Wordless Wednesday: BDPA Leaders Show Up for 2007 Awards Banquet in Philadelphia

SOURCE: BDPA Foundation Flickr Photostream

Happy Birthday Denise Holland (Past National BDPA President)

Happy Birthday to our past national BDPA president, Denise Holland!

Oracle Scholarships Winners in BDPA Northern Delaware Chapter

[L-R: national executive director Donald French, Fred Smith III, Whitney Wilson, national president Denise Holland,

BDPA Washington DC chapter president Perry Carter and BDPA Northern Delaware chapter president Karen Smith]

BDPA Northern Delaware student members Fred Smith III and Whitney Wilson were each awarded $1,389 in scholarship funding from Oracle Corporation to pursue degrees in the fields of science and technology.  The scholarships were presented to each of the students at 2009 annual BDPA Northern Delaware awards banquet.  There were a number of national officers in attendance for the banquet.

Fred Smith III attends California University in Pennsylania.  Whitney Wilson is finishing up her high school career at the Charter School of Wilmington.  Fred and Whitney also won awards for their efforts in the 2009 BDPA IT Showcase held in Raleigh NC.

You can learn more about the Northern Delaware here.

2009 Best Companies for Blacks in Technology

National BDPA and WorkplaceDiversity.com, the source for diversity talent, announced Allstate Insurance, American Airlines, Compuware, Eli Lilly and Company, Health Care Service Corporation, Merck and Company, Monsanto, State Farm Insurance, SunTrust Bank, Wal-Mart Stores, and WellPoint as the winners of the 2009 Best Companies for Blacks in Technology Award.

"These companies deserve special recognition for their outstanding community outreach and diversity recruiting programs and for promoting a significant number of African Americans into their IT management ranks," said Milt Haynes, National BDPA Past President. "One of these companies will be announced as the Top Company for Blacks in Technology and receive the much coveted Epsilon Award."

The Epsilon Award is presented annually to the top company in the nation that promotes a workplace and environment that supports the advancement of Blacks in the information technology industry. The Epsilon Award will be presented later this year at the 2009 National BDPA Technology Conference to be held August 5-9 the Raleigh Convention Center in Raleigh, NC.

"We are very pleased to recognize the outstanding contributions that these companies have made for Blacks in Technology," said National BDPA President, Denise Holland. "In this economy, many African Americans in technology are concerned about opportunities for both employment and advancement. It is important to recognize those exceptional companies that have provided African Americans with challenging and fulfilling career opportunities in Information Technology."

BDPA Corporate Sponsors and Supporters were asked to complete a comprehensive survey that was used to rate their performance in the areas of Demographics, Diversity Programs, Diversity (Training, Affinity Groups), Tenure, Promotions and Terminations, Diversity Recruiting, Career Path Programs, Minority Vendor Programs, and Community Outreach.

"BDPA is the voice of African Americans in IT," said Dan Honig, Chief Operating Officer of WorkplaceDiversity.com. "WorkplaceDiversity.com is honored to be working with BDPA because it is committed to closing the digital divide and helping African American IT professionals advance." Added Honig, "We are very pleased to recognize these companies that are truly practicing workplace diversity in their IT departments."

2009 National BDPA Technology Conference (Raleigh)

Do you have interest in the information technology (IT) industry? Do you have interest in the African American community? Do you want to see African Americans advance their careers in the IT industry?

If you answered 'YES' do any of those questions then you need to make plans to attend our National Conference next month in Raleigh NC! [NOTE: For any conference inquiries, please contact our Conference Coordinator, Pamela Sexton on 800.727-2372]

National BDPA President Denise Holland, National President-Elect Yvette Graham and their conference team have truly stepped up the quality of technical education, leadership training, networking opportunities, youth development and brand awareness in the planning and execution of the 2009 conference.

Don't take my word ... check out the 50+ page Journal Pre-Conference Highlights to get a taste of what's in store for you. What are you waiting for?

