Black Economic Council

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The 3rd Annual Urban Economic Conference

The Black Economic Council (BEC) is hosting its 3rd Annual Urban Economic Conference, October 9, 2008 at the Oakland Marriott City Center, 1001 Broadway, in Oakland, California. The theme of this year’s conference “The Democratization of the Capital Markets” will focus on how public policy influences capital markets in terms of credit and access to capital.

The combination of bringing to the attention of Corporate America, business opportunities in the urban marketplace, coupled with increasing the knowledge of urban businesses to effectively grow and expand by strategically accessing needed capital, will positively influence the overall economic state of America..

To discuss key issues and strategies, we once again have all women speakers and panelists who are at the pinnacle of their careers as government, corporate and business leaders. Speakers and panelists include:

- Terri Ludwig, President of Merrill Lynch CDC
- Sandra Thompson, Director, Division of Supervision & Consumer Protection, FDIC
- Rachelle Chong, Commissioner California Public Utility Commission
- Thalia Gonzalez, Lawyering Process Professor, University of Denver - Sturm College of Law
- Delores Johnson-Cooper, Vice President Verizon Supplier Diversity
- Kim Saunders, President and CEO Mechanics & Farmers Bank
- Margaret Rawls, Director, AT&T Supplier Diversity
- Valerie Mosley, Partner Global Investment Management firm
- Nancy Pfund, Managing Partner, DBL Investors
- Sonya Dukes, Senior Vice President—Wachovia Bank—Supplier Diversity
- Claudia Viek, CEO, CAMEO
- Rebeca Rangel, Community Affairs Officer, Bank of the West
- Julie Abrams, CEO, Women's Initiative Self Employment (WISE)
- Danielle Yvette Sellers, Premier Agent, Prudential
- Kat Taylor, Founder & Member of the Board, OneCalifornia Bank
- Kimberly Brandon, President San Francisco Port Commission
- Brenda Wright, Senior Vice President, Wells Fargo Bank
- Jennifer L. Chavez, Corporate Service Program Officer-Silicon Valley Community Foundation
- Deborah Shea, President/CEO, Hellbent Marketing
- Brenda Gambardella, US Small Business Administration Office of Government Contracting
- Rhea L. Serna, Program Director, Mission Asset Fund
- Glenda B. Cross, Senior Advisor, External Outreach & Minority Affairs, OCC

Discussions will take place on topics such as small business lending, venture capital, supplier diversity and the role of minority banks in the urban community. It is a known fact that small businesses create more jobs than Fortune 500 corporations. Small businesses are in fact the engine that drives the economy overall. These businesses are also more likely to hire from communities of color.

There will also be discussions on the current foreclosure crisis in America and how it has created a financial debacle worldwide. How to prevent foreclosures, subprime mortgages, and what the government is proposing as a temporary solution in hopes of the market correcting itself will be topics of discussion. The foreclosure crisis has impacted thousands, especially people of color. Home ownership has traditionally been an essential component for the creation of wealth in America. Losing homes through foreclosures not only results in the loss of financial wealth, it also can result in a loss of hope.

The upcoming BEC Annual Conference will be an event not to miss, so mark your calendar for, October 9, 2008; make your airline and hotel reservations.

If there is no struggle, there is no progress.
Those who profess freedom and yet deprecate agitation
Are men who want crops without plowing the ground;
They want rain without thunder and lightning
They want the ocean without the awful roar of its waters.
Power concedes nothing without a demand.
It never did, it never will.

Frederick Douglass August 4, 1857