Christopher Johnson is the President of Global Financial Services at Pitney Bowes, where he manages the financing and lending businesses, as well as the consumer and merchant payments and risk management functions across the company. Christopher also holds leadership responsibility for Pitney Bowes Bank, a state chartered industrial loan company.
Diversity in a predominately white industry like finance continues to be important. Now is the time to make changes to ensure inclusion in the future. Main Street is going to be hit the hardest in the post-pandemic world as interest rates increase and buyers demand doesn’t meet pre-COVID levels. If you’re a small business owner or entrepreneur having a hard time getting a loan from your bank, there are alternative routes to financing your business.
Hear Christopher discuss the important trends he sees in the small business lending space , particularly for diverse people. And take advantage of his advice for someone looking to follow in his footsteps.
Andrew documents the history of the Rosenwald schools program which transformed education for African Americans in the first half of the twentieth century. The founders were Julius Rosenwald, born to Jewish immigrants, who rose to lead Sears, Roebuck & Company and Booker T. Washington , born into slavery, who became the founding principal of Tuskegee Institute. In 1912 the two men launched an ambitious program to partner with Black communities to build public schools for African American children. Andrew examines the role of education as the onramp to the American middle class as well as the past, present and future of the Black/Jewish progressive alliance.
Luis Martinez-Fernandez is a Professor of History, University of Central Florida teaching Latin American and Caribbean history. He is a multiple-award winning author who has recently reinvented himself as a syndicated columnist at Creators Syndicate.
CEO Bettie Kirkland, has led Project Return for 10 years. Founded in Nashville in 1979, Project Return is a Tennessee nonprofit dedicated to helping people successfully return to the community after incarceration and avoid recidivism. It has helped thousands of men and women find employment and establish stable lives, all while maintaining its inclusive, productive relationships with its program participants, employment partners and supporters. In 2021, Project Return program participants had an 82% job acquisition rate with only a 13% recidivism rate compared to state and national averages exceeding 50%.
When Project Return, recently opened a new office in Chattanooga, the milestone was celebrated with a reception featuring these remarks its CEO.
Eileen Koteles is an actor and choreographer. Raising her three sons, she realized the gift of teaching through the Arts. Now returning to the stage, Eileen performs as Dr. Ruth, an iconic sex therapist who lost her family in the Holocaust.