George Fraser

George C. Fraser is Chairman and CEO of FraserNet, Inc. He is considered by many to be the new voice for African Americans and one of the foremost authorities on networking and building effective relationships.

Mr. Fraser is the author of two books: Success Runs In Our Race; The Complete Guide to Effective Networking in the African American Community (a critically acclaimed bestseller) and Race For Success; The Ten Best Business Opportunities for Blacks In America (selected as one of ten best business books of the year by Booklist). Both were published by the William Morrow Company.

Mr. Fraser is also the publisher of the award-winning SuccessGuide Worldwide: The Networking Guide to Black Resources. He is the founder of the annual PowerNetworking Conference, the largest gathering of Black professionals, business owners and community leaders.

A popular speaker and author, George C. Fraser’s inspiring talks on success principles, effective networking, wealth creation, business ethics, and valuing diversity, are as popular among corporate professionals as they are among college students. His views have been solicited by CNN and the Wall Street Journal. Over the past decade, the prestigious publication, Vital Speeches of the Day, has selected, reprinted and distributed worldwide, four of Mr. Fraser’s speeches--a first for any professional speaker in America.

UPSCALE magazine named him one of the “Top 50 power brokers in Black America.” Black Enterprise Magazine called him $#8220;Black America’s #1 Networker” on a cover issue. Personal growth “guru” Stephen Covey called Mr. Fraser a “masterful teacher.” TV host and journalist, Tony Brown called him a “visionary with the rare combination of leadership and management skills.” Mr. Fraser is featured in the New York Times-bestseller, Masters of Networking, along with Colin Powell.

Mr. Fraser attended New York University and received his executive training at the Amos Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate Degree of Humane Letters from Jarvis Christian College. Mr. Fraser has been married to Nora Jean for over 30 years. They have two sons, Kyle and Scott.

Councilman Isadore Hall, III

Councilman Hall is a local entrepreneur, a native Californian and a proud resident of the City of Compton. Mr. Hall is a member of the ministerial team at Double Rock Missionary Baptist Church and a successful real estate executive. Mr. Hall has worked for both the public school systems and local municipalities in management positions, so he understands how to effectively manage fiscal operations and develop progressive social, economical, and education opportunities for the community. In November of 2001, Isadore Hall was elected to the Compton Unified School District Board of Trustees and was voted Presidents for two consecutive terms. Mr. Hall was the youngest serving President in the history of the Compton Unified School District. Hall is applauded championing the construction of the first elementary school in over thirty-five years. He also fought to name the school after the Honorable President William Jefferson Clinton. He also served as the Chairperson of the Measure 1 Bond Campaign. This effort resulted in yielding the Compton Community $80 million to renovate every existing school in the Compton Unified School District. He managed to redirect the Compton Unified School District after being managed by the State of California for ten years due to past administration problems. On April 15, 2003, because of Mr. Hall's dedicated service to the Compton Community and his unselfish sacrifices towards youth and seniors, the residents of the Compton elected the Honorable Isadore Hall, III as its Fourth District Councilman. He also set on the Board of Directors for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, Gateway Cities Council of Governments, and the I-710 Oversight Policy Board.

Valerie D. W. Rowe, MA

Prinical and Author
VisionSpot Consulting, LLC

Valerie D.W. Rowe is the principal and founder of the Professional Leadership Academy, whose academic programs includes her proprietary "Power Your Potential" and the "Beyond the Basics Leadership " credentialing programs, designed to empower individuals to reach their full personal and professional potential as leaders. Valerie is an empowerment coach, educator, and the CEO of VisionSpot Consulting. She speaks nationwide to corporations, organizations, and communities about individual impact and professional leadership development. Her clients have included Sega Entertainment, eBay, the Federal Bureau of Prison, and Verizon.

Expertise

Valerie is the author of the "POWER Your Potential Boost Camp: 7 Days to Professional Success and Satisfaction."

Professional Profile

Drawing on her twenty years of human resources and leadership experience in communications, financial services, retail sales, and mortgage lending, Valerie inspires and educate professionals on how to enhance their professional exposure and harness and leverage their intellectual capital to advance their career. She has been coined the architect of accelerated learning for business professionals like yourself who are ready to take their career and organization to the next level- "teaching leaders and their teams how to transforming an ordinary day at work into an extraordinary day at work with and through others."™ During her tenure she has played a pivotal role in creating and delivering customized curriculums and implementing innovative strategies for streamlining processes, increasing customer and employee retention levels in the ninety percentiles and raising revenue margins and improving interpersonal relationship far beyond the basics.

Accolades

Throughout her career, Valerie has received numerous awards for outstanding leadership. In 1998, she was named "Person of the Year," by PageNet Wireless Communications and received their "Circle of Excellence" award for service. In 2004, she received Countrywide Financials "Hall of Fame" award for leadership and the 2006 "Visionary" award for outstanding community service by the National Sales Network.

Leadership & Education

Valerie is President Elect for the National Association of African Americans in Human Resources- Los Angeles, vice president of events for the National Sales Network-Los Angeles and is a former board member of the International Coach Federation-Los Angeles. She is on the advisory board for the J Eldridge Taylor Company, Inc. and Phoenix Business Development Group and a partner with Jobing.com. She is also affiliated with the National Speakers Association, National Black MBA Association-Los Angles and the American Society of Training and Development, and Professionals in Human Resources Association Los Angeles chapter.

