The 30th Annual Barney Ford Diversity Scholarship Fundraiser
Join us as we celebrate the 30th Annual Barney Ford Diversity Scholarship Fundraiser, organized by current MBA students at Leeds School of Business. This event brings together MBA alumni, faculty and staff, current MBA students, and friends of the program—all with the common goal of increasing scholarship funds for students and improving diversity at Leeds. The fundraiser is cocktail-attire-optional, and will include silent and live auctions. Proceeds help fund student scholarships, with the overall goal of strengthening diversity in the MBA program and contributing to the strong sense of community we work hard to achieve.
CU Boulder is taking proactive actions to minimize opportunities for the transmission of COVID-19 within our community. More details will be shared at a later date. Please direct any questions to BarneyFordDiversity@colorado.edu.
Information on the event will also be avaliable on the Facebook Event and on our Facebook Page.
Online ticket sales are now closed. Tickets can only be exclusively purchased at the door now.
Guest Speakers
VIP Guest Speaker: Dr. Rebecca L. Mitchell
Dr. Rebecca L. Mitchell is an Assistant Professor of Organizational Behavior at the University of Colorado Boulder. Her research seeks to understand how time influences team hierarchy and team affective processes, how organizations can improve the effectiveness of diversity, equity, and inclusion practices, and how internal comparisons shape organizational outcomes. She also has an expertise in latent change score modeling, which reliably empirically models dynamic parameters over time. Her work appears in outlets such as Academy of Management Journal, Personnel Psychology, and Organizational Research Methods.
Prior to her career in academia, Rebecca worked as a healthcare consultant and as a university fundraiser. She enjoys hiking, rock climbing, embroidery, and beer brewing in her free time.
Education
Undergrad: University of Michigan, Organizational Studies
PhD: Michigan State University, Organizational Behavior
General Admission Guest Speaker: Richard Lewis, Founder/CEO at RTL Networks
Richard Lewis is the founder and CEO of RTL networks inc., an award-winning, technology leader with an international presence in the public, private, and government sectors. Described as a high-octane technology executive and business strategist, Richard has driven and maintained industry-leading growth in the competitive emerging technology services markets, delivering growth and profitability without any outside investment capital. Richard’s coworkers, peers and board colleagues acknowledge him as an inspiring business executive; whose work is closely aligned with his core values of integrity, and community engagement.
Richard is responsible for managing his company’s strategy, as well as its services and products portfolios, roadmaps, and lifecycles. Richard’s leadership has propelled the company from a basement office to a regional footprint, to a nationally recognized leader in the industry. Throughout his career, Richard has been repeatedly recognized by industry powerhouses for his business savvy and civic impact. He has a multi-decade track record of spearheading market growth and expansion according to a defined strategy, while simultaneously and extensively supporting the community. His ability to devise and execute on innovative strategies has been rewarded with his company’s exponential growth into a thriving international business capturing over $196m in total earnings.
Richard has been honored and humbled to have received dozens of awards for his business contributions, including: E&Y’s 2019 “Entrepreneur of the Year for the Mountain Desert Region”; the Department of Defense’s “Small Business of the Year in Pikes Peak Region”; Cisco System’s “Business Partner of the Year in the Public Sector”; ranked within Black Enterprise Magazine’s “Top 100” list of largest black-owned firms in the USA; and multiple entrees in Inc Magazine’s esteemed “500” and “5000” listings.
After graduating from the United States Air Force Academy, where he obtained a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science; Richard proudly served his country as an officer in the United States Air Force for ten years. A consummate learner, Richard went on to obtain a Master’s in Business Administration degree from William and Mary University and a Master of Science degree in Computer Science and Security Systems from Colorado Technical University.
As a passionate industry thought leader and corporate citizen, Richard is actively involved in the community and is well-known for his work to support education reform, small business growth, and veterans’ issues. He especially enjoys working with youth to improve access to learning opportunities and create a brighter tomorrow for the next generation. He enjoys mentoring, coaching and guiding youth as they work to achieve their goals.