Approaching its seventh year anniversary, the Georgia Tech Black Leadership Conference (BLC) is an annual event, hosted by the African American Student Union (AASU), which aims to foster personal growth and career development, establish community involvement, and empowers students to use their leadership ability to accomplish their goals. The BLC provides an enriching environment that allows for students to network and actively exchange ideas with their fellow peers as well as prominent business and community leaders. Since it began in 2004, the BLC has helped to host such prominent and prolific speakers, such as the mayor of Atlanta – Shirley Franklin, Dr. Maya Angelou, then Senator Barack Obama, and most recently, Dr. Cornell West.

For this year’s conference we are no less ambitious. Scheduled to take place on Friday, February 19 through Sunday, February 21, 2010, the conference consist of three days designed to enlighten, motivate and augment participant’s leadership skills. The festivities will commence with a dynamic and thought-provoking Town Hall meeting in conjunction with CNN. Saturday’s events consist of two keynote speakers, several workshops, a presentation by our Leadership for Tomorrow mentoring program, and an oratory contest. The conference will culminate on Sunday with a motivational speaker in the morning, followed by a community service project. In line with the BLC 2009, this year’s BLC will host a prominent leader or dignitary as the closing keynote speaker on Sunday evening.

We are extremely excited about this year’s conference. We know that our participants will leave a changed person. For this reason, we chose the theme I-Change: Filling the Void Between Self and Community. We realize that change starts from within and then emanates out into the community. I-Change is much more than a theme, it is a movement. This year we are calling the Georgia Tech and Atlanta communities to service. We hope that you too can be a part of the I-Change campaign.

On behalf of the BLC 2010 committee we look forward to seeing you at the conference.

Best Regards,

Jakeisha Smith

Chair, Black Leadership Conference 2010

Approaching its seventh year anniversary, the Georgia Tech Black Leadership Conference (BLC) is an annual event, hosted by the African American Student Union (AASU), which aims to foster personal growth and career development, establish community involvement, and empowers students to use their leadership ability to accomplish their goals. The BLC provides an enriching environment that allows for students to network and actively exchange ideas with their fellow peers as well as prominent business and community leaders. Since it began in 2004, the BLC has helped to host such prominent and prolific speakers, such as the mayor of Atlanta – Shirley Franklin, Dr. Maya Angelou, then Senator Barack Obama, and most recently, Dr. Cornell West.

For this year’s conference we are no less ambitious. Scheduled to take place on Friday, February 19 through Sunday, February 21, 2010, the conference consist of three days designed to enlighten, motivate and augment participant’s leadership skills. The festivities will commence with a dynamic and thought-provoking Town Hall meeting in conjunction with CNN. Saturday’s events consist of two keynote speakers, several workshops, a presentation by our Leadership for Tomorrow mentoring program, and an oratory contest. The conference will culminate on Sunday with a motivational speaker in the morning, followed by a community service project. In line with the BLC 2009, this year’s BLC will host a prominent leader or dignitary as the closing keynote speaker on Sunday evening.

We are extremely excited about this year’s conference. We know that our participants will leave a changed person. For this reason, we chose the theme I-Change: Filling the Void Between Self and Community. We realize that change starts from within and then emanates out into the community. I-Change is much more than a theme, it is a movement. This year we are calling the Georgia Tech and Atlanta communities to service. We hope that you too can be a part of the I-Change campaign.

On behalf of the BLC 2010 committee we look forward to seeing you at the conference.

Best Regards,

Jakeisha Smith

Chair, Black Leadership Conference 2010

Friday: February 19, 2010
Location: Georgia Tech Alumni House
190 North Avenue
Atlanta, GA 30313

Schedule:

7:00pm-9:00pm: Partnership and Alumni Reception co-hosted by Georgia Tech’s Black Alumni Organization

Saturday: February 20, 2010
Location: Georgia Tech Management Building
800 West Peachtree Street NW
Atlanta, GA 30308

Schedule:

