The 2015 Growth Through Partnership Conference was held on September 23rd at the Denver Athletic Club. The day started with an informative panel of corporate members and MBEs entitled “Building Partnerships Panel”.
The panel was comprised of: Bill Garcia, President and CEO for ALCAM Metals; Ruben Chavez, Business Diversity Outreach Program Coordinator for Denver Public Schools; Steve Tarasar, Vice President of Business Development for SJR Environmental Consulting; Dicran Arnold, Director, Diversity Business Development for World Wide Technology; Heather Barry, Director of Business Affairs for Denver International Airport. The panelists, moderated by Stan Sena, President/CEO for the Mountain Plains MSDC, discussed existing partnerships that exist between the panel members and best practices for pursuing, expanding and maintaining partnerships with corporate members and MBEs. Attendees experienced a breakfast program packed with beneficial information from people who have learned by doing.
Event attendees gathered in the halls as they deliberated over the workshop they wanted to see during the two 45 minute workshop periods. An understandable conundrum when you look at the excellent line up of workshops and presenters. Among the most popular workshops were those presented by the lunch keynote speaker, Pamela C.V. Jolly, Founder and CEO of Torch Enterprises Inc. Ms. Jolly presented “Charting a Path of Growth via Partnerships” for businesses and corporate partners who want to clarify what a vision for growth could look like, and ways to pursue it. As well as, “The Miseducation Series” for minority businesses who want to explore the pain points of business and ways to get past them to elevate your standard for success. Additional workshops offered to event attendees included: “The Value of Denver MWSBE Certification for Goods and Services and MPMSDC Certification”, “Global Business Development”, and “Understanding Diversity: A Multicultural Perspective”.
It was difficult to separate attendees from the workshops when it came time for the lunch program. As the lunch program began, the excitement became palpable when Pamela Jolly took to the stage and delivered one of the most powerful keynote addresses the Council experienced in 2015. Ms. Jolly walked the audience through her journey in discovering the key to legacy wealth and lifted the veil on the differences in approaches made by the working majority and the wealthy minority. The day wound to an end as event participants enjoyed the musical stylings of Vince Johnson and tested their luck on the exciting raffle prizes.
During the event, Stan Sena, President/CEO of the Mountain Plains MSDC, made the announcement that this year marks the last year the Growth Through Partnership conference will be held. After 41 years, the Council will be holding a brand new educational conference in 2016. Though we are sad to say goodbye to the Growth Through Partnership Conference, we are excited to start a new tradition.
