James H. Lowry is currently a Senior Advisor to The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and President of his own consulting firm specializing in minority business development and strategic planning. Lowry is a nationally recognized workforce and supplier diversity expert and pioneer. He encapsulates his 30 plus years of experience in the field of minority business development in his new book, “Minority Business Success: Refocusing on the American Dream”, co-authored with Leonard Greenhalgh of Amos Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College for Stanford University Press.
Prior to forming consulting firm James H. Lowry & Associates (JHLA) in 1975, Lowry was the first African-American to join McKinsey & Company in 1968. He rose to Senior Associate for McKinsey & Company, serving in London, New York, Washington, D.C., Chicago and Dar-es-Salam, Tanzania. In 1972, he assisted in the development of a semi-private sector strategy for the Republic of Tanzania.
In 1978, JHLA prepared the first major study on minority business enterprise development for the U.S. Department of Commerce entitled, New Strategy for Minority Business. It was the precursor to the creation of the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA). In 1980, he prepared another study for the Department of Commerce entitled Minority Business in the 80s.
He joined BCG in 2000, and became a Senior Vice President and Global Diversity Director. In that role, Lowry led the BCG’s workforce diversity, ethnic marketing and minority business development consulting practice. During his tenure, he produced four major studies on minority business development. In 2005, he authored a major report for BCG entitled Implementing the New Agenda for Minority Business Development as well as co-authored a new study entitled Realizing the New Agenda for Minority Business Development sponsored by the Kauffman Foundation, in conjunction with the Billion Dollar Roundtable.
In addition to his entrepreneurial endeavors, Lowry is first and foremost a mentor, teacher, and leader across sectors. Lowry has served on Kellogg’s Advisory Board since 1998, is a member of the Board of Directors of the Howard University School of Business and has served as Chairman of Howard University’s Institute for Entrepreneurship, Leadership and Innovation for six years. He also chairs the RLJ Equity Funds’ Executive Network and is a member of the Toyota Diversity Advisory Board.
Lowry has an undergraduate degree in political science from Grinnell College and a master’s degree in public international affairs from the University of Pittsburgh. He has received multiple awards including the 2011 Abe Venable Award Lifetime Achievement Award (Dept of Commerce), the 2009 NMSDC Lifetime Achievement Award and an Honorary Doctors of Laws degree from his alma mater, Grinnell College.
Shelley Stewart, Jr. is Senior Vice President of Operational Excellence and Chief Procurement Officer at Tyco, where he leads lean six sigma, IT, real estate, trade compliance and supply chain initiatives across the company. Prior to joining Tyco Mr. Stewart was SVP of supply chain at Invensys and VP of supply chain with the Raytheon, after 18 years with United Technologies.
Shelley is on the board of directors of Cleco Corp. and has recently been appointed to the U.S. Department of Commerce National Advisory Council on Minority Business Enterprise. He is chair of the visiting BOD at Howard University’s School of Business, vice chair of the NMSDC, a member of the Northeastern University Corporation and President of the board for The Boys and Girls Club of Trenton/Mercer County.
Shelley is co-author of “Straight To The Bottom Line™: An Executive’s Roadmap to World Class Supply Management,” (J.Ross Publishing) and has been recognized by Black Enterprise Magazine as one of the “100 Most Powerful Executives in Corporate America.” He holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from the University of New Haven and both a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree of Science in Criminal Justice from Northeastern University.
Christopher Whitfield is the CEO of Batswadi Pharmaceuticals, a South African firm that sells cutting edge biotechnology products. Prior to starting his own company, Christopher was CEO of the multi-national pharmaceutical company, Eli Lilly SA (PTY) Ltd where he had a 17-year career.
Christopher completed his MBA at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business focusing on global business leadership. Prior to earning his MBA, Christopher was the Manager of e-business at Eli Lilly responsible for CRM solutions for the US Oncology business. His experience as the Manager of Oncology Sales for nine east coast (US) territories and as Marketing Manager of the Endocrine Specialty Business Unit provided Christopher with a broad leadership platform. His career has been focused on pharmaceutical General Management, and he has established a proven record of leadership through successful team development, strong strategic planning, creative problem solving and troubleshooting, and development and implementation skills.
