Where Are They Now? BDPA Philadelphia Chapter Presidents

We commonly refer to BDPA Philadelphia as 'THE Chapter' ... paying homage to its status as the original BDPA chapter back in 1976. The first few organizational meetings held at the Sheraton Hotel in Philadelphia with about 15 people talking about whether or not a Black technology-based organization made sense.

Another meeting held later in 1976 at the Urban Careers Education Center with about 35 people from various areas of the data processing community confirmed the name, Black Data Processing Associates (BDPA). A task force (Roger Berry, Craig Bethea, Ralph E. Gordon Jr., Earl A. Pace, and David Wimberly) appointed to create the initial BDPA bylaws.

The following people were elected as BDPA Philadelphia chapter officers in June 1976: President: Earl A. Pace Jr., Vice President: Ralph E. Gordon Jr., Secretary: Charles C. Jones Jr., Treasurer: Mary Ann Lowery, Program Committee: Craig Bethea, Roy Barnes, and F. Douglas Funderburg, Membership Committee: James Moten.

Our Philadelphia chapter hosted national BDPA technology conferences in 1981 ('Growth Through Professional Association'), 1985 ('A Decade of Professional Growth'), 1995 ('Linking Business, Education and Technology') and 2003 ('Information Technology: From the Classroom to the Boardroom').

It surprised me to learn that BDPA Philadelphia never won 'Chapter of the Year' honors until 2007-2008. Chapter president Monique Berry want Philaldephia to become only the second chapter in history to win this coveted award three years in a row. Do you know the only chapter to three-peat in BDPA history?

BDPA Philadelphia has been unable to train a national championship team for the high school computer competition (HSCC). However, the chapter did have a student (Christian West) earn the Eli Lilly Scholarship for BDPA Students in 2008. The chapter has never won the national HSCC, however, they have had very positive impact on HSCC alumni such as Marcellus Sims (2006-2007)

I would love to make a connection with other HSCC alumni from our Philadelphia chapter. Where are they now?

Past BDPA Philadelphia chapter presidents Earl Pace and Donald Campbell (shown in the photo) served at one point or another on the National BDPA Executive Committee. It would be great if we could hear from each of the past BDPA Philadelphia chapter presidents:

• Earl Pace (1976-1978)
• Ralph Gordon (1979-1980)
• Roy Barnes (1981)
• Alan Ware (1982-1983)
• Roy Barnes (1984)
• Debbie Watson (1985-1986)
• Michelle Walls (1987-1989)
• Clark Mitchell (1990)
• Howard James (1991-1992)
• Priscilla Wynn-Brown (1993-1994)
• Victor Brooks (1995-1996)
• Frank Bright (1997)
• Ron Cureton (1998)
• Michael Trent (1999)
• James Leggett (2000-2001)
• Beverly Chandran (2002-2003)
• Donald Campbell (2004-2005)
• Curtis Jenkins (2006-2007)
• Monique Berry (2008-2009)
• Hayward West (2010-2011)
• Eileen Gadsden (2012-2013)

Where Are They Now?