THEME: 'Challenges for Today; Strategies for Tomorrow'

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I am looking forward to the 31st annual National BDPA Technology Conference in Raleigh NC on August 5-8, 2009. It should be a record-setting event for attendance by young people, entrepreneurs, IT professionals and corporations.

The workshops for IT professionals are outstanding. You will find workshop tracks dealing with professional development, project management, technology and leadership/management. Click here for the complete schedule.

BDPA will be one of the first organizations at the new Raleigh Convention Center. The 500,000-square-foot facility will welcome BDPA with a sparkling new backdrop for trade shows, conventions and conferences. Watch the live camera feed or take a virtual tour of the new convention center.

Corporations are encouraged to contact BDPA Corporate Sales immediately to reserve their speaking opportunities and career fair booth placements.

• Hotel Reservations - The special BDPA rate is available at the Raleigh Marriott City Center (500 Fayetteville Street; Raleigh, NC 27601; (919) 833-1120) *or* the Sheraton Raleigh Hotel 421 S. Salisbury Street; Raleigh, NC 27601; (919) 834-9900).
• Conference Registration Rate: $550

You can contact BDPA Headquarters for more information on the 2009 conference by phone (800.727-2372) or email (conference@bdpa.org).

Are you planning to attend the 2009 National BDPA Technology Conference in Raleigh NC in August? Please share your thoughts on the 2009 conference in the COMMENTS section below!

BDPA Announces 2009 Epsilon Award Winners

National BDPA (www.bdpa.org) the source for diversity talent, announced selection of three outstanding IT professionals to receive coveted Epsilon Awards for Career Achievement, Professional Achievement and Community Service for 2009.

Epsilon Awards are presented annually to outstanding IT professionals who exemplify excellence among Blacks in the information technology industry. Epsilon Awards will be presented later this year at the 2009 National BDPA Technology Conference to be held August 5-9 at the Raleigh Convention Center in Raleigh, NC.

Joseph McMahon, a Business Director with Sabre Systems, Inc., will be honored with the Epsilon Career Achievement Award. Rosalind Shaffer, who is an Associate Information Consultant with Eli Lilly and Company will be recognized for Professional Achievement. Matthew Harvey, a Business Intelligence and Sales Reporting Team Leader also with Eli Lilly and Company, will be acknowledged by BDPA for his Community Service.

"We are very pleased to recognize the outstanding individual achievements of Blacks in Technology," said National BDPA President, Denise Holland. "In this economy, many African Americans in technology are concerned about opportunities for both employment and advancement. It is important to recognize outstanding professionals who have responded to the challenge and serve as role models that exemplify highly successful and fulfilling careers in Information Technology."

Grant Recipient: BDPA Triangle ($5,000)

The BDPA Education and Technology Foundation (BETF) is pleased to announce approval of funding request from BDPA Triangle chapter in the amount of $5,000.00. This grant provides the chapter with 'seed money' to secure building and other start-up costs for BDPA-BETF Benefit Concert on Friday, August 7, 2009 at the Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts in Raleigh, NC.

Denise Holland (National BDPA), Rick Leggett (BDPA Triangle) and Wayne Hicks (BETF) signed a memorandum of understanding in support of this Benefit Concert project earlier this year. Proceeds will support the BETF Endowment Fund and the BDPA Triangle chapter SITES program.

BETF directors expressed interest in working with Triangle chapter on funding for their 2010 SITES program. We look for them to explore increased funding opportunities through United Way, Combined Federal Campaign or joint grant proposals.

I hope that all of you plan to attend our August 7th Benefit Concert!

New BDPA Chief Information Officer * Donald Brown

BDPA Foundation is very pleased to learn that Donald Brown will be serving as the National BDPA Chief Information Officer! National BDPA president Denise Holland wrote:

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I have asked Don Brown, Immediate Past President of the New Jersey Chapter to fill this highly visible and important role. Don has enthusiastically accepted and has already secured a staff to assist him in fulfilling the Technology goals and objectives.

He has jumped in with such a high level of passion, you will soon reap the benefits. Please join me in congratulating Don on accepting this appointment and his success in his new BDPA role.