She has an M.A. degree in organizational management with an emphasis in human resources, a B.A. in business management, and several professional credentials attesting to her commitment to professional development and lifelong learning, from institutions such as: University of Southern California Marshall School of Business, California State University Long Beach, and the University of Phoenix.

Mastery

Valerie's name has become synonymous with motivation and success. She believes in the amazing abilities that all people have, and seeks to bring out each individual's hidden talents in all facets of her work. She can be reached for speaking engagements, consultations, and workshops at 310-491-3417 or email Valerie

Derek T. Dingle

SVP/ Editor-in-Chief
Black Enterprise Magazine

Derek T. Dingle is vice president/editor-in-chief of BLACK ENTERPRISE magazine. He is responsible for the strategic planning and editorial direction of the magazine and has executive oversight of both BLACK ENTERPRISE television shows: Black Enterprise Business Report and Our World with Black Enterprise. He also oversees content development for the Black Enterprise Entrepreneurs Conference + Expo and other events related to the magazine.

Dingle has authored countless BLACK ENTERPRISE cover stories throughout his tenure at BLACK ENTERPRISE magazine and has appeared as a business expert on numerous television networks and radio programs, including CNN, CNBC, NBC's Weekend Today, and National Public Radio.

Prior to becoming editor-in-chief of BLACK ENTERPRISE magazine, Dingle served as the publication's executive editor from 2000 to July 2008, and managing editor from 1987 to 1990. Prior to rejoining BLACK ENTERPRISE, he was a senior writer at Money Magazine, covering mutual funds and small business issues. Earlier in his career, Dingle founded and served as president and CEO of Milestone Media Inc., the nation's largest black-owned comic book company. Distributed by DC Comics, Milestone produced an average of eight monthly titles and sold more than 10 million copies from 1992 to 1998. One of the characters he co-created, Static Shock, was developed into an animated series that ran from 2000 to 2005 on the WB Network and the Cartoon Network.

An award-winning editor, Dingle is the author of Titans of the B.E. 100s: Black CEOs Who Redefined and Conquered American Business, and he received the 1999 International Reading Association Award for his book First in the Field: Jackie Robinson, Baseball Hero.

Dingle is a member of the National Association of Black Journalists and the American Society of Magazine Editors, as well as serves on the board of Norfolk State University's School of Communications.

Dingle graduated from Norfolk State University with a bachelor's degree in journalism. He also holds a diploma from New York University's Magazine Management Program.

Rev. Andrew (Andy) J. Bales, M.A.T.

President of the Union Rescue Mission

Andy brings over 20 years of experience in community outreach and service to "his homeless friends", as Andy puts it, as he leads Union Rescue Mission into a new era of unique and innovative services for Los Angeles' Skid Row community.

Andy's vision for the future of the Mission is most definitely in keeping with the Union Rescue Mission's long and distinguished history of service in the City of Los Angeles. Established in 1891, the Mission has always served the most desperate men, women and children of the community.

One of Andy's earliest challenges as President of the Union Rescue Mission was to develop transitional housing for mothers and their children living in the Mission's homeless shelter and in neighboring SRO hotels in and around Skid Row. He is also committed to providing permanent supportive housing for senior women away from the mean streets of Los Angeles. Hope Gardens Family Center, in the foothills of the Angeles National Forest near Sylmar, is being developed in stages to serve this growing population of abandoned and desperately poor women with children and elderly women. The Senior Women's Permanent Supportive Housing facility at Hope Gardens was opened in August 2006.

As Hope Gardens Family Center becomes a reality, Andy is looking at expanded programs for homeless men in the community. He is eager to address issues of transitional and permanent supportive housing for men who are looking for an opportunity to overcome homelessness and become self-supporting.

Andy has many awards and honors for his community service, including: being named as the 930th Point of Light by President George Bush, receiving the 1999 Des Moines NAACP Community Service Award, and receiving the 2004 Martin Luther King, Jr. Award from the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance of Pasadena. He has been featured in Leadership Journal's article "Great to Good Churches" and is a frequent guest speaker at conferences, schools, and clubs.

Andy is currently working on the final phase of his Doctor of Ministry degree at Covenant Seminary. He will add this degree to several other academic credentials: a Master of Arts in Teaching (M.A.T.) from Drake University (1983), and a Bachelor of Arts in Theology from Bethel College (1980). Andy has also completed 50 hours toward a Ph.D. from Iowa State University.

At his own home, Andy and wife Bonnie (a nurse) have six children, ranging in age from 16 to 26. In addition, Andy and Bonnie often provide a home for foster children. Currently they are opening up their home and life to two foster children, ages 14 and 17.

"As we partner with others and God does His miraculous work through us, I believe we will see each and every mom and child move off of Skid Row and into a home, and an end to human beings-brothers and sisters-trying to survive each night in card board boxes. I hope that everyone who reads this will consider how they can join us in sharing their time, talents and treasures and making a bit of heaven present here on earth."