Showing posts with label BDPA Detroit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label BDPA Detroit. Show all posts

Saturday, February 1, 2014

Top 10 BDPA Chapters (Membership, January 2014)

The lifeblood of any nonprofit association is its membership. The streak of five straight months of membership growth ended in December and a new streak began last month!  The total membership increased by 3% in the first month of the new year.  This reflects the new excitement and energy brought to membership recruitment and retention under the leadership of National BDPA president Dr. Craig Brown and National BDPA VP-Membership Management Adrienne Thomas.

We want to congratulate BDPA Chicago chapter for maintaining its dominance when it comes to membership size.  The chapter has been holding the #1 spot for over a decade ... although I understand that there are a few chapters making moves to challenge them in 2014. BDPA Chicago chapter president Reggie Rush will have to stay on his toes this year!

Reggie Rush
We believe in the management maxim -- you get what you measure.  Let us assess the numbers in order to honor those local BDPA chapters who are demonstrating success in their efforts to recruit and retain members. Let's take a look at the ten largest chapters in BDPA-Nation:
  1. Chicago - president, Reggie Rush
  2. Washington DC - president, Perry Carter 
  3. Philadelphia - president, Eileen Gadsden
  4. Atlanta - president, Derrick Brown
  5. Cincinnati - president, Dalric Webb 
  6. New Jersey - president, Goldie Bonney (up 2 spots from last month)
  7. Los Angeles - president, John Malonson (down 1 spot)
  8. Dallas - president, Chad White(down 1 spot)
  9. New York - president, Tyronne McKinney
  10. Detroit - president, Beverly Moore

We continue to have four chapters in the 'BDPA Century Club'! The benefit of having powerful leadership is obvious when we see that Atlanta, Chicago, Philadelphia and Washington DC each have over 100 members. One of the common denominators for each of these chapters is that they place a high premium on the delivery of quality programs and services to their members. These chapters work hard to ensure that there is a strong return on the $100 investment that each member makes thru annual dues.

What are your thoughts about the value of BDPA membership? What can your local chapter do to improve the value-proposition for you on a personal or professional level?
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Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Top 10 BDPA Chapters (Membership, December 2013)

The lifeblood of any nonprofit association is its membership. The streak of five straight months of membership growth ended in December.  The total membership totals only dropped by two people ... but, it means that we need to enter into the new calendar year with renewed emphasis on recruiting and retaining members!  National BDPA president Dr. Craig Brown nominated Adrienne Thomas (BDPA Baton Rouge) to serve as the incoming national VP-Membership Management.  The full board is scheduled to vote on her confirmation at the 1st quarter board of directors meeting on January 24-25 in Orlando FL.

We want to congratulate BDPA Chicago chapter for maintaining its dominance when it comes to membership size.  The chapter remained in the #1 spot throughout the two years of leadership under its president, Pamela Sexton.   The chapter earned national recognition with the presentation of the 2013 Chapter Membership Management Award announced during the national conference by BDPA founder Earl Pace!

Pam Sexton accepts award from Earl Pace
The 'secret sauce' for the success of BDPA Chicago chapter can be found in its consistent delivery of tangible programs and services.  The chapter delivers a powerful value-proposition for IT professionals, students and sponsors.  If other chapters want to ever leap-frog Chicago into that top spot ... they will need to come up with consistently powerful programs and services in 2014.

We believe in the management maxim -- you get what you measure.  Let us assess the numbers in order to honor those local BDPA chapters who are demonstrating success in their efforts to recruit and retain members. Let's take a look at the ten largest chapters in BDPA-Nation:
  1. Chicago - president, Pamela Sexton
  2. Washington DC - president, Perry Carter 
  3. Philadelphia - president, Eileen Gadsden
  4. Atlanta - president, Derrick Brown
  5. Cincinnati - president, Clarence Larcarte 
  6. Los Angeles - president, John Malonson 
  7. Dallas - president, Stacy Stewart 
  8. New Jersey - president, Goldie Bonney
  9. New York - president, Renetta English
  10. Detroit - president, Beverly Moore

We continue to have four chapters in the 'BDPA Century Club'! The benefit of having powerful leadership is obvious when we see that Atlanta, Chicago, Philadelphia and Washington DC each have over 100 members. One of the common denominators for each of these chapters is that they place a high premium on the delivery of quality programs and services to their members. These chapters work hard to ensure that there is a strong return on the $100 investment that each member makes thru annual dues.

