BDPA Corporate Sponsor: Vanguard Group

This is a guest post from Dean Henry, a principal in Vanguard’s Information Technology Division. Dean is responsible for Vanguard’s Security Architecture team within the IT Security Office.

The Vanguard Group is one of the world's largest investment management companies. Vanguard's mission is to help clients reach their financial goals by being the world's highest-value provider of investment products and services. Founded in 1975, Vanguard is headquartered in Malvern, Pennsylvania, with additional U.S. Offices in Charlotte, North Carolina and Scottsdale, Arizona. As of May 31, 2010, Vanguard had nearly $1.4 trillion in U.S. mutual funds under management through approximately 160 U.S. funds. About a dozen international offices were also in operation as of the end of the year.

Vanguard's commitment to diversity extends throughout our company, from senior leaders through all 12,500 crew members across the country and the globe. We know that in our mission to be the highest-value provider of investment products and services, diversity of people, ideas, and viewpoints is one of our main assets.

Our Chairman & CEO, F. William McNabb, indicates that:

“... for us truly to be great as a company in terms of both serving our clients and as a place to work, we need highly engaged and very effective crew members. Engagement happens when everyone, no matter who they are, feels deeply valued. Moreover, the broader our diversity, the greater our effectiveness will be—for there is true power in having the widest-possible array of perspectives.”

With respect to Information Technology, Vanguard employs approximately 2,500 crew members in its IT Division, and focuses most of its IT hiring at the entry professional level. Vanguard has established a number of initiatives to encourage the careers of African Americans in the IT industry, from the classroom to the boardroom.

Since 2007, Vanguard has targeted collegiate chapters of organizations such as the National Society of Black Engineers for partnership and to help identify candidates for Vanguard’s IT College to Corporate and Technology Leadership Programs. Vanguard crew members have provided on campus information sessions, participated on NSBE chapter panel discussions, and participated in local and national conferences, primarily targeting Computer Science and Computer Engineering majors at the junior and senior undergraduate levels. Vanguard also offers two scholarship programs for rising seniors, which may be leveraged by African Americans with applicable backgrounds.

In 2010, Vanguard decided to become a BDPA corporate sponsor, and to be a sponsor for the BDPA national conference technology & career fair in downtown Philadelphia. During the conference, I will deliver a workshop on “Interviewing Best Practices” in the Youth Technology Conference track, based on the standard Vanguard college workshop presentation.

Additionally, I’ll present a workshop entitled “IT Security Principles”.  This workshop will be targeted primarily to college juniors and seniors, but professionals with less than 2 years of IT experience are also welcome. IT managers, recent hires, and Human Resources will be on hand to answer any questions at our career fair booth on July 30 and 31.

Maintaining Independence and Peace of Mind with Technology (Philadelphia)

BDPA Philadelphia chapter, with over 150 members, won the 'Chapter of the Year' and 'Chapter Membership' awards at our annual conference last month. The Membership Award is an award bestowed upon an individual chapter and its members for their outstanding achievements in increasing the National organization's mission of being "a member-focused organization" and ensuring that each member of BDPA feels valued as a member of the association.

Philadelphia's successes are a direct result of their programs and services initiatives led by Chapter President Curtis Jenkins and President-Elect Monique Berry. The chapter serves the community by providing weekly computer training for the Philadelphia metropolitan-area high school students. The chapter's monthly program meetings sponsored by CIGNA Corporation serve to keep their membership informed of current trends in the IT industry.

The logistics for the chapter's program meeting in September are as follows:

Wednesday, September 19, 2007
6:00 pm until 8:30 pm
CIGNA Insurance Building
2 Liberty Place - 16th St. between Market and Chestnut St.
(Refreshments will be served)

The topic of the meeting is Maintaining Independence and Peace of Mind with Technology. Our presenter is Gerald Green (Vanguard Group) has held positions with increasing responsibility in driving decisions as to the technical directions for major SI initiatives in Vanguard. At our program meeting, he will discuss ways that seniors and caregivers can benefit from advances in technology. The United States population aged 65 and over is expected to double in size within the next 25 years. By 2030, almost 1 out of every 5 Americans -- some 72 million people -- will be 65 years or older. The age group 85 and older is now the fastest growing segment of the U.S. population.

As the county's population grows, and ages, there are likely to be more and more older people living alone. The situation is exacerbated by loosening family and neighborhood bonds, with children often living far from aging parents and unable to keep tabs on them. "Many value their privacy and their independence," yet there is a difference between living alone and being isolated.

As long as single householders keep in contact with family, friends, neighbors or service agencies, they lessen the chances of slipping through the social safety net. Advances in telecommunication, internet, speech, and mobile technologies have opened many avenues that enable seniors to stay connected to family and friends.

BDPA Philadelphia chapter encourages you to come hear how an innovative company has developed solutions that combine the power of the Internet with the standard telephone to permit seniors to keep a level of independence yet provide peace of mind for their family and friends. The discussion will focus on:

• Automatic Speech Recognition
• SMS based mobile applications
• Web Service integration

We expect a number of other Philadelphia area leaders to be in attendance at the September program meeting, including:

• President of Caryl Technologies (a new Voice Portal Company that intends to become the premiere voice portal for the mobile consumer)
• Chairman of the Business Advisory Board for the School of Business at Howard University.
• Managing Director of Arpeggio Management (a real estate investment company)

We encourage anyone that will be in the greater Philadelphia area on September 19 to join us for this informative event and don't forget to bring a friend!

Out of curiousity, have you had any experience with elders using technology? If so, would you care to POST A COMMENT on your experience with us?