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NBMBAA
National Black MBA Association Changing the Course of Your Future: Message from the Leadership
BAA, Changing the Course of Your Future. As leaders of NBMBAA, we promise this - we will remain committed to helping bring positive change to your life. We hope you will join us as we work on changing the course of your future. -Chairman Alvin Brown and CEO Antoinette Malveaux If there was ever a year in which we needed the support and wisdom of our family, friends and colleagues, this past year qualifies as the year of all years. Our nation as we knew it is a very different place than the one we lived in prior to the tragic events of September 11th - a sad anniversary we observed just one week ago. The losses of that day, coupled with an economic downturn and numerous corporate scandals have shaken us to the core and provoked the question what does our future hold? While there are many different possibilities, there is really only one right answer. Our future is what we choose to make of it. It is up to each one of us as individuals to chart our own paths, but that doesn't mean we have to navigate the waters on our own. As members of the National Black MBA Association, we have access to an incredibly vast network of resources to guide us on our journey. That's what NBMBAA is all about. Our 24th annual conference in Nashville marks the end of a challenging year but it also marks the beginning of a period that promises great things for generations of Mrican Americans to come. Times are changing, and the NBMBAA is leading the way. Our mission is to provide African Americans the opportunity of pursuing a higher education and achieving economic wealth. Simply put, NBMBAA is here to help in changing the course of your future. The Mrican-American community has come a long way since the thrust of the civil rights movement, and for 32 years the NBMBAA has played an active role in shaping future generations of black executives. We are committed to developing a diverse and talented pipeline so that minorities adequately represent the workforce of tomorrow. We are fostering more mentors, awarding more scholarships, increasing our corporate connections, and creating more job opportunities, all in an effort to take you where you want to go. This coming year will be brimming with even more opportunities than in years past. Under the new and energetic leadership of Chairman Alvin Brown, the NBMBAA is creating the Chairman's Advisory Board, a talented and diverse group of successful and influential leaders dedicated to moving this organization forward and to helping raise money to enable us to champion and promote greater career advancement among blacks. The new board will not only help secure more funding in the coming years for educational and scholarship programs, but it will also focus on expanding our group's relationships with business schools and leading executives in corporate America. In turn, these relationships will help foster more opportunities and greater access to capital and credit to help our members who are striving for success in the business world.
Antoinette Malveaux, NBMBAA President & CEO, and her dedicated staff worked many hours this past year to bring new depth to programming aimed at supporting our NATIONAL BLACK MBA ASSOCIATION, INC. Learn from the experts the do's and don'ts of . interviewing and find out how to market your accomplishments in order to make yourself more attractive to current and potential employers. The program assists with resume editing, job counseling and even on members who wish to develop their leadership and management talents. One exciting enterprise new this year, is a joint venture between the National Black MBA Association and the prestigious Gallup Institute. The NBMBAA is teaming up with Gallup to provide programs that are custom designed with our membership in mind. World-renowned Gallup executives will work with NBMBAA members during our 24th annual conference to help assess their strengths and develop and hone their leadership skills. In the near future, members will also have the opportunity to register for additional Gallup sponsored seminars and earn certification for their advanced training. In addition to the Gallup seminar, the NBMBAA also kicks off Jump Start at this year's conference. A transition program to help those of us in the process of changing jobs, Jump Start will enable you to think about the values you bring to a job, your skills and interests, and how to market those attributes as you pur sue your next career path. The program will address some of the critical issues facing both experienced employees and new job applicants in the wake of nationwide corporate downsizing. This workshop is a must for anyone who is looking for work, or thinking about making a career change. For those members wanting more specialized attention, the NBMBAA is introducing Coaching - a personalized one-on-one session with human resource experts who will provide personalized feedback on your resume and interviewing skills. line help. Along with this year's new programs, NBMBAA's true and steadfastprograms remain strong. This year marks a special year for the Case Competition as it celebrates 10 years of success. NBMBAA is fortunate to have the Daiml~rChrysler Corporation once again sponsor this popular competition during its 10th
Our goal is to continue to expand the number of African Americans in executive positions as CEOs, as board members, as Chairpersons. anniversary. Thanks to their continued support, NBMBAA can focus on spreading the wealth to more aspiring MBA students by increasing scholarship funds and providing an opportunity for more teams to compete. One of our most successful awards programs for MBA students, the Case Competition is expanding its horizons and going global, with teams competing from business schools from South Africa and the United Kingdom. The Case Competition remains one of the most popular and inspiring components of our curriculum and we are gratified to expand this showcase of talented and promising MBA students from nationwide prominence to one with international exposure. Our pride does not begin and end with the Case Competition, lest we forget our Leaders of Tomorrow program. Eleven years strong, Leaders of Tomorrow maintains its reputation for mentoring and nurturing minority. high-school