What are your thoughts about the value of BDPA membership? What can your local chapter do to improve the value-proposition for you on a personal or professional level?
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Sunday, December 1, 2013

Top 10 BDPA Chapters (Membership, November 2013)

The lifeblood of any nonprofit association is its membership. As such it is good to note that BDPA membership has grown for the 5th straight month under the leadership of National BDPA VP-Membership Management Curtis Jenkins. In fact, the total membership in BDPA has grown over 43% from this same time last year! In fact, BDPA membership in November 2013 is higher than any month since February 2010!

We also want to congratulate the BDPA St. Louis chapter for advancing four places to become the 11th largest chapter in the nation over the past month.  Chapter president Dwana Franklin-Davis and her leadership team managed to increase membership in their chapter by over 14% in the month of November.  Much of this increase was due to corporate memberships purchased by Monsanto.

We believe in the management maxim -- you get what you measure.  Let us assess the numbers in order to honor those local BDPA chapters who are demonstrating success in their efforts to recruit and retain members. Let's take a look at the ten largest chapters in BDPA-Nation:
  1. Chicago - president, Pamela Sexton
  2. Washington DC - president, Perry Carter 
  3. Philadelphia - president, Eileen Gadsden
  4. Atlanta - president, Derrick Brown
  5. Cincinnati - president, Clarence Larcarte 
  6. Los Angeles - president, John Malonson (up 1 spot)
  7. Dallas - president, Stacy Stewart (down 1 spot)
  8. New Jersey - president, Goldie Bonney
  9. New York - president, Renetta English
  10. Detroit - president, Beverly Moore


We continue to have four chapters in the 'BDPA Century Club'! The benefit of having powerful leadership is obvious when we see that Atlanta, Chicago, Philadelphia and Washington DC each have over 100 members. One of the common denominators for each of these chapters is that they place a high premium on the delivery of quality programs and services to their members. These chapters work hard to ensure that there is a strong return on the $100 investment that each member makes thru annual dues.


What are your thoughts about the value of BDPA membership? What can your local chapter do to improve the value-proposition for you on a personal or professional level?

Friday, November 1, 2013

Top 10 BDPA Chapters (Membership, October 2013)

The lifeblood of any nonprofit association is its membership. As such it is good to note that BDPA membership has grown for the 4th straight month. In fact, the total membership in BDPA has grown almost 35% from this same time last year!  In fact, BDPA membership in October 2013 is higher than any month since March 2010! Congratulations to National BDPA VP-Membership Management Curtis Jenkins for the work being done within his business area to move membership recruitment and retention in the right direction.

We also want to congratulate the BDPA Detroit chapter for advancing five places to become the 10th largest chapter in the nation over the past month.  Chapter president Beverly Moore and her leadership team managed to increase membership in their chapter by over 36% in the month of October.  It is great to see positive news coming out of Detroit!

We believe in the management maxim -- you get what you measure.  Let us assess the numbers in order to honor those local BDPA chapters who are demonstrating success in their efforts to recruit and retain members. Let's take a look at the ten largest chapters in BDPA-Nation:
  1. Chicago - president, Pamela Sexton
  2. Washington DC - president, Perry Carter (up 1 spot)
  3. Philadelphia - president, Eileen Gadsden (down 1 spots)
  4. Atlanta - president, Derrick Brown
  5. Cincinnati - president, Clarence Larcarte 
  6. Dallas - president, Stacy Stewart
  7. Los Angeles - president, John Malonson
  8. New Jersey - president, Goldie Bonney
  9. New York - president, Renetta English
  10. Detroit - president, Beverly Moore (up 5 spots)
We lost BDPA Middle Tennessee from the Top 10 for the first time in many moons.

We continue to have four chapters in the 'BDPA Century Club'! The benefit of having powerful leadership is obvious when we see that Atlanta, Chicago, Philadelphia and Washington DC each have over 100 members. One of the common denominators for each of these chapters is that they place a high premium on the delivery of quality programs and services to their members. These chapters work hard to ensure that there is a strong return on the $100 investment that each member makes thru annual dues.


What are your thoughts about the value of BDPA membership? What can your local chapter do to improve the value-proposition for you on a personal or professional level?

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

BDPA Foundation Announces 2013 Eli Lilly Scholarship Winners

The BDPA Education and Technology Foundation (BETF), in coordination with Eli Lilly and Company, is pleased to announce the winner of the 7th annual Eli Lilly and Company Scholarship for BDPA Students. The two winners this year are Cameron Hughes, incoming freshman at University of California, San Diego (Detroit, MI) and Risa Christopher, incoming freshman at Indiana University (Munster, IN).