Denise P. Holland, president
National BDPA

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You are invited to use the COMMENTS section below to congratulate Don on this new leadership role.

HSCC Testimonial: Frantzy Jean Philippe (New York)

Many of you have supported our fundraising efforts to support the youth education programs taking place in 50 cities around the country. However, we still need more funding if we are to continue bridge the 'digital divide'. We thought you would appreciate hearing directly from one of the students impacted by your generousity.

Frantzy Jean Philippe was a member of the high school computer competition team trained this year by BDPA New York chapter. Here is what he had to say about the experience.

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"It has been an amazing experience being part of the BDPA HSCC team. When I first started pursuing a spot in being part of the HSCC team, I never realized how much BDPA would have changed my life. I had great experiences from the trip to the Museum of Modern Arts to the 2008 BDPA National Conference held in Atlanta GA. BDPA accomplished its mission in exposing students like me to Information Technology. Through the many trips that we took part in, I have developed a deep interest in Information Technology and have decided to pursue it in college.

Training for the competition has been both hard and fun. At first, it was intense seeing how we were still learning and there was a lot of competitiveness between us. However, as the competition nears, we each realized that we were strong in one major area of programming. We were closer than any other teams. Unlike most of the other teams, we were from the same school. Additionally, our trainer was also our teacher as well as our friend. It is best to train and learn when you know the people whom you train with well. We appreciate our trainer because we would have never come this far if it was not for him. He sacrificed many of his time in order to prepare us for the competition. For example, he sacrificed his birthday just to be with us during our second regional competition in Maryland. The regional competitions had a big influence on our performance in the national competition. It was a great way to get us accustomed to the way of the competition and at the same time, we had a lot of fun.

The conference itself was the best experience that I have ever had in my entire life. I liked the fact that we were able to experience the cultural wonders of Atlanta in many ways. In addition, we not only applied all that we have learned during the year, we learned new things as well. During the first day of the Youth Technology Camp, I learned effective communication, something that will surely help me later on in life. BDPA has exceeded its original mission and made sure that students like me do not just have a good future in information technology, but have good skills in whichever path they follow in life. One of the greatest events that I enjoyed during the conference was the opening ceremony. The keynote speaker, Ephren Taylor, inspired us all. His success story inspired us to pursue whatever we want in life.
From the master of ceremony, Mario Armstrong we learned not to let “dream killers” gets in our way. This became a motif as we learned throughout the entire conference. One of the greatest moments in the opening ceremony came when Mr. Armstrong gave an HSCC student the opportunity to pursue his dream of Game Designing by providing the student with software that were perhaps valued at one thousand dollars. I was amazed to see how great people like him make sure that people like us succeed in accomplishing their dreams.

The High School Computer Competition was one of the best parts of the conference. It was intense and enjoyable at the same time. On the first day of the competition, we were calmer than we were in the regional competitions and we did excellent. This made us even more confident on the second day where the real competition began in building our web application. We responded rather calmly to the long time of seven hours to eight hours that we had to build the application seeing that we were used to programming for this amount of time during our training. We did very well and we finished all of the functionalities given to us. We were very proud of ourselves seeing that we worked as a team to finish the application. We each did our individual jobs perfectly and our application was very strong.

After a hard week, we were all looking forward to going home. However, our flight cancelled due to overwhelming circumstances. We had the chance to stay in Atlanta an extra night. Even though we were all anxious to go home, we were rather calm in handling the situation. We were lucky enough that the BDPA National president, Ms. Denise Holland provided us her presidential suite for us to spend the night in. We took this with great appreciation for Ms. Holland and BDPA for taking good care of its members. We had an amazing night in the presidential suite. The most surprising moment of the entire trip later became one of the greatest moment of the trip."

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Well, BDPAers ... what say u?

Health Care Service Corporation Named Best Company for Blacks in Technology

Health Care Service Corporation (HCSC) has been named the best place in the country for Blacks in technology. The prestigious Epsilon Award is given annually by National BDPA and WorkplaceDiversity.com. Finalists for the award included top companies such as Allstate, Merck, State Farm, Wal-Mart, WellPoint and Wells Fargo Bank. Last year's winner was IBM.

