The Founders
The
National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) with more than 30,000
members, is the largest student-managed organization in the country.
Anthony Harris
As vice president of marketing for Calpine Corporation headquartered in
San Jose, California, Mr. Harris is responsible for brand management,
marketing strategy development and execution, new product development,
advertising and sales training for Calpine. This includes all business
lines involving wholesale and retail electric power; on-site utilities;
engineering, procurement, construction, operations and maintenance;
turbine parts and maintenance agreements; merchant energy
services; critical reliability products; and information technology
services. Before joining Calpine, Mr. Harris was vice president of
National Account Services and Western Region sales at PG&E Energy
Services in San Francisco. He has also been vice president of marketing
and sales for Pacific Gas & Electric Company.
Mr. Harris’ varied background includes several stints of
entrepreneurship. He has been president and CEO of a Silicon Valley
start-up venture, StyleChoice.com. He has also been president and CEO
of Sonoma Ford/Lincoln Mercury, a $12 million automobile dealership.
Mr. Harris is a founder of the National Society of Black Engineers and
currently serves on its National Advisory Board. He is also a member of
the Executive Leadership Council, and serves on the board of directors
of the Oakland Museum of California. He earned his BS in mechanical
engineering from Purdue in 1975 and an MBA from the Harvard Graduate
School of Business in 1979. He was named a Purdue Outstanding
Mechanical Engineer in 1999.
Brian Harris
Harris began his professional career in 1975 with Amoco Chemicals
Corporation as a project engineer for the engineering group. Following
project assignments in Houston Texas, he was reassigned to the
corporate headquarters in Chicago, joining the sales department as the
Midwest regional sales representative. After five years with Amoco,
Harris established his own firm specializing in general construction.
He is currently a general partner in Progressive Development &
Associates, a construction management firm and owner of a commercial
and residential painting company.
Harris, a native of Chicago is
married and resides in Evanston, Illinois. The great sense of pride
Harris feels being one of the catalysts of NSBE is surpassed only by
the tremendous growth NSBE has realized. Harris earned a B.S. in
Interdisciplinary Engineering from Purdue University.
Edward A. Coleman
Coleman
is currently Manager of Wireless Data Strategy and Product Management
for Lucent Technologies. After graduating from Purdue, he joined
Standard Oil of Indiana as a refinery engineer. Later he joined
AT&T in 1979. Assignments with the company have included stints
with NCR and now, Lucent Technologies. His responsibilities have
included sales support, project management, product management, and
software development for various network communications and computer
products.
Coleman is also the President of the Board of Directors
of the Hope Fair Housing Center, and is active in other civic
organizations. He was a founder of the AT&T Horizons program for
counseling high school students. Coleman is married, father of one and
enjoys working out, golf and photography. Born and raised in Chicago,
Coleman received a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and a MBA from DePaul
University.
Stanley L. Kirtley (Deceased)
Kirtley
was Vice President Client Community relations for ASC Services Company
L.L.C. in Chicago. His responsibilities included business development
corporate communications, marketing and public relations. ASC is a
$160M architectural/engineering design and construction management
firm. ASC manages Ameritech’s construction program. Previously, Kirtley
held various assignments in real estate, design and construction, and
purchasing at Ameritech over 14 years. He also worked at Ford and
Procter and Gamble.
He was a member of the International
Facilities Management Association and was on the Board of Directors for
the American Kidney Fund in Washington, D.C. He was also active as a
board member of the Calvary Baptist Church of Glenwood, was an advisory
board member for the School of Civil Engineering at Purdue, in addition
to serving as a member of the Industrial Advisory Board for the Purdue
Chapter of NSBE. Kirtley is also a member of Kappa Alpha Psi
Fraternity, Inc. Kirtley earned a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Purdue
and a MBA with Distinction in Marketing from Keller Graduate School of
Management.
George A. Smith
Upon
graduating from Purdue, Smith joined General Electric as a Process
Control Engineer. In 1978 he moved to Hewlett Packard and launched a
successful career as a Field Sales Engineer. By 1985 he had won many
awards and was promoted to District Sales Manager. Smith earned the HP
President’s Club Award, the highest recognition offered at HP. The
award was presented to Smith personally by HP founders Bill Hewlett and
Dave Packard.
In 1992, Smith fulfilled a lifelong dream and
started his own business, the Sales Process Consulting Company. His
firm studies the best business practices from Fortune 500 company sales
forces, analyzes opportunities to apply information technology and
conducts process analysis training workshops. Smith is most proud of
the two groundbreaking business improvement books he authored, Sales
Productivity Measurement and The Sales Quality Audit. Both are
published by the American Society of Quality. Smith received a B.S. in
electrical engineering from Purdue.
John W. Logan, Jr. (Deceased)
[not
pictured] John Logan graduated from Purdue with a B.S. Civil
Engineering in 1975. Logan was Vice President at the 1st National
Convention. He was killed in an industrial accident at Amoco Oil
Refinery in Houston, TX in 1986. Until his untimely death, Logan
continued his affiliation with NSBE by participating in National
Conferences and working diligently to assist Amoco’s minority
engineering recruitment efforts.
Purdue University’s Minority
Engineering Program and The Amoco Foundation established the John Logan
Memorial Scholarship fund in his honor. His wife Marilyn, son John
Wesley Logan, III, mother Martha and his sister Etelka, survives him.
Dr. Arthur Bond, Ph.D.
[not
pictured] Dr. Bond, joined Alabama A&M as Dean of Engineering and
Technology in August 1992 after having served as Professor and head of
the Electrical Engineering Department at Tuskegee University since
1989. While at Tuskegee, he was a member of SYTHESIS Coalition of eight
engineering schools sharing a $15.3 million National Science
Foundation. Dr. Bond is a tireless advocate for quality engineering
education for minorities. As a result of his efforts, AAMU is the only
university in the country to have a directed verdict that ordered new
engineering programs. The verdict came out of a long running
desegregation lawsuit against the State of Alabama. In May 1999, AAMU
will graduate its first class from the new Electrical and Mechanical
Engineering programs.
Prior to Tuskegee, Dr. Bond worked in
commercial industry for AlliedSignal, Hughes, TRW and Union Carbide in
capacities ranging from electronics research technician through
research and development engineer/scientist. Dr. Bond received his B.S.
MS and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University. He is
the recipient of the ASEE Vincent Bendix Award, the NACME Reginald H.
Jones Award and the Huntsville Association of Technical Societies as
AAMU’s Professor of the Year. He is married to Carolyn Duvall and they
recently celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary.