Town Hall: Luncheon With the Leaders
 With their Sagamore Ballroom stage set up to look like a dining room – complete with a painted backdrop of windows and a fireplace – the four panelists in Thursday’s NBMBAA Town Hall Luncheon sat around a table sharing stories of their journeys to success. They also expressed their commitment to helping others in the community achieve their dreams.Emmy Award-winning broadcast journalist Ed Gordon moderated the discussion, which included Roslyn Brock, chairman of the National Board of Directors for the NAACP; Alvin Brown, Mayor of Jacksonville, Florida; Karen Heath-Wade, vice president of national sales for Nationwide Financial; and Dr. Randall Pinkett, president and CEO of BCT Partners. Brown, the first African-American mayor of Florida’s largest city, said his philosophy that "education is the great equalizer" was instilled in him by the mother and grandmother who raised him. He has implemented city program, called Learn to Earn, aimed at exposing young people to college life and career possibilities. "I am a big proponent of investing in young people now," Brown said. Heath-Wade related how she first aspire to become a doctor until she realized that her love and talent for connecting with people made her much better suited for a career in sales. "See yourself as you want to be," Heath-Wade told the audience. "Anything is possible if you put your mind to it." Lamenting the low levels of wealth among African Americans, Brock admonished listeners to get prepared to survive an unexpected financial setback, like the loss of a job. "Keep some money in the bank," she warned.  Pinkett spoke of the widening gap between the haves and the have-nots, and called for those who have made it to reach back to help someone else. His parting words for the audience: "We are not meant to see through each other, but to see each other through."The luncheon also featured presentation of some of the 2012 NBMBAA Awards. The Chairman’s Award went to Donald Comer, managing director of distributed access marketing for FedEx. The Helping Hands Award went to FedEx, while Nationwide received the Silver Torch Award. |
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