Failing Forward to Find Success With Mitch Brooks

Mitchel A. Brooks, IV, is a business executive with a diverse range of experience in business operations, strategy, and marketing. Mitch serves as the Chief Operating Officer of the Washington, DC-based information management and technology firm, DSI. In this role, Mitch runs day-to-day business operations and business development. Under his management, DSI has increased by 300% over the last five years. Prior to DSI, Mitch served as the Global Marketing Manager at Caterpillar, a global fortune 500 company. Mitch managed a global network of clients teaching marketing best practices and processes. Prior to Caterpillar, Mitch worked as a strategy consultant for Cerberus Capital Management’s Chrysler and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). Mitch’s influence extended throughout all areas of each organization including marketing, human resources, strategic planning and execution, corporate management, product development, technology deployment, and customer and network operations. 

With a proven track record in business and an extensive rolodex of contacts, Mitch used his resources to create a passion project, The Urbane Group. The Urbane Group is a national lifestyle marketing team that connects brands with millennial leaders and professionals under 40. The client portfolio has included the likes of Gilt Groupe, BMW, Porche, Bacardi USA, National Bar Association, Teach for America, Kimpton Hotels, and Diageo among others.

Mitch is a native Washingtonian. He lives in Washington, DC with his wife, Cadene. Mitch earned his Bachelor of Science and Masters of Business Administration from Florida A&M University’s School of Business & Industry. 

TELL US ABOUT YOUR CHILDHOOD AND WHAT GROWING UP WAS LIKE FOR YOU?

Mitch: I’m a fifth generation Washingtonian who grew up in Washington DC and southeast of Martin Luther King Avenue. I think that at a young age it allowed me to experience a lot and really shaped the demeanor I have today. It’s how I go about life, how I go about business.

WHAT DID YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GREW UP?

Mitch: Yeah, good question, man and I wanted to be a basketball player. I was pretty good at basketball and so every day in elementary school my dad would drive me to school. I would want to read the newspaper and he would let me have the sports section even though he really wanted it. And what he would tell me is, “In addition to taking a sports section, you need to take something else and you need to tell me what you read when you get home. With the Washington Post, the business section is right after the sports section. And so I would take the sports section and the business section as a convenience without thinking about it. I would read the sports section like a little kid and pass it on to my friends. Then I had this business section in front of me. It would amaze me as a kid to see Michael Jordan signs for 25 million for five years. Then I would read the stock tickers; I taught myself how to read the stock ticker as an elementary school kid. I would see something like, “the Chicago Bulls owner makes five hundred million dollars,” and thought at a very young age it didn’t take much to understand the mathematics behind that. I always had in my head even if I would play ball at a high level, it was always going to be about stacking my paper to make moves in business.