The purpose of the Eli Lilly Scholarship for BDPA Students is to recognize outstanding minority students, with an interest in information technology, who make significant contributions to society. Applicants must excel academically, show exceptional leadership potential, and make an impact on their communities through service to others.
We appreciate Eli Lilly and Company for the investment that it continues to make in our BDPA student members,” said Wayne Hicks, BETF Executive Director. “The BDPA Foundation is pleased to work with Eli Lilly to help cultivate these future leaders. Our hope is that other corporations will contact us for similar scholarship opportunities
Part of the application process is an essay that answers the question 'Why is Information Technology Important'.  Risa's essay focused on the pervasiveness of education, as well as on they plan she has to combine her personal passion for healthcare and information technology with a degree in Health Informatics.  Click here for the full text of her winning essay.

Cameron Hughes
Cameron is a long-time BDPA member.  He was part of the past few national High School Computer Competition teams trained by our BDPA chapter in Detroit, MI.  Cameron has a genuine passion for computer programming.  His essay focused on the impact of technology on both every day and his life personally. Click here for the full text of his winning essay.

Previous Eli Lilly scholars were:

  1. 2007, Daniel Puente (University of Texas)
  2. 2007, Christian West (Northwestern University)
  3. 2008, Khalia Braswell (North Carolina State University)
  4. 2008, Lee Reed (University of Michigan)
  5. 2009, Hung Vo (Georgia Institute of Technology)
  6. 2009, Carrine Johnson (Palos Verdes Peninsula High School)
  7. 2010, Leslie Vasquez (Pike High School)
  8. 2010, Gerardo Dominguez (Chicago State University)
  9. 2011, Jala Cruz (North Central High School)
  10. 2011, Adwait Walimbe (John Marshall High School)
  11. 2012, Allen Warner (Valdosta State University)

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Bemley Scholar Daniel Rothchild Heads to Ivory Towers of Harvard University

Daniel Rothchild
BDPA Detroit chapter has a proud legacy of building leaders and outstanding information technology talent through its annual participation in the National BDPA High School Computer Competition (HSCC) championships.

One of the very special young people who went through the BDPA Detroit chapter Student Information Technology Education & Scholarship (SITES) program for three years is Daniel Rothchild. Daniel earned Dr. Jesse Bemley Scholarship funding of $4,000 for his high-performance in the HSCC championships during 2009, 2010 and 2011. He plans to use that funding to help defray the costs of attending Harvard University!

Daniel has lived for most of his life in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He trained with BDPA Detroit chapter for three years and was a key member of HSCC teams that placed in 2nd place (2009, 2011) and 4th place (2010) on a national level. He graduated from high school in 2013 and is considering a degree in a computer-related field when he attends Harvard University.

Daniel was a guest on the BDPA iRadio Show in the past.  We asked Daniel to once again share his thoughts about BDPA. Here is what he had to say:

"I participated in the HSCC program for three years, and my experience preparing for and competing at the national competition has had a tremendous impact on me. First and foremost, I learned the programming language Java intimately through my years of practical, hands-on experience. Though reading books on programming and taking computer science classes are helpful, nothing has prepared me better for programming in Java than the experiences I gained through BDPA.


I also learned to work as part of a team. Every member has his or her strengths, and I learned how to participate effectively as a member of a team by taking into account the strengths of other team members ... and dividing the work accordingly. I am sure this skill will be invaluable for me when I enter the workforce.

The skills I learned through my participation in BDPA have already been incredibly useful for me. This summer, I am working at a company where I need to write programs in Java ... which is the language that BDPA taught me during the HSCC training process. I am sure these skills will continue to be invaluable to me as I progress through college and beyond.

Daniel is the first BDPA student to use his Bemley Scholarship for attendance at Harvard University. I look forward to watching this young man as he progresses through his college and professional career. I hope that he is able to connect with our BDPA Boston chapter over the next four years that he is in Massachusetts!

Friday, July 26, 2013

BDPA Detroit High School Computer Competition Team (2013)

BDPA Detroit chapter has a powerful legacy in its training of K-12 students. Hundreds of young people have participated in the chapter's Student Information Technology Education & Scholarship (SITES) program over the past quarter century.

That legacy continues in 2013! The SITES program in Detroit starts early in the year and concludes in mid-fall with an awards presentation. The training begins with teaching HTML, CSS, and JavaScript before moving to more intense training of J2EE technologies, Java programming, JSP & JSTL, JDBC/SQL, project management, time management and computer history knowledge.

1st row (L-R): Tonji Zimmerman (Coordinator/Trainer), Richard Session (Trainer),
Cortez Christian, Bradley Wise, Elizabeth Ho, Desiree Taylor
2nd row (L-R): Anthony Garrett-Leverett (Coordinator/Trainer),
Charles McIntosh II, Thomas Graves, Joseph Sigmon, Cameron Campbell
Students not in photo: Cameron Hughes, Howard Smith

BDPA Detroit chapter holds its SITES training sessions at Compuware headquarters office. Funding for the program comes from corporate sponsors (Compuware, General Motors and Trinity Health), membership dues and supporters like you!

