Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Message from Bay Area Chapter President

I have been a BDPA member for over 20 years. Back in the day I was a keynote speaker for our BDPA chapter in northern California. The late James Banks was chapter president at the time. The chapter had a wonderful high school computer competition team (Edward Dorsey, Terralyn Renfo, Lameana Sumpter, Lena Thomas and Aisha Wright) back then. BDPA Bay Area chapter has a powerful legacy ... however, the lights have been out over the past few years.

As such, it is with great pleasure that I introduce BETF-Blog readers to the new president of the rejuvenating BDPA Bay Area chapter. Her name is Patricia Glover. Patricia is a partner at Pacific Mesa. More importantly, she is a sister with vision for advancing he careers of African Americans in the Bay Area's IT industry from the classroom to the boardroom.

Here is the message she sent to her chapter stakeholders:


Martin Luther King was a great orator, but I read that he spent a lot of time developing this skill. He wasn’t a natural in the beginning, but he worked at it until he mastered it. He became a powerful and mesmerizing speaker. Many of his most famous speeches dared a generation to dream of a life full of possibilities, courage and shared potential.

An important thing about courage is that it will help you think and act in the right way. It will help you focus on the opportunities in front of you instead of fixating on the problems. Problems are often opportunities coming at us in packaging that isn't what we expect or want.

So when you say I welcome problems, there's a reason for it. They keep your mind flexible and open to creative solutions. As you know, technology is built on finding creative solutions to widespread problems.

Whenever there is science, technology follows. While science is academic and benign, technolgoy unleashes the potential for discovery. This is the underlying princlple that makes membership in BDPA so atractive -- everyone's participation is needed and valuable. BDPA Bay Area is looking to become a catalyst for change. We need creative thinkers and doers to lead the organization to the next level.

Rebuilding the Bay Area Chapter solves a problem by allowing under-represented groups in technology to re-focus on education and finding opportunites through networking, forecasting, and planniing. Einstein said, "You can't solve a problem with the same thinking that created the problem" so we are looking for new ideas:

  • Senior executives in business and technology who share their perspectives with professionals at BDPA mixers and mini-tech events.
  • Membership Benefit Package offering a 10% to 15% finders fee to both members and non-members who bring in corporate sponsorships.
  • Discounted fees to service providers who partner with us and generous gifts-in-kind to create exciting venues.
  • The Bay Area Chapter’s High School Competition with a focus on business and web development skills for teens through alliances with entrepreneurial and financial education programs introducing future technologists to science, technical training, negotiation, pricing, forecasting, and marketing.
Our organization aspires to provide business and technology training coupled with mentorship from the classroom to the boardroom. BDPA is a national organization consisting of 51 chapters committed to improving the Information Technology literacy and advancement of its members.

If you are interested in a leadership position, please send your inquiry to info@bdpabayarea.org or call (510) 894-2058.

Please use the COMMENTS option below to share some BDPA-Love with Patricia!

No comments: