Dr. Mark Brown, President of Tuskegee University,
Keynote Speaker, in Tuskegee
at the 124th National Black Business Conference
On August 21, at the first session of the 124th National Black Business League Conference, (NBBC), the Honorable Johnny Ford, Founder/CEO of The World Conference of Mayors, Inc. (WCM), Honorable Dr. Kenneth Harris, 16th President of The National Business League, (NBL), and Honorable Charles DeBow, III, President of The National Black Chamber of Commerce, (NBCC) , are pleased and honored to be able to, reintroduce to the Tuskegee community, and to introduce to all attending the first session of the NBBC in Tuskegee, AL., Dr. Mark Brown, now serving as the 10th President of Tuskegee University. Dr. Mark Brown, is a proud Alum of TU, Class of 86, and appropriately he is the first keynote speaker for the entire NBBC. He has chosen as his subject: “Tuskegee Today, and our Renewed Focus on Industry and Government Partnerships” This speech will be the highlight of this session because in many ways it expresses a theme of the whole Atlanta Conference, and it will be a fitting message for our invited guests, who will be local government and business leaders from Tuskegee, members of the Alabama Conference of Black Mayors, Inc.(ACBM), and Executives of AL agencies such as The Alabama League of Municipalities,(ALM), The Alabama Municipal Electric Association, (AMEA). In addition, there will be present at this opening session, 2 busloads of national and international delegates to the NBBC, coming from Atlanta to visit historic Tuskegee . They will be business men and women, and potential investors for Tuskegee, and possibly some of the other cities represented.
It is appropriate that The 124th National Black Business League Conference, (NBBC) will actually hold its first official session in Tuskegee, Alabama, on August 21, 2024, with Dr. Mark Brown, President of Tuskegee University, as the first keynote speaker of the entire conference, for 2 very important reasons. First, The NBBC is being hosted by The National Alliance for Black Business (NABB), co-founded by The National Business League, (NBL),The World Conference of Mayors, Inc., and the National Black Chamber of Commerce (NBCC), 3 historic Black organizations, 2 of which, The NBL, and The WCM have Founders from Tuskegee. Booker T. Washington , Founding President of now Tuskegee University, Founded the National Negro Business League in 1900, now The National Business League, which is celebrating 124 years promoting Black Business. Johnny Ford, the first African American Mayor of Tuskegee, now councilman, Founded the WCM in 1981. As Founder/CEO of the WCM, he still leads that organization as it celebrate its 40th Anniversary of bringing together Mayors and other elected or appointed officials from around the world, to learn to work for the common good of their communities, towns and cities.
The second reason that having the first session of the NBBC in Tuskegee is important is that not only will all of the August 21st attendees have the opportunity to meet and greet the keynote speaker, Tuskegee University President, Dr. Brown, and local , and state Alabama leaders, the delegation from Atlanta and any other guests attending the session , who wish to join them, will be taken on a tour of Tuskegee University , the new Korean, 128,million dollar Samkee Industry, located in Tuskegee and benefitting Tuskegee/Macon County, and the Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site located at Moton Field, the home of the famous Tuskegee Airmen, which now is home for an Air- pilot Training Center for 200 pilots per year. On the way back to Atlanta, the NBBC delegates, as they take exit 38 to I85, will be able to observe, under construction the new PILOT 24 /7 Auto/ Truck Service Center, and the site for a future hotel, signaling economic growth in Tuskegee, a small, but truly historic predominately Black City.
The August 21st opening session of the 124th National Black Business Conference promises to introduce, to some of the conference delegates, (and to some of the Tuskegee community who may have not yet met him) the President of Tuskegee University, a great HBCU, and leaders of many Alabama towns and agencies who they can help and who can help them in their cities, and with their businesses. The balance of the NBBC will take place in Atlanta , August 22-25, at the Hilton Atlanta Hotel. Ford, Dr. Harris, and DeBow are pleased that 1200 plus business leaders, and diplomats, from around the nation and 32 from around the globe, have registered for this conference.
