Business Focus
r-r """"" " *'*' ?*" q
Briefs
NCCU chancellor among first
recipients of Harlem Week Award
DURHAM - N.C. Central University Chancellor
James H. Ammons was recognised recently as a recipient
of the '7002 Guardian of Our Legacy Award" given at the
lira annual rtariem weex national
Black College Fair and Expo.
Amnions was one of four lead
ers of historically black colleges
and universities selected for the
inaugural award.
"This was a hard choice
because a lot of university leaders
have done exceptional things for
their institutions," said Winston
Majette. Expo co-chair. "North
Carolina Central University has
jumped leaps and bounds under Dr.
Ammons
Amnions' leadership there. He was one of the logical
choices.
Majette said the organization was aware of the local
and national attention that NCCU has received since
Amnions' anival in June 2001. Additionally, several com
mittee members were familiar with him not only as chan
cellor at NCCU, but also with his work while an adminis
trator at Florida A&M University.
Ammons received the "2002 Guardian of Our Legacy
Award" along with fellow honorees John Garland, presi
dent of Central State University; Dr. Algeania Freeman,
president of Livingstone College; and Dr. Dorothy Crows
er Yancy, president of Johnson C. Smith.
Family of Cisco's John Chambers
gives $1 million to Wake Forest
The family of John and Elaine Chambers has given
Wake Forest University $1 million to encourage student
entrepreneurs at the university.
John Chambers is the president and chief executive
officer of Cisco Systems, the worldwide leader in network
ing for the Internet. Chambers delivered the commence
ment address and received an honorary doctor of laws
degree from Wake Forest in May 2000, the same year his
daughter. Lindsay, graduated from the university with a
bachelor of arts degree.
The family's gift was granted to the university through
the Chambers Family Charitable Trust at the Fidelity Char
itable Gift Fund. The donation will create the Chambers
Family Endowment Fund for Entrepreneurship, which will
be used to finance projects and courses at the university that
support entrepreneurship using the Internet or electronic
commerce.
Chicago council bill aims to
disclose firms' slavery profits
Special to the NNPA - The Chicago City Council is
considering legislation to make it the first U.S. city to
require firms to disclose whether they profited form slav
ery in order to secure city contracts.
Under the "Slavery Era Insurance Disclosure" ordi
nance, businesses would have to provide an affidavit to the
city to verify that they had searched their records for con
nections to slavery. Companies that fail to comply with the
law could have their contracts voided; however, firms that
truthfully disclose that they profited from slavery would
not be penalized.
African-Americans across the country are suing com
panies with alleged financial ties to slavery. The firms
include FleetBoston Financial Group, the Aetna Insurance
Co., tobacco company R.J. Reynolds and railroad power
house CSX.
Earlier this year California passed a law requiring
insurers doing business in the state to disclose if they had
paid claims to slave owners when slaves died.
Peacemaker editor to be honored
The Secular Franciscan Order of the USA has select
ed Carolina Peacemaker editor Hal Sieber, 71, to receive
its U.S. Peace Prize of St. Francis for 2002 for his life
time of work on behalf of human rights, justice and
peace. The Peacemaker is published in Greensboro
Presentation will be made in Rochester. Minn., in
late October, according to Min. Bill Wicks. SFO. of
Santa Maria, Calif.. American head of the contemplative
order founded eight centuries ago by Francis Bemadone
of Assisi. Italy.
Among the previous recipients of the national award
for contributions as peacemakers have been Ralph
Bunche, Mother Teresa and Martin Luther King Jr.
Coretta Scott King, widow of the 1963 recipient of
the award said of Sieber. "A strong supporter of my hus
band, Martin Luther King Jr.. Hal has continued to serve
as-an"enefgeitc and dedicate^ champtomof nbri-violenf"
movements to entfpovefty, ractsm~ari3 violence.
Freeman appointed to board
SALISBURY - U.S. Secretary of Education Dr.
Roderick Paige appointed Living
stone College President Dr.
Algeania W. Freeman to the His
torically Black Colleges and Uni
versities Capital Financing Advi
sory Board. The appointment will
begin Oct. I and will end Sept.
30, 2005. The board advises the
secretary and the designated
bonding authority on colleges'
and universities' financial needs. ?
how to best implement approxi
mated X350 million of construe
Freeman
lion financing on campuses of HBCUs and the best
means to address those needs through the program. The
board also makes recommendations on how to improve
program implementation and operation.
BE names
top black
executives
SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE
NEW YORK - The October issue of
Black Enterprise features the magazine's
editors' picks for the top 50 African-Ameri
cans on Wall Strfeet, which represents sig
nificant expansion from the 25 individuals
reatureo on me
1992 and 1996
BE lists.
Wall Street
has long been
recognized as the
capital of free
market America
and the seat of
global financial
power. For
African-Ameri
cans, "The
Street" is also a
powerful symbol
Raines
ot the continuing
struggle for full and equal access to eco
nomic power. Today, despite the intense
pressures, high turnover rates, and brutal
performance standards of the financial
industry. African-Americans are continuing to move
forward, shattering barriers to advancement and rais
ing the bar of excellence.
The BE top 50 are investment bankers, traders,
analysts, asset managers, or top executives with man
agement experience over these areas. Two of the exec
utives on this list, Fannie Mae's Franklin D. Raines
and American Express' Kenneth 1. Chenault, are CEOs
of multinational corporations with serious impact on
markets. A third. E. Stanley O'Neal, will take over as
CEO of Merrill Lynch in December, making him the
first African-American to lead a major Wall Street
firm.
