The spotlight was on Innovating Our Future at BDPA New York’s 15th Annual Scholarship and Awards Dinner, held Wednesday, June 29, 2011, at event sponsor UBS’s 299 Park Ave office in New York, NY. For 15 years, the chapter, founded in 1982, has held the awards dinner to recognize the achievements of BDPA New York’s students as well as honor its community supporters and corporate sponsors. This year, the chapter also debuted its newly created Small Business Innovator (SBI) award, recognizing innovative IT entrepreneurship in the NYC community, and Member of the Year award, recognizing the contributions of one outstanding chapter member.

UBS Global Head of Fixed Income Trade Capture, Peter Williams, welcomed the audience and spoke to the event theme, giving examples of his own innovative work experience while at UBS, and encouraging the audience to recognize innovation and capitalize on it.   An inspiring keynote address followed, delivered by Carla Ogunrinde, IT Vice President, Enterprise PPO at Met Life.  Mrs. Ogunrinde told her inspirational story of overcoming adversity, growing up in the East Harlem neighborhood of New York, starting her career as an executive assistant, ultimately working her way to the IT leadership position she currently holds. She urged the audience to determine what inspires them, and to believe in innovation, even when there is no clear notion of what will happen.   In her closing, Mrs. Ogunrinde, who also has a background in English, noting how much literature has inspired her, read the famous quote by writer William Faulkner which begins, “I believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail…”

Following the keynote address, citations of excellence were presented to the students for their involvement in the chapter’s SITES (Student Information Technology Education and Scholarship) program, by the office of Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer.  The 2011 student honorees were Babijede Alao, Kevin Castillo, Khadije Celestin, Chris Farrell, Tevin Jeffers, Nicholas Reid, and Cazemba Richards.

Awards were presented to the first recipients of the chapter’s Small Business Innovator (SBI) and Member of the Year awards. The distinguished SBI inaugural awardees were Eric Hamilton, CEO and Founder of AdSmoke (www.adsmoke.com), an online digital ad network for user generated content, and Founder of The Web Academy (www.thewebacademy.org), which offers free web design classes over the Internet, and Sabrina Lamb, founder of WorldofMoney.org, a leading provider of financial education of underserved youth in the NYC area. The first Member of the Year award was awarded to Bilal Muhammed, PhD, for his outstanding contributions to the chapter, including serving as Master of Ceremonies at the chapter’s 2011 Black Family Technology Awareness Week.

The last honorees of the evening were sponsor JP Morgan Chase, and Corporate Sponsor of the Year, UBS, with a special award presented to Denise Hebner, UBS Director of Group Technology Management, for her tireless support of the chapter’s educational initiatives and instrumental role in securing internship opportunities for students at UBS’s Stamford, CT offices.  The awards dinner concluded with final remarks from BDPA New York President Renetta English.

Danielle Cauthen