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Compuware Renews Its Bronze Level Corporate Sponsorship with BDPA

BDPA is pleased to announce that Compuware renewed its Bronze Level corporate sponsorship earlier this month. The funding goes to support the SITES program hosted by our BDPA Detroit chapter. Kudos to BDPA Detroit chapter president Beverly Moore and her leadership team for continuing to demonstrate the ROI-value proposition to Compuware again in 2013.

As an aside, the funding will also ensure that Compuware employees Ron Bell and Daisha Herring will be full conference registrants later this year at the 35th Annual National BDPA Technology Conference and Career Expo.

Saturday, April 27, 2013

BDPA Corporate Sales Presentation: Detroit (2013)

BDPA Detroit chapter president Beverly Moore and the National BDPA Corporate Sales director Wayne Hicks are scheduled to have a conference call in a few days with some executives from General Motors. The focus of the discussion will be on ways that General Motors can become a BDPA corporate sponsor.

Beverly put together this 23-page .ppt deck to describe ways that any corporation can invest in her chapter. It is a comprehensive document and may serve as a 'best practice' for other chapters seeking to improve their revenue stream from corporate sales.


What do you think? Is this an effective presentation? If not, what would you like to see added, deleted or revised?

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Program Meeting: 'Agile Software Development' (BDPA Detroit, April 2013)

BDPA Detroit chapter program meeting in April 2013 focused on 'Agile Software Development'. The guest speaker focused on how Agile is changing the way we develop applications software, the dynamic in the work place and the tools used. While there is no simple definition of Agile Software Development Framework, it is plain to see that it is terminology which will become commonly used to describe delivering value in the work place.

The meeting explored some of these approaches while sharing an overview of IBM's Agile Software Development Tool with the audience participants.  Here is the video from the meeting:


Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Happy Birthday: Diane Davis (Past National BDPA President)


Today is the birthday of past national president Diane Davis!

Diane Davis will be one of the charter members of the BDPA Hall of Fame when it is created. I went to my first BDPA program meeting in 1988 while living and working in Detroit. Diane Davis was president of the BDPA Detroit chapter. She sat up in the front of the meeting and shared her insights on BDPA. I was hooked. I joined BDPA that day ... attended my first national conference later that year in Chicago. Diane appointed me as Program Committee Chairperson for the BDPA chapter ... and recommended me for National BDPA Membership Director a few months later. BDPA Detroit chapter won back-to-back Chapter of the Year Awards under her leadership. Suffice to say I think Diane is a major part of the BDPA story...

Diane has over 25 years experience in the technology industry. Her work as a consultant with Hewlett-Packard’s Managed Services Division utilized her knowledge of local and global engagements in the manufacturing, government, and health care industries. She advised C level management teams of Fortune 500 corporations on infrastructure support practices, organization design, and the implementation of strategies, technology and principles to meet their specialized business requirements. Before this position, Diane was a Program Manager for multi-million dollar worldwide accounts and served as the CIO for a major automotive supplier.

Diane has lived and traveled throughout the United States, Canada, and South America as a software engineer and consultant in the design and implementation of management systems. Her technical career began developing robotic systems for the automotive industry. Later, she led the artificial intelligence development and implementation teams responsible for the support of corporate executives with “state of the art” technology including voice activation and annotation.

In 2003, Diane established her own consulting firm that provides strategic, organizational, and leadership services. In 2004, she expanded her business to include a robust Wellness Program established to help people improve their health, quality of life, and become financially independent. Diane has volunteered her time and supported several professional, community based, and educational organizations during her career, including BDPA. She has worked as an instructor at University of Detroit Mercy, led numerous strategic, leadership, quality, and team building workshops internationally for both profit and non-profit organizations.

Diane Davis was ol' school BDPA. Please share your remembrance of this powerful sister if you have time or inclination to do so.

Sunday, February 17, 2013

This Week in BDPA (Feb 17-23)

BDPA offers strong programs in 45 cities around the nation. Are you taking advantage of these programs? Here is a weekly preview of upcoming events gathered from the centralized BDPA calendar :
Please let us know of other BDPA events 
that we may have missed! 
You can always find BDPA programs, services or networking activity online at places such as:
BDPA supports your efforts for career advancement in the IT industry. Our hope is that you find reasons to provide tax-deductible support to our Causes, our HSCC Scholarship Funds or Your Causes! We encourage all BDPA leaders to take advantage of the centralized BDPA Groupsite Calendar to post your upcoming events.