Another 25 hold partner or managing-director level
positions at some of the world's largest financial insti
See BE on A10
File Photo
American Express chief Kenneth I. Chenault tees off with
Tiger Woods and Woods' father, Earl, at a news conference.
Former player makes jump to agent
SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE
While his players take the field every
Sunday - making fleet-footed runs and
earth-shattering hits - Eugene Parker has
always preferred to stay out of the spotlight,
letting his clients do the talking and the
tackling.
But then Parker - who represents some
of the top players in the game, like Emmitt
Smith, Curtis Martin, Rod Woodson and
Derrick Brooks - is not your typical sports
agent.
After a basketball career that included
four years starting at Purdue University,
induction into the Indiana Basketball Hall
of Fame and getting drafted by the San
Antonio Spurs in 1978, Parker gave up
sports to practice law near his hometown of
Fort Wayne, Ind. His first "client" was also
a friend from home and a Purdue basketball
teammate, Roosevelt Barnes. As a favor,
Parker helped Barnes negotiate his contract
with the Detroit Lions when he was drafted
in the I Oth round after playing just one year
of college football.
Fast-forward 20 years and Parker has
built one of the top football player repre
sentation practices in the country, negotiat
ing landmark contracts for Deion Sanders
and Curtis Martin along the way. His Max
imum Sports Management, now part of
Assante Corp.'s sports management divi
sion, prides itself on maintaining an inti
mate, small-town feel. Parker says that
keeping his business in suburban Fort
Wayne - far from the bright lights of New
See Parker on 1?
File Photo
Eugene Parker
Banks work out plan to
help William Brandon
Srec; I ALTO THE CHRONICLE
Mayor Allen Joines announced
Monday that actions have been
taken that will allow William Bran
don to reacquire an interest in the
-East Win
ping Cenlen?
Due to a
foreclosure
on this
property, the
shopping
center was
purchased ^
by a local L
investor
group.
Brandon
which pledged to allow Brandon an
opportunity to regain an ownership
position. Q
In order for that to happen it was
necessary to work with the hank
consortium to obtain certain actions.
Joines and Brandon said the
following banks made it possible for
Brandon to have an interest in the
shopping center: Bank of America.
Wachovia. BB&T. Centura Bank.
First Citizens Bank. Piedmont Sav
ings & Loan. Lexington State Bank,
and Mechanics & Fanners Bank.
Joines and Brandon acknowl
edged that the banks made a
tremendous effort in 1994 to make
loans that al^wed Brandon to pur
chase the reakestate and build East
ay 'PtS/jfShnfipTng eemsrirrEast
Winston, thereby helping to support
the economy of the area .
Representatives of the banks
and the city came to/ether to work
with Brandon, other local business
owners arid members of the com
munity for about two years before
the loan finally came to fruition.
When financial and other prob
lems arose two years ago. the banks,
led by Bank of America, worked
with Brandon, the city and many
concerned members of the commu
nity to attempt to keep the shopping
center open because of its positive
influence on employment and the
economy in East Winton.
In a statement, the mayor and
Brandon praised the banks for their
previous actions and for their recent
cooperative efforts to support Bran
don's continued involvement with
Eastway Pla/a Shopping Center.
Supermodel Iman models a Fashion Targets Breast Cancer T-shirt
as part of her duties as spokeswoman for the breast cancer
awareness program. The T-shirts were on sale at Saks Fifth
Avenue stores, and all proceeds from shirt sales over the Sept. 20
weekend went to breast cancer support programs all over the
nation. Ralph Lauren designed the shirt.
I.T. savvy
alum to ?
return to
N.'C A&T
SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE
GREENSBORO - A&T
alumnus Thomas A. Farring
ton, president and CEO of Par
tington Associates Inc., will
be the keynote speaker for
N.C. Agricultural and Techni- c.
cal State University's annual
Founders Day Program. The
event will be held at 10 a.m.
Oct'. 10, in Harrison Auditori
um.
Farrington is a widely rec
ognized information technolo
gy (I.T.) entrepreneur and
business executive. In 1969 he
founded Input Output Com
puter Services (IOCS) and
became a pioneer in.I.T. serv
ices, participating in the evo
lution of the major industry.
Serving
as i lit
p r e s i -
dent and i
CEO of I
IOCS, 1
Farring
ton grew
his com
pany to
m o r e |
than a
400-per
Farrington
son organization.
The company received
numerous achievement
awards, including the National
Minority Service Firm of the
Year in 1985 and was also rec
ognized as one of the nation's
top 100 black-owned busi
nesses for more than 12 con
secutive years. In 1994 Far
rington founded Farrington
Associates Inc., a technology
consulting firm.
In 2001, Farrrington
authored a book titled "Bat
tling the Killer Within." The
book is about his experiences
and the experiences of other
men in treatment with him as
he faced prostate cancer. This
book has been widely hailed
as an important contribution to
fostering education and
awareness about this disease,
especially for African-Ameri
cans and other men at high
risk.
Farrington has been
involved extensively in indus
try, civic and community
activities. He currently serves
on the board of directors of the
Greater Boston Chamber of
Commerce and the Massachu
setts Technology Park Corp.
Farrington graduated from
A&T in 1966 with a degree in
electrical engineering. He
continued his education at
Northeastern University's
Graduate School of Engineer
ing in Boston, Mass.