Joe Handy, originally from New York, serves as the newly appointed president and chief executive officer of the National Black MBA Association (NBMBAA)®. Handy is a multifaceted business and operations executive with a strong history of leadership and over two decades of experience in cultural institutions. He joinedrolling out to discuss a very promising opportunity.
For those who don’t know, why would one want to be a part of the Black MBA?
The National Black MBA Association was founded 51 years ago here in Chicago by some very bold, ambitious, and courageous individuals looking to level the playing field, to give our people an opportunity to advance within their career — to inspire, aspire to grow in their collegiate career, and provide services that allow for our Black leaders to have a form by which they can build off one another. In many cases, we need to be in a position where we can be honest and vulnerable with our peers.
You’ve illustrated the advocacy of the organization, but why come to the conference, and why join today?
Our conference is one of the largest there is. It puts companies in a position to be exposed to our Black talent. So as a member, you get access to not only our conference, but the wraparound services we provide to our executives, exposure to different career opportunities, by way of our Leaders of Tomorrow, and also the support that we give our entrepreneurs by helping them sustain and build their businesses.
Will people outside of Chicago be able to participate? Is there a chapter elsewhere for them to participate?
This year, not only are we having an in-person conference in Chicago, but we’re also having a virtual side as well, allowing us a larger reach. As far as our exposure throughout the U.S, we have 41 chapters with 21,000 members. I’d also like to add, you don’t necessarily have to be an MBA graduate to be a member. We also have our Leaders of Tomorrow who are high school students that are looking to develop their career path and identify where they want to go.
What are your main goals for this conference?
As you know, this past year has been what I would call the microscope on the Black community and the reckoning for a lot of companies to take charge and come out publicly and say what they’re going to be doing for the Black community. We want to ensure that the partners that we are engaged with have a commitment to not only advancing Black executives and advancing Black employees within the organization but supporting those individuals in their companies. Last year, there were a lot of companies that put a hashtag up on their website. We want to see that the companies that we partner with are living beyond a hashtag.
To learn more and or register for the conference, visit www.nbmbaa.org.