"We are very pleased to recognize the outstanding contributions that HCSC has made for Blacks in technology," said National BDPA President, Denise
Holland. "In this economy, many African Americans in technology are concerned about opportunities for both employment and advancement. It is important to recognize those exceptional companies that have provided African Americans with challenging and fulfilling career opportunities in Information Technology."

HCSC is the country's fourth largest health insurer and operates the BlueCross and BlueShield plans in Illinois, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.

"HCSC's commitment to diversity has helped us attract qualified employees and achieve incredible success," said Brian Hedberg, HCSC senior vice president and chief information officer. "We are especially grateful to BDPA and WorkplaceDiversity.com for encouraging us to identify and promote our talented work force. As we progress, we knowdiversity and inclusion will help us accomplish our goals."

To identify the Epsilon winner, BDPA supporters completed a comprehensive survey that rated performance in the areas of demographics, diversity programs, diversity (training, affinity groups), tenure, promotions and terminations, diversity recruiting, career path programs, minority vendor programs, and community outreach.

"Our BDPA survey questions cause reflection on whether programs value diversity and build opportunities at work," said Will Bundy, former national BDPA outside director. "Our winners have demonstrated a commitment to people and an understanding that diversity has a bottom line business case value."

BDPA Conference: Kraft Foods Youth Technology Camp Luncheon

The 8th annual Youth Technology Camp (YTC) Luncheon sponsored by Kraft Foods was a resounding success. Capacity audience for the food, speeches and treasure hunt!

Mildred Allen, YTC Coordinator, gave tribute to John Harris for his personal support over the past 8 years to the Youth Technology Camp.

John Harris is Kraft's Global Information Systems manager. He noted that this is the 8th year in a row that Kraft Foods sponsored the opening day student luncheon. He is very proud of the association. It would be great for some of the YTC participants from the past 8 years to share some love for John in the COMMENTS section of this post.

Anyhow, John introduced the luncheon's keynote speaker, Markell Bridges. Markell is Kraft's IS Strategy Planning & Operations director. The brother noted that he graduated from high school 25 years ago ... and at the time of his graduation he had a small fraction of the information and tools available to students today.

Many of the people in the room cannot remember what is was like back in the day when we didn't have cellphones, IPods, MP3 players, Internet, personal computers, laptops and so forth

Markell remembers that his favorite television show back in the day was 'Get Smart'. He used to love the mobile phone in Maxwell Smart. That was the future. Fast forward to 2008 ... Over 40% of the world’s population carries a telephone. More than twice as many as own television. More than 3 times the number connected to the Internet.

He thinks it is important to continue to advance into the future with the abundance of information and technology available to youth today. He encouraged the young people to take advantage of the technology.

He focused on the power of mobile technology for personal shopping, geographic location, use to get real-time product reviews and such; scan barcodes using your mobile phone; use to enhance personal safety; convert text information into voice information for seniors or visually-impaired people. These are ideas about the future…

He hammered home the use of the mobile phone to solve issues at work on a local or global basis … or to keep in touch with photos and messages from family members.

What are tomorrow’s technology? What role will young people play in future of technology … you are creating your history, what do you want it to look like? Learn a foreign language was one of the tips he shared with the students.

Markel shared his personal bio. He grew up in single-family household on the south side of Chicago. He wanted to learn how to use technology. He made choices that allowed him to follow towards that future.

He closed out his remarks with six strategies the young people should consider as they move towards their future:

1. Strive for success - You must not JUST PAST the test; ACE the test. Always do your best. Do not settle for being average. It requires study, reading and exercising your mind.


2. Persistence: stay focused and never give up! Do not let laziness and procrastination. Do it now!


3. Honesty – Do what is right for you and those around you. What makes you a good person…morals and character.


4. Use Good Judgement – the choices you make today have influence on the rest of your lives. Surround yourself with others that have good judement. Who you associate with becomes who you are.