8:00am-8:45am: Registration and Breakfast
9:00am-9:45am: Opening and Keynote Speaker 1
10:00am-10:45am: Workshop Session 1
11:00am-11:45am: Keynote Speaker 2 (Scot Safon)
12:00pm-12:45pm: Lunch (The Exchange)
1:00pm-1:45pm: Workshop Session 2
2:15pm-3:45pm: Town Hall Meeting (Luis Ramos)

Sunday: February 21, 2010
Location: Ferst Center for the Arts at Georgia Tech
349 Ferst Drive NW
Atlanta, GA 30332

Schedule:

10:00am-12pm: Community Service Project (Location TBA)
2:00pm-4:00pm: Keynote Speakers (Chuck D. and Dr. Mae Jemison)
4:00pm-5pm: VIP Reception

Scot M. Safon is Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for CNN Worldwide, where he is responsible for the branding, marketing and promotion of CNN’s multiple networks and services. He is based in CNN’s world headquarters in Atlanta.

Safon joined CNN in August 2002 as its Senior Vice President of Marketing and Promotion.  Since then, he has supervised the development of all consumer and trade communication for CNN US Television, CNN.com, CNN International, HLN, CNN.com/Live, CNN Mobile and all other CNN services.  His team is responsible for all audience development, trade messages and sales communications supporting CNN brands and programming.  He has overseen development of campaigns on behalf of such programs as Anderson Cooper 360, Larry King Live, The Situation Room,  American Morning, Nancy Grace and CNN Presents, the most-honored news documentary series on television..  His team has been responsible for handling marketing and sales communications during CNN’s award-winning coverage of the 2008 and 2004 Presidential Elections, Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, the war in Iraq and the Southeast Asia Tsunami disaster.  He has also overseen the Emmy-winning campaign for the top-rated God’s Warriors and campaigns for acclaimed primetime documentaries such as Black in America and Planet in Peril.  His campaigns for CNN.com, the world’s #1 news website, have included the multi-award winning “Power of CNN Under Your Command” campaign, and the “Where Information Meets Opportunity” campaign for CNN’s mobile and podcast services.  Safon has been named a 2006 “Brand Builder” by Television Week magazine, and his campaigns for Anderson Cooper 360 (2006) and CNN=Politics (2007) have been named “Campaigns of Distinction”, the only news campaigns to be awarded the honor in those years.    Most recently, his team led the charge on CNN’s groundbreaking Inauguration Day partnership with Facebook, which resulted in CNN.com/Live hosting the largest online video event in internet history.

Prior to joining CNN, Safon was senior vice president of marketing for Turner Network Television (TNT).  In this capacity, he was responsible for all marketing efforts on behalf of TNT, including network branding, consumer and trade advertising, as well as the marketing and promotion of individual programming events, series and franchises.   He supervised the marketing campaign that launched the network’s successful “We Know Drama” branding initiative in June 2001.

Also while at TNT, Safon supervised the development of campaigns on behalf of some of the most-watched and most-honored original productions in cable history, including George Wallace, Nuremberg, Pirates of Silicon Valley, Andersonville, The Mists of Avalon, James Dean and Door to Door.   He has also overseen campaigns for TNT’s specials, sports programming and original series, including the network’s coverage of PGA, NASCAR and the NBA; its all-star concerts honoring Brian Wilson, Joni Mitchell, Burt Bacharach, Bob Marley and John Lennon.  Safon has overseen marketing and promotional campaigns developed to support TNT’s advertiser and cable affiliate efforts.

Before joining TNT, Safon was in the ad agency world, handling campaigns for the CBS Television Network, working on campaigns for CBS Sports, CBS News and CBS International.  He began his career as an account executive with D’Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles, Inc., developing advertising campaigns for national consumer brands, including Pampers, Pepto-Bismol and Kal Kan Foods.

Safon earned a bachelor of arts degree in economics and history from the University of Virginia and a master’s of business administration from Cornell University.

