr. Yener began his considerable academic career with a BS in Civil Engineering from Middle East Technical University in 2003, and followed up on this by traveling to the US and receiving back-to-back MS degrees (in Transportation Engineering and Engineering Management) from Boston’s Northeastern University. During this time, he served as a Teaching Assistant in Northeastern’s Industrial Engineering department—teaching courses on investment analysis, deterministic operations research, and statistics—and also as a Research Assistant in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, studying the development of advanced bus signal priority algorithms. Mr. Yener also maintained membership in the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, thanks to his top academic ranking at Northeastern. Later, he returned to the classroom to receive his LL.B in Construction Law and Practice from the University of Essex in 2021; he was awarded Upper Second-Class Honours based on his academic performance.

Beginning in 2006, Mr. Yener was employed by Washington, D.C.-based engineering firm Parsons Brinckerhoff, Inc. (now WSP USA). Originally hired as a Traffic Engineer and Transportation Planner (overseeing transportation management plans, traffic studies, signal optimization, and more), he later transitioned to the role of Consultant and Business Analyst. In this position, he worked on financial strategy for asset management of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, developed a fundraising program for the WMTA, carried out economic impact evaluation studies for major infrastructure projects, and performed risk assessment and other analytical tasks. Mr. Yener authored dozens of studies and transportation plans for a wide variety of organizations during his time at Parsons Brinckerhoff. 

Returning to Turkey in 2010, Mr. Yener spent the majority of the year working as a Scheduler for Zafer Construction Co., where he worked on a design-build project constructing temporary housing facilities for the US Army Corps of Engineers Transatlantic Afghanistan District. Subsequently, he was employed at Mescioglu Engineering Contracting and Trade Co. as a Technical Consultant, and later at Epik Construction Co. as a Project Manager. In the latter role, he worked on a project designing the East End Barracks in Baghdad for the US Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations. 

In 2012, Mr. Yener joined the staff of Envy Energy and Environmental Investments Co. as Project Finance Manager, where he supervised a number of energy-related studies and risk assessment plans. He followed this up with stints at the YDA Group of Companies (as a Business Development/Project Finance Consultant) and the World Bank in Ankara (as a Technical Consultant, where he was involved with the organization’s Sustainable Cities Project). In this period, he also served as the Solar Power Plant Projects Manager at ELTEMTEK Power Plant and Engineering Services Co., where he prepared EPC and EPC-F proposals for power plants, negotiated Power Purchase Agreement terms on behalf of clients, performed feasibility studies and site investigations, and coordinated civil, electrical, and energy transmission line designs. 

After this, Mr. Yener moved to Renaissance Facility Management Services Consultancy Co., where he acted as its Project Management Office Supervisor, as well as the Deputy Head of Proposal Department for PPP Healthcare Tenders. In this role, he managed public-private partnership agreements, prepared financial models and budget projections, and much more, overseeing several major hospital and health center projects. After two years at Renaissance, Mr. Yener was hired as Operations Manager at Kütahya Hospital Management Investment Co. in 2017, where he managed proposal teams for pipeline PPP healthcare tenders, developed and introduced new procurement funding models, and managed technical, financial, legal, social, and environmental advisory teams. Similarly, his tenure at KHMIC included supervision of hospital projects. 

In 2020, Mr. Yener began working for the Turkey office of Spanish firm Eptisa Servicios de Ingeniería as its Deputy Projects Director in IFI Projects. Here, he prepared technical and financial proposals for EBRD, WB, ADB and EU projects, provided his expertise in renewable energy and PPP infrastructure project development, and offered support in general contract management. The next year, he moved to Ankara Etlik Hospital O&M Co., serving as the General Manager of the hospital’s operations & management department and supervising operational, technical, financial, and legal teams. 

Since 2022, Mr. Yener has been self-employed as the principal of Yener & Partners. He has spearheaded major infrastructure projects all across the world (including in Vietnam, Ghana, the Philippines, India, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and many more) and continues to offer a wide array of services, including but by no means limited to preparation and negotiation of contracts, PPP project structuring with partner governments, drafting of merger & acquisition agreements, project management advisement, dispute resolution, risk assessment, quantum analysis, and the preparation of feasibility studies. His civil engineering background gives him an experiential edge in legal matters relating to infrastructural and operational projects. PDG is excited to welcome Onur Yener to our team and looks forward to his expert guidance.