Christopher is a 2007 Endeavor Entrepreneur and a member of the Young Presidents Organization Golden City Chapter. He also sits on the boards of ZA Biotech and the Association of Clinical Research Organizations (ACRO). Christopher is the Chairman of Abazali Bio Ventures (Pty) Ltd. and consults widely in the Biotech commercial market place.
Christopher’s educational experience includes a Bachelor of Arts (BA) from Wabash College, MBA from Duke University, Fuqua School of Business, Lilly’s Global Leadership Development Program (GLDP), and most recently the University of Cape Town/Duke University, Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy Centre for Leadership and Public Values as a Fellow in 2006.
Lisa W. Pickrum is chief operating officer of The RLJ Companies, a diversified holding company with portfolio companies in the financial services, asset management, real estate, hospitality, professional sports, film production, and gaming industries. As COO, Ms. Pickrum is responsible for managing The RLJ Companies portfolio, including strategic partnerships, mergers and acquisitions, business strategy, operations and finance.
With significant experience in structuring and negotiating private equity deals and mergers and acquisitions, Ms. Pickrum was a key member of the team that led the formation of RLJ McLarty Landers Automotive and Harley-Davidson dealerships, now the largest minority automotive dealership in the U.S. with more than $600 million in annual revenues. RLJ McLarty has successfully acquired $35 million of additional dealerships since inception. Ms. Pickrum played a key role in the creation of RLJ Equity Partners, LLC, a private equity fund formed in association with The Carlyle Group. Ms. Pickrum serves as key RLJ fundraiser and Treasury Department liaison for RLJ Western Asset Management’s $610 million PPIP fund. In 2008, Ms. Pickrum directed an international team that developed and currently manages RLJ Kendeja Resort and Villas, a 78-room villa style luxury hotel in Liberia, West Africa, which opened in June, 2009 and was the first new hospitality construction in Liberia in 25 years.
Prior to joining The RLJ Companies, Ms. Pickrum was a Principal at Katalyst Venture Partners, a private equity firm that invested in start-up technology companies in the media and communications industries from 1999 to 2003. Ms. Pickrum conducted deal sourcing, negotiations and closings, as well as served as interim management in several early stage ventures. From 1998 to 1999, Ms. Pickrum worked as a senior consultant for Accenture, a global management consulting company in the company’s communications and technology strategic services practice where she assisted with development of new business architecture based on opportunities that internet technologies and convergence enabled for telecommunications providers.
Ms. Pickrum earned her bachelor’s degree from Vassar College and her law degree from Stanford Law School. She earned her master’s degree in finance and entrepreneurial management from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.
In 2010, Ms. Pickrum was named by Black Enterprise magazine as one of the “75 Most Powerful Women in Business” and has previously been recognized by the publication in their “Most Powerful Players under 40” in December 2007 and “Top 50 Women of Power in Business” in February 2006. In 2010 Ms. Pickrum was also featured as one of UPSCALE magazine’s business leaders. Ms. Pickrum was also named in ESSENCE Magazine’s 2008 “Power List” for women in business.
Ms. Pickrum has been a featured speaker at events including the Opportunity Funding Corporation’s 2008 and 2009 Forums; the 2009 Corporate Council on Africa’s U.S.-Africa Business Summit and KPMG’s 2009 diversity forum. Ms. Pickrum’s most recent award was the 2011 NV Magazine award.
Currently, Ms. Pickrum serves on the following boards: DeVry, Inc. (NYSE: DV); Christopher and Banks (NYSE: CBK); RolloverSystems, Inc.; American International Automobile Dealers (AIADA), the RLJ McLarty Landers Automotive Group. Ms. Pickrum also serves on the Federal Communications Commission Diversity Committee.
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Sponsored by the African American MBA Association of the Wharton School