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National Black MBA Association national chair
Alvin Brown, association president Barbara L.Thomas
and conference chair Vernita Harris meet with
Houston Chronicle reporter Shannon Buggs on
the eve of the Houston conference.
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HOUSTON – The
National Black MBA Association opens its 26th Annual
Conference and Exposition today at the George R. Brown
Convention Center. The conference is expected to attract
more than 10,000 business professionals, recruiters,
executives, industry leaders, entrepreneurs and students
and is the nation’s largest minority recruiting
and networking event.
Attendees will spend much of their time
downtown at the George R. Brown Convention Center and
the adjacent Hilton Americas-Houston hotel. Houston
Mayor Bill White will attend welcome reception today
at nearby Minute Maid Park. The convention is expected
to generate approximately $6.5 million for Houston’s
economy before wrapping up on Sunday.
“This is one of the new conventions
we are hosting this year that is made easier as a result
of our recent facility-wide expansion and the addition
of a 1,200-room convention headquarters hotel across
the street,” said GRBCC director Dawn Ullrich.
Speakers and guests during the four-day
event include Vernon Jordan, attorney, businessman and
adviser to former President Bill Clinton; Les Brown,
world renowned speaker, successful entrepreneur, radio
and television personality and best-selling author;
Stedman Graham, entrepreneur and businessman; Dr. Dennis
Kimbro, popular author, speaker and educator; Kwame
Jackson, newly minted celebrity from The Apprentice
television show; Star Jones, ABC television personality,
and U.S. Representative Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX)
“It’s only fitting that the
world’s largest association of Black business
professionals hosts its premiere event in Texas’
largest and most innovative city,” said Alvin
Brown, national chairman of NBMBAA.
The George R. Brown Convention Center
completed a $165 million expansion project last December,
nearly doubling the size of the downtown facility. At
1.85 gross square feet, the GRBCC now ranks among the
10 largest convention centers in America. The building
features 1.2 million square feet of exhibition, meeting
and registration space. In addition to four new exhibit
halls, for a total of seven, the GRBCC grew from 43
meetings rooms to 117.
Contact:
Pete Radowick
713-853-8077
peter.radowick@cityofhouston.net
Anna Hawley
713-853-8287
anna.hawley@cityofhouston.net
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