Where Are They Now? BDPA Cleveland Chapter Presidents

BDPA Cleveland chapter was founded in November 1980.  The idea of BDPA was brought to Cleveland by Norman Mays.   Norman served as president of the BDPA Washington DC chapter when he moved to Cleveland in 1980.   He found like-minded people in Cleveland who wanted an organization that would help advance the careers of African Americans in the information technology industry.

Gerry McClamy, Norman Mays, Vivian Wilson

I would love to hear from someone that could tell me the names of the other folks who joined Norman Mays as the initial charter members of the BDPA Cleveland chapter.   Do you know any of those names?

Their decision to create a chapter was a good one as evidenced by the fact that BDPA Cleveland was named 'Chapter of the Year' in 1986 and 1987.  BDPA Cleveland always believed in the concept of 'One BDPA'.   One of my earliest memories of the cooperation and support by BDPA Cleveland was at a regional conference that they hosted in 1989.  I remember traveling there with others from BDPA Detroit chapter.  We learned a great deal about how to successfully build a local chapter ... lessons that we put into practice immediately on our return to Detroit.

One of my two favorite people in BDPA is from Cleveland -- Vivian Wilson.  I served as National Vice President during Vivian's term as national president.  Did you know that Vivian is the only person in the 35+ years of BDPA history to be elected National President without ever serving as a local chapter president?   She was the BDPA Cleveland chapter vice president when she was elected to serve as our national president in the early 1990s.   Vivian earned a number of national awards over the years: Member of the Year (1986), President's Award (1988) and the BDPA Excellence in Leadership Award (1992),


Other award winners from BDPA Cleveland chapter include: Gerry McClamy (Member of the Year, 1995), Willard Brown (Outstanding Chapter President, 2006) and Monica Bowe (Member of the Year, 2010).

It would be great to hear from our past, current and future BDPA Cleveland chapter presidents. Here is the list as best we can tell:

Ken Wilson

• Norman Mays (1980-1982)
• Barbara Whitfield (1983-1984)
• Ken Wilson (1985-1989, 1995, 2008-2009)
• George Williams (1990-1992)
• Crystal Kelson Farmer (1993-1994)
• Judy Williams (1996)
• Bruce Keene (1997-2002)
• Beverly Peterson (2003-2004)
• Willard Brown (2005-2007)
• Henry Wiggins (2010-2011)
• Demo Solaru (2012-2014)

It is worth noting that Norman Mays and George Williams are past BDPA Cleveland chapter presidents who served for a number of years as the national BDPA president.   Monica Bowe is the only other BDPA Cleveland chapter member (to my knowledge) to serve on the national BDPA executive committee.   Monica served as both our acting VP-Finance (2010) and our Outside Director (2010-2011).

The chapter hosted the national BDPA Technology Conference in 1994 ('Unleashing the Power of a Creative People').

The chapter competes regularly in the national high school computer competition (HSCC). BDPA Cleveland chapter has never won the national HSCC championship.  However, they did finish as high as 3rd place in 1990.  That 1990 HSCC team consisted of four remarkable high school students: Ronald Banks, Phillip Chow, James Gombas and Justin Polburn.

We've mentioned alot of names in this blog post.   The question remains:

Where are they now?

Related articles

• History of BDPA Awards (1986-2011)

Take Five: Harvetta Kashka (Los Angeles)

Harvetta Kashka is a long-time BDPA member. She was a key volunteer on a number of national conference teams as well as a part of the original financial team for the BDPA Education and Technology Foundation (BETF). She has spent the past few months helping create the SITES Endowment Fund within BETF.

She agreed to participate in our Take Five interview series:

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1. How did you get involved in working with BDPA? - A BDPA Los Angeles meeting announcement was placed on the company bulletin board; since I was looking to do volunteer work, I went to the meeting. I worked in downtown Los Angeles, and the meeting was held at one of the downtown businesses. The memorable thing about my first meeting was the number of people in attendance, especially Blacks in IT. Historically, I had found myself to be the only Black IT person attending many IT training classes and conferences.
   
   I felt that I could contribute to the organization, so I joined the LA Chapter in 1983. I went on to be the LA Chapter Treasurer in the 1983 election (since I had a BS degree in Accounting); and I helped the chapter with the National BDPA Conference held in LA in 1984. You might say, the rest is history as I later served as National BDPA Finance Chair, National BDPA Conference Finance Chair, and was on the BDPA Team that formed the BETF, and served for a number of years as the BETF Treasurer.


2. What is the most rewarding aspect of working with BDPA? - Since I was a project manager when I joined BDPA-LA, I was able to be a resource to others looking for IT jobs. It was very rewarding to reach out and help other Blacks in IT. In BDPA, I really learned the true meaning of networking. Over the years, I have made friends from coast-to-coast and border-to-border. Some of my closest and life-long friends, I met through BDPA. Being a member of the financial BDPA team, it was especially rewarding to be able to acquire funding for the high school computer competition (HSCC) teams. Words can not express how rewarding it is to see all the youth that attend the National BDPA HSCC championships each year.


3. Tell us about a defining moment in your life? - During the 20+ years I was an active member of BDPA, it is difficult to find a single defining moment. However, I have developed friendships with people in BDPA that have been with me through thick and thin.


4. Who is your hero and why? - I have 2 heroes in BDPA, Earl Pace and Gerri McClamy. I’m just in awe, when I think of the vision Earl had to create an organization like BDPA during a time when Blacks in IT were few and far between. Earl is a gentle giant, and has always offered his professional expertise to BDPA Chapters, National office, and the BETF.
   
   Many in BDPA are not aware of the contributions Gerri made to the National BDPA Conference. As a member of her conference team for 5 years, Gerri introduced BDPA to national companies that had previously shunned the organization, and obtained their support.


5. Any advice for people considering donation to BETF? - With the advent of H1-B visas and international outsourcing, Blacks in IT lost a lot of ground in corporate IT shops. BDPA and BETF have been instrumental in keeping our plight in front of the lawmakers and corporations. During these hard economic times, it is very important to help fund the programs that support Blacks in IT. Since BETF is the 501(c)3 charitable arm of BDPA, it makes good business sense to donate to BETF, by whatever means possible. For the baby boom generation who are nearing retirement, think about leaving a charitable donation to BETF in your “will”.

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Harvetta's interview reminded me of some of the great times in BDPA. I hope you enjoyed her interview just as much as I did!