Title: President, Black Data Processors Association

Industry: Information Technology

Officer Since: June 2003  Term Expires: December 2004

Org Website:  www.bdpa.org  Org Email:  bayarea@bdpa.org

Org Address: 2625 Alcatraz Avenue #197 - Berkeley, CA 94705-2702

Org Phone: (510) 868-8362   Number of Members: 2000+

Org Goals: BDPA Vision - Be a powerful advocate for our stakeholders' interests within the global technology industry. BDPA Mission - BDPA is a global member-focused technology organization that delivers programs and services for the professional well being of its stakeholders.

Major Events: National Conference 2004, Dallas, TX (August 4 -8), Technology Training for the youth (March, 2005), National Conference 2005, Detroit, MI (August)

Company: Tiaison LLC

Title: President & CEO

Responsibility: Using my technical and communication skills to solve business problems in the area of Information Technology.

How/why Started: A call from a gentleman who got my name from someone asking me to teach inner-city youth how to program computers as a volunteer got me started. That was back in 1993.

Business Philosophy: "Keep It Short & Simple". A simple technology can often meet the majority of challenges a business will encounter at a much more favorable cost.

Best way to stay at the forefront: Read, read, read. Network, network, network. Essentially, stayed informed about the world around you and gain intense knowledge about your industry through reading and sharing information with others.

Yardstick of Success: Knowing I get up every day in control of my life's journey.
Like Most About My Job: Meeting different people and learning about different industries since information technology cuts across all business.
Biggest Personal Business Achievement: Starting my own consulting company, Tiaison LLC.

Biggest Risk: None

Toughest Decision: Giving up consulting the first time to take a job.

Career Goal: To form a business that will assist aspiring entreprenuers in reaching their goals.
Business Professional Admired: Ron Popeil / Ronco, Inventor

Other Boards and Affiliations: San Francisco Black MBA Association

First Choice for a New Career: Comedy script writer

Primary source of inspiration/motivation: The constant flood of ideas that come to me that drive me to bring as many as possible to life.
Person (living) that you would most want to have a conversation with: Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter
What troubles you the most about the world we live in?: People are more and more for themselves to the exclusion of helping others.
Pet Peeve: "Rubber Neckers" that tie up traffic.

Misperception: Everyone thinks the "Data Processing" part of Black Data Processing Associates or BDPA means we're an organization for old timers in the Information Technology field and that is so far from the truth.
Favorite Cause: Helping people gain a sense of self worth.

Favorite Book: "Revolution of the Heart", Bill Shore
Favorite Movie: Shawshank Redemption

If you had another life, what would you be doing?: Discovering the replacement for fossil fuels as an engineer and exploring space as an astronaut.
Advice for the up and coming (professional): If you truly believe in a direction for your life and you've given your close friends and family a shot at talking you out of it and still want to do it, then "go for it" because life is short.
And...: I have no children of my own so I see the world's children as my children and will live my life to enrich the lives of as many children as possible before I leave this earth. My method for enrichment will be through teaching technology and simple human interaction. All I ask is that we all work to positively touch the lives of EVERY person we come in contact with so that all people enjoy a better life on earth.

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