students so that our nation's pipeline can be filled with aspiring minority youth. Thanks to the continued support and devotion of our cofounder and sponsor, Mars, Inc., the Leaders of Tomorrow program continues to meet the need for providing guidance and motivation for high-school students who demonstrate leadership potential, but need the help of role models and other caring adults to channel their talents in a positive direction. We continue to expand the outreach of this inspiring program and are announcing the debut of our newest Leaders program in our host city of Nashville, Tennessee. Our longstanding programs and our new curriculum are designed to not only move this organization upwards and onward, but to move our members forward as well. Our goal is to continue to expand the number of African Americans in executive positions - as CEOs, as board members, as Chairpersons. Your personal pursuit of higher education is perhaps the most critical component of helping each and everyone of us succeed with our mission. Some critics have called into question the value of an MBA during this difficult economic period - saying it doesn't open doors the way it used to. But make no mistake higher education is a ticket to upward mobility. If you stop at a high school diploma, you can expect to earn in your lifetime less than half of
, Continuedfrom page 16 The Best is Yet to Come
our skills and talents and expand the reach of our organization. I am pleased the board has approved my new markets vision, including my proposal to jump-start the effort in Jacksonville, Florida, where there is a sizable population of AfricanAmerican professionals. We could expand any number of our programs in new territories such as Jacksonville, including our Case Competition or Leaders of Tomorrow program. This type of exposure could lead to new chapter development, all with the ultimate goal of supporting our members and making sure they have access to prime jobs. I've been blessed to have had the occasion to spearhead new pro-. grams and pave the way for new partnerships. One particularly exciting new enterprise this year is the launch of our first conference Prayer
Breakfast featuring the Reverend T.D. Jakes. I plah for the Prayer Breakfast to be a yearly conference feature because I believe it is important to recognize that this is how we tie to the community. We are much more than an organization focused on education and business - we are also a group represented by spiritual people who recognize the value of building relationships with the faithbased community. As a former top aide for former President Bill Clinton, former Vice President Albert Gore, former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Andrew Cuomo and the late Ron Brown, who served as Secretary of Commerce, I know the value of networking. I haven't hesitated to reach out to my contacts to help us with fundraisers or to help leverage assistance from a foundation. Just as important to me, are my relationships with chapter presi
dents' and staff members. I've met with many of you to share our visions, to talk about the difference this organization makes in the lives of many black Americans. I have told you that the board and I commend you for the services you provide and for the dedication you display day in and day out. I look to the future with much enthusiasm in anticipation of great things to come. Our members, our dedicated chapter volunteers, our exceptional board members and our staff at headquarters are the glue that holds us together. Not one of us can do this alone and I am but the bridge. It will take all of us - working together side by side - to let the world know what we already know; that we are the premier organization that corporate America can look to find the best and the brightest. I am excited about the future. I believe our best is yet to come.
Continuedfrom \B~IB.\.\ Changing the Course of Your Future
what a friend or colleague with a master's degree will make in his or her lifetime. The tight job market will pass and an MBA has enduring value. In fact, the MBA degree remains the degree of choice for discriminating employers searching for self-starting managers who can make more out ofless. That's probably why applications are at record levels in 2002 with some business schools seeing an increase of 38 percent in enrollment. The difference with today's MBA degree lies with what you do with your degree. You have to be willing to leverage it. Don't just get the degree and stop there - develop your leadership potential and your management skills. Learn technology. Take advantage of our advanced training courses and develop other skills, such as how to communicate! Network with your professors, classmates, your fellow NBMBAA members and leaders. Today, more African Americans are graduating with MBAs than ever before helping to create diverse pipelines at major corporations - as managerial employees and as leaders. At NBMBAA, we focus on helping African Americans not only secure MBAs, but also in providing them with the resources and programs to survive in the workplace after graduation. We offer an invaluable commodity - that of unparalleled networking opportunities and an advanced curriculum of seminars and workshops that will increase and sharpen your business and management skills. Your role is to take advantage of these services and maximize your potential. Our role is to continue building relationships with corporations across the country and throughout the world that value diversity, so that we can foster job opportunities for black MBA graduates. We are committed to raising money so we can continue to disburse hundreds of thousands of dollars in scholarship money each year to deserving students. In short, our role is to empower and uplift the African-American community. We are making great strides in the 21st century, but our job is far from over. We must continue to seize opportunities that eluded us in the past. We must persevere to lessen the gaps that separate African Americans from mainstream society - the employment gap, education and entrepreneurship gap, and the poverty gap. Our 24th annual conference embarks us on yet another compelling journey on the road to success. May we prosper in the year ahead and together may we succeed in changing the course of your future. |
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