Message from the BDPA Cincinnati Chapter President

Dalric Webb

Spring is in the air and the BDPA team of volunteers are busy as bees!

I represented Cincinnati Chapter at the 2015 BDPA Midwest Region chapter president's meeting held in Chicago on March 21-22. The meeting allowed us to leverage best practices, lessons learned and networking with other key leaders including National BDPA president Pamela Mathews and vice president Mike Williams. As the second largest chapter in the nation (out of 46 chapters) Cincinnati was tapped to host the 2017 Midwest Region president's meeting! We look forward to hosting all the leaders here in the 'Queen City'!

Congratulations to all the students who completed the 12-week computer camp held at Cincinnati State Technical and Community College (CinState)! Your commitment, dedication, determination, and positive attitudes made helping you learn the 'code' of technology that will change the world, an awesome experience for all the instructors! Please visit our computer camp website to see some of the fine work these up and coming technologists have developed. We move on to the second phase of the training program with a smaller team invited to compete in both the regional and national High School Computer Competitions. Our team should be prepared to compete for trophies and college scholarships at the 37th annual BDPA Technology Conference in Washington DC.

We had a FANTASTIC 'meet and greet' last month at Margaritaville. The event was well attended and everyone in attendance had a great time. We appreciate BDPA member Malik Spencer for sharing his Salsa line-dancing expertise with our attendees.

Babacar Guisse

BDPA Cincinnati chapter successfully celebrated its 10th Annual Awards Luncheon this weekend! All of the chapter's corporate sponsors from 2014 were recognized. CinState earned the award as '2014 Corporate Sponsor of the Year' -- the highest award given to any corporation. Babacar Guissé was named '2014 Member of the Year' -- the highest award given to any member.

Other winners announced during the event included:
- Michael Pulliam (Quest Diagnostics) was named '2014 Director of the Year'
- Wayne Hicks (Hicks Enterprises) was named '2014 Executive Officer of the Year'
- Frank Hill (Cincinnati State) won the '2014 Community Service Award'
- Deborah Prince (xpedx) won the '2014 Spirit Award'

I encourage you to attend our next monthly program meeting on 4/15/15 to join our discussion on '3D Printing: The Promise of Tomorrow'. We will have a 3D printer on hand to provide examples of this new technology. Light refreshments will be available.

Shelton Graves

Our board of volunteers continues to grow as we welcomed Shelton Graves (North American Properties) on as our chapter's Marketing Department director. Shelton seeks to enhance the marketing presence of the BDPA chapter – making BDPA a household name in Cincinnati. There are still a few more volunteering opportunities that can use your support. Send me an email or  give me a call on (513) 549-6991 and let’s chat about it.

2015 is off to a FANTASTIC start! Membership continues to grow with the chapter growing over 200 members during the first quarter of the year. We hope to continue that trend with the active engagement of our members. Remember, this is YOUR organization. What are you looking to get out of it? What are you putting into it to obtain those results? Are you engaged? Did you attend the last program meeting? The last social? The last computer camp session? Have you chatted with President-Elect Shawnda Peterson about her thoughts and plans for her upcoming presidency in 2016-2017? The chapter is ACTIVE in our communities – we’d love to have you be active with us.

Looking forward to seeing you at one of our upcoming events!

Sincerely,
Dalric Webb, President
BDPA Cincinnati Chapter

BDPA Cincinnati Appoints Michael Pulliam to its Board of Directors

BDPA Cincinnati chapter, a nonprofit organization made up of racially diverse information technology (IT) professionals who advance the careers of African Americans from the classroom to the boardroom, today announced the newest member of its board of directors.

Michael Pulliam

Michael Pulliam, a software quality assurance engineer at Quest Diagnostics Healthcare Technology Solutions, in Mason OH, has been appointed to serve as the Contact Management Department director for BDPA Cincinnati chapter. BDPA Cincinnati chapter is the 5th largest (out of 46) chapters in the nation. Michael is responsible for providing the necessary services to maintain and facilitate communication to chapter members and its supporter base. It is worth noting that Michael joined BDPA as a result of his son’s participation in the chapter’s STEM-based training programs … that included two years competing in the national High School Computer Competition championship.

Michael has a wide and diverse background in Information Technology and electronics spanning more than 2 decades covering multiple IT related areas including test automation, test planning, test tool administration, user training, and teaching electronics and programming as an Instructor at Owens Technical College where he also served as the Faculty Advisor of Tau Alpha Pi, National Engineering Honor Society. Michael is also active in Toastmasters, recently earning the Distinguished Toastmasters award, and received his undergraduate degree in Electrical Engineering from Boston University.

“I am delighted to join the BDPA board and I look forward to bringing my experience and energy to the BDPA team to help communicate our message to the Cincinnati IT community in networking, best practice sharing, employment opportunities, giving back to the community, and building the future,” said newly-appointed board member Michael Pulliam.

Pulliam Family

The new board will set the direction for BDPA Cincinnati as it provides programs and services necessary to advance the careers of African Americans and others in the information technology industry from the classroom to the boardroom. The chapter meets on the 3rd Wednesday of each month. The next meeting is scheduled for February 19, 2014 at the Brown Mackie College in Norwood.

Michael takes on this new leadership position at a time when unemployment is growing to painfully high levels for African American IT professionals and dwindling numbers of African American students in college computer science programs. BDPA Cincinnati uses its programs, scholarships and other services to impact on these dismal industry statistics.

BDPA Cincinnati chapter president Dalric Webb said, “We are excited to have Michael join the board of directors. Michael has been part of our chapter in supporting role for his son (Brian) over the past few years. We are delighted that the father now brings his technical and leadership talents to our outstanding leadership team as we continue to demonstrate the value of BDPA membership and engagement. We welcome Michael’s expertise and experience to the board and look forward to a long working relationship.”

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