President Profile: Kae Watson (BDPA Hampton Roads)

One of the greatest benefits of BDPA membership is in the area of leadership development. We provide IT professionals with the opportunity to flex their leadership muscles as committee chairs, department directors and ultimately as chapter presidents. This blog is pleased to introduce you to the new chapter president of our BDPA Hampton Roads Chapter -- Kae Watson! Kae will serve as the president for this Virginia-based chapter for 2012-2013.

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Favorite Scripture: "Deliver me and rescue me from the hands of foreigners whose mouths are full of lies, whose right hands are deceitful." ~ Psalms 144:11

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Kae was born in Richmond, Virginia as the only child of two esteemed educators and military retirees. She is described by those who know her intellectually inspirational, musically gifted, dynamically driven, and creatively unexplainable – a mogul. Kae graduated from North Carolina A&T State University (Class of 1999, Mechanical Engineering). She is currently pursuing a masters in Psychology from the University of Phoenix. Kae is a long-time member of BDPA, American Society of Mechanical Engineers and National Society of Black Engineers. Her corporate career has been focused in the engineering & telecommunications industry.

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Favorite Quote: "...impress by the power of our example; not by the example of our power." ~ Bill Clinton

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Kae also gave of her time, talent and energy to other areas of interest such as marketing, promotions, entertainment and community development. She spent a number of years working in radio and broadcasting for both Radio One and Clear Channel. At one point she owned a multimedia promotions and marketing company -- Xpect Xsilence Music Group. Today, Kae is the founder and chief executive officer of Black Card Bound.

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Motto: "Say what you mean ... mean what you say." ~ Kae Watson

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BDPA Hampton Roads is blessed to have Kae Watson coming on-board as its chapter president. She will use resourcefulness, charismatic personality, experience, talents, and energy along with creative - innovative - next era thinking to uplift the fortunes of the young chapter. We look forward to seeing the community development and technology initiatives implemented by Kae and her BDPA leadership team over the coming weeks and months.

You can reach Kae by email or phone (804.677-3579).   We also encourage you to take a moment to reply to this blog post with your comments and good wishes for Kae Watson!

This Week in BDPA (Oct 28 - Nov 3)

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 :

• Oct 29: Middle Tennessee - Workshop, 'PMP Bootcamp Training'
  
• Nov 1: Middle Tennessee - Program Meeting, 'The Financial Shepherd'

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 Facebook Group
• BDPA Foundation Facebook Page
• BDPA LinkedIn Network Group.

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!

Minority Technical Organizations Join Together to Enhance STEM Opportunities

Did you know that there are more than 40 minority technical organizations (MTOs) working independent of each other on initiatives to diversify the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) workforce? These groups represent a large segment of the demographics of the next generation of scientists, technologists and engineers. Unfortunately, these MTOs are unable to fully implement their mission because too often they are underfunded and are not recognized as full partners in the national STEM effort.

As a result, we are very happy to report that representatives from a number of these MTOs held a luncheon meeting in Washington DC on September 24, 2012. At the conclusion of their summit the MTOs agreed to work together to strengthen their influence on STEM development and to help each other more effectively reach mutual goals and objectives.

The organizations at this meeting included:

1. American Association of Blacks in Energy
2. Latino Scientists & Engineers
3. National BDPA
4. National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers
5. National Organization of Minority Architects
6. National Society of Black Engineers
7. National Society of Black Physicists
8. National Technical Association
9. Society for Advance of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science
10. Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers

The MTOs agreed to work collaboratively on ways to push forward the agenda for STEM development that would positively impact on people of color. Some of the ideas that came forward were:

• Combine expertise to support projects of mutual interests and benefit;
• Collaborate on outreach and marketing activities;
• Meet at least annually to discuss and select collaborative activities;
• Pursue collaborative strategies that strengthen the MTO influence on STEM development;
• Share their common interests and support each other's mission, purpose and activities through information exchange using various communications media;
• Unite their voice to support STEM policies that promote diversification of STEM and to oppose policies that hinder diversification.

I think that it is wonderful that these groups are finding ways to work together. Kudos to National BDPA president Monique Berry and vice president Craig Brown for representing BDPA at this event.

If you're reading this blog post ... then we would love your thoughts. Are you part of any of these MTOs? Do you have other suggestions for them to consider?

Overview - BDPA Washington DC (2012)

BDPA Washington DC chapter president Perry Carter is understandably proud of the community outreach initiatives put in place this year. He shared a 20-page deck that I thought would be of interest to many of our blog-readers.