Diamond Partners

ADP		http://www.adp.com/
Proctor and Gamble		http://www.pg.com/

Platinum Partners

Student Life Advisory Board
IBM		http://www.ibm.com/

Gold Partners

Honda		http://www.honda.com/
ILE
Conoco Phillips		http://www.conocophillips.com/
Eaton Corporation		http://www.eaton.com/

Silver Partners

BP		http://www.bp.com/
Bank of America		http://www.bankofamerica.com/
Acuity Brands Lighting		http://www.acuitybrands.com/

Bronze Partners

Georgia Department of Economic Development		http://www.georgia.org/
Office of Hispanic Initiatives
Georgia Tech Alumni Organization		http://gtalumni.org/
Scana Workforce		http://www.scana.com/
College of Industrial and Systems Engineering

BLC ’10 Corporate Partnership Levels & Benefits

Diamond Partner:

$10,000.00+

• Company’s Name and Logo on all Conference

Paraphernalia

• Full Page Color Ad in the Conference Program

• African American Student Union Chapter Member

Resume Disc (Access to over 300 Exceptional Georgia

Tech Students) along with BLC ’10 Resume Disc

• Company’s Website Link and Logo on the Conference

Website

• Conference Admission for 10 Guests with VIP Seating

• Workshop Presentation Opportunity

• Town Hall Panel Position Opportunity

• Booth Set-Up on Saturday

• Access to Over 500 Underrepresented Students

• Banner Advertisements

• Personal Conference Liaison throughout the Conference

• Photo CD of Conference Participation

Platinum Partner:

$5,000.00+

• Full Page Color Ad in Conference Program

• Company’s Website Link and Logo on the Conference

Website

• BLC ’10 Resume Disc

• Access to the Networking Reception

• Access to Over 500 Underrepresented Students

• Personal Conference Liaison throughout the Conference

• Town Hall Panel Position Opportunity

• Conference Admission for 10 Guests

• Photo CD of Conference Participation

• Award Presentation Opportunity

Gold Partner:

$2,500.00+

• Half Page Color Ad in Conference Program

• Conference Admission for 5 Guests

• Website Recognition

• Introduction of a Keynote Speaker

• Personal Conference Liaison throughout the Conference

• Photo CD of Conference Participation

• Award Presentation Opportunity

Silver Partner:

$1,000.00+

• Half Page Color Ad in Conference Program

• Company’s Website Link and Logo on the Conference

Website

• Personal Conference Liaison throughout the Conference

• Conference Admission for 2 Guest

• Photo CD of Conference Participation

What is a Corporate Partner?

Corporate Partners are companies, organizations, and institutions that demonstrate their commitment to diversity and leadership by partnering with AASU in support of our annual Black Leadership Conference.

Why partner with AASU?

Your contribution will help AASU fulfill its mission of improving the Black experience at Georgia Tech by providing an uplifting and entertaining conference while exchanging integral knowledge and culture to the entire student body, challenging each student to improve themselves through professional, social, and personal achievement, thereby positively impacting the community.

The partnership benefits for your company…

Exhibitor and recruiting opportunities at the 7th Annual BLC Carrier Fair. This allows for exposure to :

• Over 500 current and prospective students
• Prominent business and community leaders, and alumni,
• Advertisement in all program documentations,
• Advertisement on the website
• Recognition at closing ceremony
• And a special thank you submitted to Georgia Tech’s Technique newspaper (distribution of 13,000)

Luis Antonio Ramos is a noted actor of stage and screen who was born in Puerto Rico and raised in the Bronx, New York. When he is not on stage, Luis tirelessly devotes his time to encouraging and empowering our youth. As the keynote speaker for the 8th Annual Latino Youth Leadership Conference his dynamic and heartfelt address brought a crowd of nearly 2,000 students and parents to their feet for a thunderous ovation. He has delivered addresses on gang prevention, celebrating multiculturalism, the challenges facing young people of color and the infinite opportunities awaiting those who embrace education. A busy actor, Luis can currently be seen in the critically acclaimed film The Ministers opposite John Leguizamo, as a guest star on Burn Notice and The Unit and in HBO’s new series, How To Make It In America. In October 2009 Luis received the Jose Ferrer Tespis Award from HOLA (Hispanic Organization of Latin Artists). Luis will suspend working on the feature film Miracle In Spanish Harlem to attend the AASU Black Leadership Conference.