5. Create Energy – have fire in your stomach, passion in your heart. Create energy with positive attitude.


6. Do Not Let Anyone Deter You from Your Dreams: get link to the ‘A Friend’ poem about you cannot do it now…

The audience of students, coordinators and chaperones were very appreciative of the remarks from Markell.

Next to the podium with words of encouragement from National BDPA president Denise Holland. Denise demonstrated her skills with the French language while recognizing Kraft Foods for being a BDPA silver-level corporate sponsor.

The luncheon ended with a massive Kraft Foods treasure hunt. Literally hundreds of Kraft products were on display in the front of the room. An adult and student member from each BDPA chapter were invited to the front table. They were allowed go grab as much as they could hold and take it back to their tablemates. I was amazed at how many potato chips, nuts, crackers, fruit juice pouches and other Kraft products could be carried by these happy BDPAers!

Business Compute-N-Show: BDPA Initiatives and Benefits (video)

National BDPA president Denise Holland is interviewed on the Business Compute-N-Show by host Nancy Ford in Memphis, TN. This show originally aired in July 2008.



What benefits or initiatives of BDPA interest you the most?

2008-2009 BDPA Strategic Direction (Houston)

BDPA Houston chapter, founded in June 1995, is currently the 27th largest chapter in the nation. However, they plan to increase their membership total in the coming weeks and months with a strong monthly program meeting schedule. BDPA Houston is the first chapter to host the new national president, Denise Holland, as a guest speaker. She will be in Houston to talk about the 2008-2009 BDPA Strategic Direction that her executive committee is putting in place for the successful growth of BDPA.

Here are the logistics for the meeting:

Date: - Tuesday January 8, 2008
Time: - 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm

Place: - Houston Area Urban League
1301 Texas Street (Downtown Houston at the corner of Caroline)

This should be an excellent opportunity for BDPA stakeholders to speak directly with the highest ranking member of the BDPA team.

We realize that not all BETF-Blog Readers cannot be in Houston on January 8th. As such, we encourage you to ask questions right here. What would you ask president Denise Holland if you had the opportunity?

2008-2009 National BDPA Executive Committee

• Founder: Earl Pace
• President: Denise P. Holland
• President Elect/VP-Business Management: Yvette Graham
• VP-Finance: Abraham Joseph
• VP-Member Services: Kim Davis
• VP-Membership Management: Eatonia Williams
• VP-Strategy & Planning: Edwin Sapp
• Immediate Past President: Gina Billings
• Outside Director: Wayne Applewhite
• Outside Director: Norman Fleming
• Outside Director: Betty Hutchins

Please share some love and encouragement for these brothers and sisters who have agreed to provide leadership necessary to take National BDPA to the next level over the coming months and years. Share your testimony about any of these BDPA leaders that you may have worked with in the past ... or simply congratulate them on their new volunteer assignment!

Women in Technology (Austin)

We are very proud of the growth of our BDPA chapter in Central Texas. BDPA Austin chapter began the year as the 33rd largest chapter in the country. We are moving into the 4th quarter of the year ... and the chapter has increased their membership by 100% and moved up to become the 20th largest chapter in the country. The growth of this chapter is directly related to the meaningful programs and services provided for their members.

One such service is the monthly program meeting. BDPA Austin chapter will focus on Women in Technology at their October 16th program meeting. All IT professionals in central Texas are invited to share their concerns, ideas, thoughts and questions with some powerful women in our industry. The panel discussion with women from different levels of management who will discuss what it means for women to be in technology.

Here are the logistics for the meeting:

Tuesday, October 16, 2007, 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM
Mitchie’s Fine Art and Gallery
Lincoln Village Shopping Center located at IH 35 and Hwy 290

This is a great topic ... and particularly timely for BDPA as our national presidents from 2006 thru 2011 are powerful sisters (Gina Billings, Denise Holland and Yvette Graham) and our current president in Austin is a sister entrepreneur (Lorna Stewart-Booker).

Any Austin area readers out there?