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2019 HONORARY CO-CHAIRS
J. Carlvena Foster
Carlvena is the Executive Director of the Carl Chavis YMCA in High Point, NC. She is also a former member of the Guilford County Board of Education. Once a recipient of social services, Foster later worked for the county’s Department of Social Services and then served on the department’s board. She has a bachelor’s degree in business management from Shaw University; a master’s in public administration from High Point University; and a certificate in child care administration from Guilford Technical Community College.
Art Gibel
Throughout his tenure as CEO of Goodwill Industries of Northwest North Carolina, Inc., Art Gibel has had a tremendous impact on the success of an organization that has been transforming donated items into employment and training programs for 90 years. His focus toward organizational excellence has helped his company of 1,100 employees almost double its revenue from $36.4 million in 2007 to $66.6 million in 2015.
Gibel joined Goodwill in 1996, where he served on the Board of Directors for eight years. He became president in 2005 and one year later was named CEO. Since the recession of 2009, Gibel has led a restructuring of the organization’s mission services portfolio. He has has focused the organization’s mission on two key areas: assisting those disrupted by the economy to obtain training that enables them to compete for available jobs, and preparing youth with the education and life skills needed to effectively enter the modern workforce.
Yvonne Johnson
Yvonne Johnson was the mayor of Greensboro, NC from 2007 until 2009. She was previously a member of the Greensboro City Council for 14 years, beginning in 1993 and Mayor Pro-Tem for 6 years. Johnson was the first African-American to serve as Greensboro's mayor. She is the Executive Director of One Step Further, a non-profit United Way Agency in Greensboro that provides mediation and court alternative programs to Greensboro's Youth.
MEET OUR SPECIAL GUESTS
Mr. Dorien Wilson
American actor who is best known for his role as "Professor Stanley Oglevee" on the UPN sitcom The Parkers, which first ran from 1999 to 2004,
PAST HONORARY CO-CHAIRS
Dr. L’Tanya Joy Bailey
Dr. Bailey is in private practice in High Point, NC, having relocated to the Triad after serving as a fulltime Associate Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill since 1985. She remains as adjunct faculty member at UNC-Chapel Hill. She is proud alum of The Winston-Salem State University and her DDS is from Meharry Medical College, School of Dentistry in Nashville, Tennessee. She also completed a MS degree in orthodontics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Mark Owens
Mark is a native of Charleston, South Carolina. He is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Winston Salem Chamber of Commerce. Mark is best known for his vibrancy, his creativity, and his rich history of growing and developing home-grown businesses into national brands.
Sharon Hightower
Sharon holds degrees from East Carolina University. She has served the Greensboro community as a advocate for education and healthcare equity. She is a member of the NAACP, Citizens for Economic and Environmental Justice, and National Forum for Black Administrators, She serves on the Gateway Advisory Board, President of College Forrest Neighborhood Association, Renaissance Community Co-Op Owner and East Market Merchant Association. Councilwoman Hightower has a passion for the growth and expansion of minority businesses.
Dr. Robert “Bob” J. Brown
Dr. Brown is credited with starting and developing the US Minority Enterprise Program and initiating the US Government Black College Program through Executive Order by President Richard Nixon. He is one of the most influential North Carolinians you’ve never heard of. He had a pretty humble start in High Point, where he was born and raised. He was among the city’s first African-American police officers in the 1950s. But he moved on quickly, first as a federal drug enforcement officer, and then as an adviser to some of the worlds most powerful people: Martin Luther King Jr., Richard Nixon, Nelson Mandela and John F. Kennedy, and that’s only part of the list. He is now the founder and CEO of B&C International, one of the oldest and most respected minority-owned business management consulting firms in the country.
JOIN US ON THURSDAY, AUGUST 2ND, 2018
As we prepare for the 5th Annual Triad Minority & Women’s Business Expo, we request your presence at our Press Conference on Thursday, August 2nd at 12 noon. The even will be held at the Benton Convention Center in the Winston Room. We need your support and energy in the room to show the City and the media that minority and women owned businesses are important to both our local economy and throughout the Triad!!! Hope to see you there!
Community Business of the Month Application
Apply for the chance to be selected as the Community Business of the Month!!
Each month, the Winston-Salem Black Chamber of Commerce, the Chronicle, Small Business Center at Forsyth Tech, Triad Minority Business Expo, Winston-Salem Chapter of the NAACP and the Winston-Salem Urban League present the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County business of the month.