Other film credits include The Sun and the Moon opposite José Ferrer, The Ruins, Checking Out, Imagining Argentina, Out of Sync, Do the Right Thing, Sea of Love, Moscow on the Hudson, The Secret of My Success and The Return of Superfly. Television credits include recurring roles on The Huntress, Early Edition, In the House, Martin, and Roc; and guest appearances on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CSI: Miami, The Shield, The Closer, NYPD Blue, New York Undercover, Arli$$, Nip/Tuck, Friends, Law & Order, Mad About You, Alias, Strong Medicine and The Division. He was nominated for an Alma Award for best supporting actor for his work in “The Huntress.” In addition, Luis received the Helen Hayes Award for Best Actor for his performance in the play Stand Up Tragedy. His theater credits include Dancing on her Knees, Cloud Tectonics, Romeo and Juliet, Tears Will Tell It All, Widows, Richard II, Henry the IV, Pendragon, The Sound of Music, A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream and Latins from Manhattan. In addition, Luis has been the Goodwill Ambassador for The National Puerto Rican Day Parade in New York, the Godfather for The Puerto Rican Day Parade in Los Angeles and the Godfather for the Puerto Rican Day Parade in Cleveland, Ohio.

Chuck D.-Author and Co-founder of Public Enemy

Chuck D is the leader and co-founder of the legendary rap group Public Enemy, the author of two critically acclaimed books, and a political activist, publisher, radio host, and producer.

Chuck D redefined rap music and hip hop culture with the release of Public Enemy’s debut album in 1987. Yo Bum Rush The Show delivered a powerful articulation of the realities facing black people in the late twentieth century. With an unprecedented lyrical eloquence, Public Enemy has continued to stress the importance of history and self-determination in the forward movement of all who have been oppressed. Between 1987 and 2009, with Chuck D at the helm, Public Enemy has released x albums, toured 63 countries, and influenced hip hop communities, social justice struggles, and political activism throughout the world. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine included Chuck D and Public Enemy as one of the “fifty most important performers in rock & roll history.” In 2007, he was named one of the 100 Most Influential Black Americans by Ebony Magazine.

Chuck D has been featured and/or interviewed in over fifty documentaries on music, technology, politics, and race; he has appeared in numerous public service announcements for national peace and the Partnership for a Drug Free America. He has also been a national spokesperson for Rock the Vote, the National Urban League, Americans for the Arts Council, and the National Alliance for African-American Athletes. In 2006, he hosted ESPN’s Ali Raps about the poetry and politics of Muhammad Ali. For the past five years, he has hosted On the Real/Off the Record for Air America, on which some of the most important musical and political figures of our time have been interviewed. Chuck D continues to make music and to write prolifically on technology, race, politics, rap and soul music, and race in the US.

There are few artists who possess such sophisticated understandings of the music business, entertainment industry, and racial politics in America, and few speakers who can command an audience like Chuck D.

Dr. Mae Jemison

First Woman of Color in Space

Founder and President of Two Medical Technology Companies

Mae C. Jemison blasted into orbit aboard the shuttle Endeavour on September 12, 1992 as the first woman of color to go into space. Now the Founder and President of two technology companies, the space flight was just one in a series of accomplishments for this dynamic woman.

Born in Decatur, Alabama and raised in Chicago, she entered Stanford University at the age of sixteen on a scholarship, graduating with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering and fulfilled the requirements for an A.B. in African and Afro-American studies. She earned her doctorate in medicine at Cornell University Medical College.

Prior to joining NASA in 1987, Dr. Jemison worked in both engineering and medicine. She was a General Practitioner in Los Angeles with the INA/Ross Loos Medical Group. She then spent two and a half years (1983-1985) as Area Peace Corps medical officer for Sierra Leone and Liberia in West Africa. On her return to Los Angeles, she worked as a General Practitioner with CIGNA Health Plans of California.

Dr. Jemison served as a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) astronaut for six years. As the science mission specialist on the STS-47 Spacelab J flight, a US/Japan joint mission, she conducted experiments in life sciences, material sciences and was a co-investigator of the Bone Cell Research experiment.