Overview - BDPA Washington DC (2012) from Wayne Hicks

This is the type of publication we would love to see created to document successes and progress for BDPA all around the nation. What did you think about this BDPA Washington DC community outreach overview?

Take Five: Jeffry Kimble (BDPA New York)

BDPA New York is the 2-time defending 'BDPA Chapter of the Year' because of its demonstrated excellence in delivering programs, scholarships and services to its stakeholders over the past two years. The untold story of this remarkable local chapter is a quiet leader named Jeffry Kimble. Jeffry served as president for more years (2000-2005) than anyone else in the 30 year history of BDPA New York chapter.

I served with Jeffry during the six years he was on the national BDPA board of directors. I always admired him because he came prepared and he was willing to roll up his sleeves and do the work. In his corporate career Jeffry is an experienced Capacity Planner with a record of innovation who is known for versatile performance resulting in enhanced organizational effectiveness.

This blog was pleased when Jeff (Twitter: @jeffryk) agreed to be part of our 'Take Five' Interview Series!

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1. How did you get involved with BDPA? - I was invited to participate early in my career by a co-worker. She was was one of three African Americans at a fortune 100 company working in 'data processing' (now called 'information technology'). Her IT career was a beacon for many of us because she wasn't relegated to working at the Help Desk or in the print pool or the tape library. Anyhow, she was a member of the Northern New Jersey Chapter when I joined BDPA in 1984. The chapter used to meet in East Orange, New Jersey during those days.
2. What is your favorite part of working with BDPA? - There is a tremendous diversity of experiences among BDPA members. This allowed me to live one of BDPA's earliest themes, 'Growth through Professional Association'. I have met people who helped me shape my career. It is through BDPA program meetings that I learned about a wide range of technologies that enabled me to excel with new job responsibilities in comparison to my co-workers who were not BDPA members.
3. What future evolution or change would you like to see in BDPA? - BDPA has to embrace newer technologies sooner. I would like to see local chapters aggressively embrace new technology. History has shown over and over how early adopters of technology have been rewarded. Second, the organization needs to do more to recognize BDPA members. Finally I think that BDPA can do more to encourage mobile application development ... why not hold a contest?
4. Why should someone pay $100 membership dues to join BDPA? - This $100 is a tiny amount to pay in comparison for the opportunities offered by BDPA membership. One year of program meetings hosted by our BDPA New York chapter is intellectually equivalent to a 3-credit college level course in IT. BDPA provides face-to-face networking opportunities ... not just links on a website. Members get the opportunity to develop skills in leadership roles. This prepares them for future advancement within their career paths.
5. Any advice for people considering a donation to the BDPA Education and Technology Foundation (BETF)? - We have to invest in our own future. The High School Computer Competition (HSCC) students of today will be the innovators and employers of tomorrow.

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I encourage you to share your thoughts, insights or comments on Jeffry's 'Take Five' interview. Another way to honor Jeffry is to make a secure online donation in support of college scholarships for BDPA New York HSCC students.

Message from BDPA Atlanta Chapter President

Year of Atlanta (YOA); Making History!

We kicked off the third quarter making history at the National BDPA Conference in Baltimore, MD. I am very honored and proud to announce the BDPA Atlanta High School Computer Competition (HSCC) Team won 1st Place in the 2012 national HSCC championship!

Our students made several historical moments with this win. In the 27 years of the competition, the first time

• Atlanta has won 1st place,
• a team received a perfect score on programming,
• a person has won 1st place as a student and a coordinator; Wesley Williams!

On behalf of the Student Program of BDPA Atlanta and the entire BDPA Atlanta chapter, I would like to thank everyone for their support because you helped to make this possible. Our sponsors and individual donors were instrumental in our students attending the national competition this year. The chapter looks forward to everyone’s continued support in the upcoming years.

Felicia Jones

We continued making history by continuing to provide more webinars than any other chapter. In this quarter, we provided webinars on 3FE, Entrepreneurship, Software Engineering in Aerospace, The State of BDPA, and HSCC-Recap of 2012 National Conference. Attendees learned how to: Lock That Job with using the 3FE approach with Derrick Brown; Start and maintain an IT business and determining if entrepreneurship is really for them with Chiadi Obi; develop software in safety critical systems like an airplane with Alphonse Porter; The Atlanta Leadership Team also presented The State of BDPA, a mid-year year in review, openly discussing our roadmap, accomplishments, and failures; and the instructors, volunteers, parents and students of the HSCC team discussed their experiences at the 2012 National BDPA Conference. At our monthly program meeting in September, we continued to educate our members and future members on Big Data with Dr. Craig Brown leading an informative lecture and discussion on the trend of interacting with big data in the IT world.

