(BALTIMORE – February 16, 2023) – The BEYA 100 – Welcome Back to Baltimore Committee has announced new individual and corporate members, including the Baltimore Afro-American, the flagship newspaper of the AFRO-American chain and the longest-running African-American family-owned newspaper in the United States.
Members of the BEYA 100 Committee are some of Baltimore’s most trusted leaders and changemakers. The Welcome Back to Baltimore steering committee will help plan the return of the Black Engineer of the Year Awards (BEYA) STEM Conference, which is scheduled to take place in February 2024. This event will bring more than a $20M economic impact to the Baltimore area.
“I couldn’t be more excited to bring the conference back home,” said BEYA Conference Chairman and Career Communications Group CEO Tyrone D. Taborn. “Baltimore is known for its African-American heritage and top-tier institutions that mold the minds of Black students studying science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).”
Hosted by Career Communications Group, Inc’s US Black Engineer magazine, the Council of Engineering Deans of the Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and Lockheed Martin Corporation, the 40th annual BEYA STEM Conference will take place at a time when experts are calling on governments and businesses to help shape societies that will benefit from the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
The new members of the BEYA 100 – Welcome Back to Baltimore Committee are:
Ricky D. Smith, Sr., CEO of the Maryland Department of Transportation’s BWI Marshall Airport.
J. Wyndal Gordon, attorney at law, The Law Office of J. Wyndal Gordon.
Calvin Butler, president and CEO, Exelon.
Rev. Alvin C. Hathaway, pastor and community activist.
Dr. David Dalton, chairman and CEO, UNIVEC, Inc.
Stephanie C. Hill, EVP of Rotary and Mission Systems, Lockheed Martin Corporation.
Dr. Frances Murphy Draper (Toni), CEO & Publisher, The AFRO.
Dr. Freeman A. Hrabowski III, president emeritus of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC).
Al Hutchinson, president & CEO, Visit Baltimore.
Mrs. Jacqueline Hrabowski, retired T. Rowe Price executive.
LaRian Finney, The Finn Group.
Omar S. Muhammad, chair, TEDCO and cofounder, HBCU By Association.
Sharon Pinder, president & CEO of Capital Regions Minority Supplier Development Council.
Tony Assadi, owner of Luna del Sea restaurant in downtown Baltimore.
Congressman Kweisi Mfume, U.S. representative for Maryland’s 7th congressional district.
Dr. Kevin T. Kornegay, Eugene Deloatch Endowed Professor in Cybersecurity Engineering, Morgan State University.
Sharon Pinder, president & CEO, Capital Regions Minority Supplier Development Council.
Dr. David K. Wilson, president of Morgan State University.
Carl Stokes, former Baltimore City Council member, and co-founder of Bluford Drew Jemison Math Science Technology Academy.
Travis E. Mitchell, SVP & Chief Content Officer, Maryland Public Television.
It’s been more than a decade since the Black Engineer of the Year Awards (BEYA) STEM Conference was held in downtown Baltimore. Once a fixture on the city’s conference circuit, the event moved to the nation’s capital after hosting a landmark anniversary in Philadelphia, Pa. BEYA will celebrate its 40th birthday in 2026, and the Welcome Back to Baltimore Committee plans to make it a blockbuster event.
Since 1986, more than 10,000 men and women have been nominated for the awards. In 1987, the Black Engineer of the Year Award (BEYA) Conference was first held in Baltimore, Maryland.
Since then, more than 900 people in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) careers have received category awards, and 37 have been selected as Black Engineer of the Year. The BEYA Conference has also exposed 100,000 middle-, high school, and college students to professional role models in STEM.
The BEYA Conference took place in Washington, D.C., for the first time in 2011. For the 2012 conference, Philadelphia, Pa. was the host city. The conference returned to the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in northwest D.C., in 2013.
To mark 30 years of bringing together thousands of scientists, engineers, educators, and corporate leaders to ensure that the African-American community plays a leading role in our nation’s STEM competitiveness, BEYA was back in Philadelphia, Pa., in 2016.
The BEYA STEM Conference is produced by Career Communications Group (CCG), a leader in diversity, working with all types of companies to support them in promoting multiculturalism and gender equity in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields.
For 37 years, the BEYA STEM Conference has been a leading event for professional development, networking, and providing a resource for empowering minorities. For more information about the BEYA STEM Conference, visit www.beya.org.