Dr. Jemison resigned from NASA in March 1993 and founded The Jemison Group, Inc. The company was established to focus on the beneficial integration of science and technology into our everyday lives. Company projects have included consulting on the design and implementation of solar thermal electricity generation systems for developing countries and remote areas and the use of satellite-based telecommunications to facilitate health care delivery in West Africa.

Most recently, Dr. Jemison developed a new business, BioSentient Corporation, a medical technology company that creates and markets mobile equipment worn to monitor the body’s vital signs and train people to respond favorably in stressful situations. BioSentient was created in July 1999 by The Jemison Group, Inc., which holds the exclusive license from NASA to commercialize this exciting new technology. Originally designed to control motion sickness, BioSentient’s technology presents significant opportunities across a wide spectrum of health and human performance areas.

In 1994, Dr. Jemison founded and currently chairs The Dorothy Jemison Foundation for Excellence, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. The Earth We Share Ô (TEWS), a program of the foundation is an annual international science camp. Students from around the world, ages 12 to 16, work together to solve current global dilemmas, like “How Many People Can the Earth Hold?” and “Predict the Hot Public Stocks of The Year 2030.” The four-week residential program builds critical thinking and problem solving skills through an experiential curriculum developed by Dr. Jemison.

Dr. Jemison also serves as Bayer Corporation’s national science literacy advocate.

As an A.D. White Professor-at-Large at Cornell University, Dr. Jemison manages to stay connected to her Alma Mater though this program which brings select individuals to the campus to supplement the activities of permanent faculty. Dr. Jemison is a former professor of Environmental Studies at Dartmouth College. Between 1995 – 2002, she directed the Jemison Institute for Advancing Technology in Developing Countries. S.E.E.ing the Future: Science, Engineering and Education, an institute project and workshop, is a White Paper compiled and edited by Dr. Jemison that discusses a framework for prioritizing governmental funding of science and engineering research that was released in Spring 2002. She was the moderator for an IEEE-USA Technical Symposia Space Technologies for Disaster Mitigation and Global Health.

Dr. Jemison was elected into the National Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Medicine in 2001. She serves on the Board of Directors for Scholastic, Inc. and Valspar Corporation and the Texas Governor’s State Council for Science and BioTechnology Development. Dr. Jemison has received numerous awards and honors including: induction into the National Women’s Hall of Fame; selection as one of the People magazines’ 1993 “World’s 50 Most Beautiful People”; Johnson Publications Black Achievement Trailblazers Award; the Kilby Science Award; National Medical Association Hall of Fame; selection as a Montgomery Fellow, Dartmouth College; Texas Science Hall of Fame; Rotary Club Chicago’s ROTARY/One Award; a number of honorary doctorates including Doctor of Humanities from Princeton University.

Dr. Jemison has presented to the U.N. on the uses of space technology, appeared weekly as the host and technical consultant of the World of Wonder series on the Discovery channel in 1994-1995, appeared in an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation and was the subject of the PBS documentary The New Explorers. She is an honorary member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority and is the namesake of an alternative public school in Detroit. In January 1999, she was selected as one of the top seven women leaders in a Presidential Ballot national straw poll conducted by The White House Project.

Dr. Jemison’s first book, Find Where the Wind Goes: Moments From My Life, autobiographical anecdotes about growing up, was written for teenagers and was published in Spring 2001.

In her speeches, Dr. Jemison inspires and encourages audiences. A fierce advocate of a liberal arts education with a natural aptitude toward the sciences, Dr. Jemison addresses a myriad of topics, from general motivation, to science literacy, to technological and medical innovations, always bringing her sense of humor to each story she tells. The product of a middle American upbringing, Dr. Jemison, a precocious student who found her role models in teachers, parents and mentors who guided her along life’s path, traces her education from her mother’s school teacher encouragement, through her undergraduate years as a science major at Stanford, into Cornell and her “humbling” as a medical student. She takes the audience on an exciting and diverse voyage which mirrors her life, encompassing a journey from Africa to Outer Space – focusing on exploration of the frontiers of science and human potential.

Dr. Jemison resides in Houston.