And Finally...
Why here?
Why now? These are two questions
I had to answer before accepting the position of Managing Director for MBE
Programs at Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, and leaving the leadership
position at the GNEMSDC, where I had served for almost 14 years.
The answer to the first question has to do with
Tuck’s reputation based of 35 years of delivering world-class executive
education for minority entrepreneurs. I
started my career teaching at some pretty good schools: Brandeis University’s
Heller School and University of Connecticut School of Business. When I left academia to take the positon at
the GNEMSDC, I thought it would for a much shorter time than it turned out to
be. However I knew that sooner or
later, I would return to academia. When the
opportunity presented itself to join the team at Tuck, it was a situation that
provided me the best of both worlds. I
was back at a world-class business school at a great university and I could
still focus on my passion of developing MBEs.
I participated Tuck's Growing the Minority Business to Scale program in
2003. This experience changed how I
thought about my leadership at the CMSDC and was instrumental in leading two
separate acquisitions that led to the establishment of the GNEMSDC in
2009. The opportunity to have this kind
of influence on other MBEs is so closely aligned with my personal mission that
the term providential comes to mind.
This is where I need to be.
The answer to the why now question is also a
function of a culmination of work in MBE development. This move to Tuck is in no way a rejection
of the great work done by the NMSDC and its network of affiliates. The certification, development, connecting and
advocacy work done by the NMSDC continues to be absolutely essential. However, I have concluded that now more than
ever, MBEs need to sharpen their executive and entrepreneurial skills if they
are to survive and thrive in this new hyper-competitive global economy. Tuck allows me to work almost full-time on
the development of MBEs. At Tuck I am
working with scholars and business leaders who are providing the information
needed for MBEs to be successful.
So once again, I am serving as a bridge. With the
Council the bridge was between MBEs and corporations. At Tuck the bridge is between MBEs and
information. I relish this new challenge and hope to change even more lives in
this new role. I will be calling on your
support in coming weeks and months. I
will be sharing information about new developments in the Tuck MBE Program. I will also be sharing information that does
not normally flow to MBEs and Supplier Diversity professionals. Together we will continue to make a
difference. All it takes is a quick look
at the daily paper to see that now, more than ever, we need to develop MBEs if
we are to achieve the promise of America.