Macy's Systems & Technology gave everyone an opportunity to wind down by sponsoring a Summer Mixer at Abbotts Old Towne Tavern & Grill. We had a great evening of networking. Our members and guests also had the opportunity to 'give back' through our community outreach event, by donating back-to-school supplies and providing canned food for The Bridge Builders & Norcross Co-op organizations. Our outreach in the community continued as we got “down and dirty" at Atlanta Community Food Bank’s community garden. The Food Bank supports a wide range of people in need, from children to the working poor. Food pantries,community kitchens, childcare centers, night shelters, and senior centers are among the agencies that receive products from the organization; and provide food and other critical resources for low-income Georgians who suffer from hunger and food insecurity.

Our final historical moment was when Next Level Technology Foundation hosted the inaugural Black IT Executive Forum as a fundraising event for BDPA - HSCC. The event was the first of its kind in Atlanta, focusing on senior African American IT professionals and their journey to their current roles. The panelists were Monique Berry (President, NBDPA), Michael Fisher (SVP, Ceridian), Derek Johnson (CIO, SED International), Curtis Rawlings (Interim CIO, DeKalb County), Darius Jackson Ryals (GVP, Wyndham Worldwide), Lee Scott (VP,Macy’s Systems & Technology) and moderated by Mike Williams (SVP. FIS & Director, BDPA South Region); they served as mentors and inspirations. The event raised $2,700; $1,400 for BDPA and $1,300 for HSCC.

I know I wrote in the paragraph above ‘final historical moment’, but if you don’t know anything about the Atlanta Leadership team, please know this: Nothing is EVER ‘final’ with us. Besides, we have another quarter to go ... YOA!

Felicia Jones, President
BDPA Atlanta Chapter

BDPA iRadio Show: October 23, 2012

BDPA Education and Technology Foundation (BETF) is very proud to be the creator of the BDPA iRadio Show. The show on October 23rd is the 37th episode of the our Internet Radio Show that began last summer. You can listen to the archive version of the show using the widget shown in the right-hand sidebar of this blog. FREE download from the iTunes Store is also available for our listeners!

Listen to internet radio with BDPA on Blog Talk Radio

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The guests on the October 23rd show:

Dr. Craig Brown - Vice President, National BDPA - Dr. Craig Brown was elected to be National BDPA Vice President (2012-2013). He works in tandem with our national president Monique Berry and the various regional officers to take BDPA to the next level. Dr. Brown has a 24 year career serving as an expert systems and database architect within leading technologies like Oracle, Oracle-PeopleSoft, SAP, IBM and Microsoft. His experiences are more particular to the Enterprise Resource Planning, Decision Support and Relational Database Management Systems technologies. He earned over 20 certifications within these technological areas and currently provides implementation and integration expertise along with a variety of other technological disciplines. He holds a BS in Computer Science as well as a Master's in Business and a Doctorate in Management Information Systems. Dr. Brown should be able to share with our iRadio Show audience his vision for the future of BDPA. His twitter handle is @CraigBrownPHD

Perry Carter - Chapter President, BDPA Washington DC - Perry Carter is one of the longest-tenured BDPA members in the country. He was a co-founder of a BDPA college chapter on the Temple campus many years ago. Perry came back to be a leader in our Washington DC area after serving in the military and building his career in Corporate America. For many years he was a publisher of BDPA magazines and newsletters. Over the past 3 years he served as BDPA Washington DC chapter. His chapter is working with National BDPA to host the 35th annual BDPA Technology Conference on August 14-17, 2013. We look forward to hearing his story on the BDPA iRadio Show. His twitter handle is @BDPADC  

Jackie Johnson - Information Security Director, Procter & Gamble - Jackie is one of the highest ranking Black women in the information security field. She is responsible for global information security at Procter & Gamble – reporting directly to the company’s chief information officer. Jackie is a past member of the BDPA Cincinnati chapter and currently is active within the Information Technology Senior Management Forum. She is an inspiration and role model for many in our organization and our industry. We look forward to hearing her story on the BDPA iRadio Show. Her company's twitter handle is @ProcterGamble

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We hope you enjoy the insights and commentary on the show from each of these guests. Please take a moment to post a comment to let us know that you care!