VCU to host minority career program

By Lissette Linares

More than 30 Richmond minority executives will meet at Virginia Commonwealth University on Oct. 27, to share their experiences with students and to provide mentorship and job placement opportunities. Sponsored by VCU’s School of Business and Consolidated Bank & Trust Company, the Dr. Howard E. McCoy Sr., Career Program for Minority Students, will be held at 6 p.m. in the University Student Commons Commonwealth Ballrooms A-B, 907 Floyd Ave. The program will feature speakers from the business community and successful alumni.

Janet Hill, vice president of Alexander & Associates, a corporate consulting firm in Washington, D.C., and mother of Detroit Pistons player Grant Hill, as well as Michael Dinkins, president and CEO for Access World Wide, will deliver a keynote address. The two will discuss their personal experiences and career choices, offer insight on job seeking and skills sought by employers, as well as provide some insight into the current and future job market in Richmond.

Hill serves on the boards of directors for such companies as: Wendy’s International, Inc.; Progressive Insurance Company; Dean Foods, Inc.; and First Union Bank of Virginia, Washington, D.C. and Maryland. Dinkins has served in various capacities with Access World Wide and Cadmus Communication Corporation and as vice president and chief financial officer and president of the Graphics Communications Group.

The program also will feature talks by VCU alumni J.B. Bryan, president of J.B. Bryan Financial Group, Inc., a registered investment advisory firm, and Juanita B. Leatherberry, assistant vice president of financial systems for Whitehall-Robins in Richmond. Bryan earned a master’s degree in science from VCU in 1992 and Leatherberry graduated from the Department of Accounting in 1973.

Companies represented at the minority career program include: American Express Financial Corporation; First Union Corporation; Circuit City Stores Inc.; Ethyl Corporation; the Virginia Port Authority; General Medical Corporation; and others.

The Dr. Howard E. McCoy Sr., Career Program is named for a former School of Business faculty member and student advocate. McCoy, in 1995, planned the school’s first minority business executive dinner program and passed away shortly before this year’s spring program. Now in its fourth year at VCU, the executive dinner brings minority senior executives to campus to share their experiences with students and to aid job placement.

For more information about the minority career program, call 828-1745.