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

BDPA Corporate Sales Presentation: Detroit (2013)

BDPA Detroit chapter recently made a sales presentation to a large corporation. I thought that the presentation deck used by the chapter was one of the best that I've seen. As such, I'm sharing it with you for your consideration:


What do you think?

Sunday, January 13, 2013

This Week in BDPA (Jan 13-19)

BDPA offers strong programs in 45 cities around the nation. Are you taking advantage of these programs? Here is a weekly preview of upcoming events gathered from the centralized BDPA calendar :
Please let us know of other BDPA events 
that we may have missed! 
You can always find BDPA programs, services or networking activity online at places such as:
BDPA supports your efforts for career advancement in the IT industry. Our hope is that you find reasons to provide tax-deductible support to our Causes, our HSCC Scholarship Funds or Your Causes! We encourage all BDPA leaders to take advantage of the centralized BDPA Groupsite Calendar to post your upcoming events.

Friday, November 23, 2012

HSCC Testimonial: Jamarr Hill (BDPA Detroit, 2003-2004)

Jamarr Hill was a member of the High School Computer Competition (HSCC) team trained by BDPA Detroit chapter to compete in the National BDPA HSCC championships held in Philadelphia (2003) and Dallas (2004). He graduated from Martin Luther King High School before studying for a marketing degree at Wayne State University. Jamarr is the owner and chief executive officer of his own company, Balla-Status, Inc.


I would like to thank Mr. Wayne Hicks for the opportunity to share some experiences that I had as a proud alumni of BDPA’s High School Computer Competition (HSCC). From the moment we tested to see where our skills were, I knew that I would love my journey. I was blessed to have wonderful teachers and excellent sponsors. I learned Java (the best programming language to date) and was able to piece together something that made me feel empowered, creative and cutting-edge. I don't know if BDPA knew it, but they were really preparing me for the future as web applications and design was in its infancy at that time.

After learning a new language and then learning to play a role. We were introduced to an environment that made the inner geek in me smile from ear-to-ear. We traveled to Philadelphia for the 2003 national HSCC championship. There seemed to be thousands of high school aged pioneers at the hotel. We were all there, not just to win, but to learn and grow.

Looking back on those years allowed me to see that I was being steered in a direction that affected my college choices, career choice and life choice. Thank you BDPA. I owe you all my happiness.


BDPA Education and Technology Foundation is proud to be able to share these HSCC testimonials for posterity. We appreciate Jamarr and the hundreds of other young men and women who have participated in almost 30 years of HSCC championships! We can use your help with funding college scholarships for young people like Jamarr.

Sunday, November 11, 2012

This Week in BDPA (Nov 11-17)

BDPA offers strong programs in 45 cities around the nation. Are you taking advantage of these programs? Here is a weekly preview of upcoming events gathered from the centralized BDPA calendar :
Please let us know of other BDPA events 
that we may have missed! 

You can always find BDPA programs, services or networking activity online at places such as:
BDPA supports your efforts for career advancement in the IT industry. Our hope is that you find reasons to provide tax-deductible support to our Causes, our HSCC Scholarship Funds or Your Causes! We encourage all BDPA leaders to take advantage of the centralized BDPA Groupsite Calendar to post your upcoming events

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Grant Disbursement: BDPA Detroit ($650)

BDPA Education and Technology Foundation approved a $650 grant request from BDPA Detroit chapter. Chapter president Beverly Moore and chapter VP-Finance Loraine Stewart-David submitted the formal request for funding with the following explanation:
"Once a year, the HSCC coordinators have a planning meeting to guide the direction of the High School Computer Competition (HSCC) program locally and nationally. This funding will allow our chapter to have input in the discussions on direction and changes for the HSCC program."
This grant disbursement will ensure that the chapter HSCC coordinator Tonji Zimmerman will be in Orlando next month for the annual meeting.

Sunday, October 14, 2012

This Week in BDPA (Oct 14-20)

BDPA offers strong programs in 45 cities around the nation. Are you taking advantage of these programs? Here is a weekly preview of upcoming events gathered from the centralized BDPA calendar :
Please let us know of other BDPA events that we may have missed!

You can always find BDPA programs, services or networking activity online at places such as:
BDPA supports your efforts for career advancement in the IT industry. Our hope is that you find reasons to provide tax-deductible support to our Causes, our HSCC Scholarship Funds or Your Causes!

We encourage all BDPA leaders to take advantage of the centralized BDPA Groupsite Calendar to post your upcoming events!